1996 - European Telework Week

Telework 96
2.7.5. Using technology in innovative ways
It is how technology is used, rather than the technology itself, which is important. The
various telework programmes researched by the three projects between them offered a
wide range of innovative uses of information and communication technologies.
The Worknet case of the professor based at academic institutions in both southern France
and northern Italy is an interesting example. Instead of having to make lengthy car
journeys between his two sets of students, video-conferencing potentially allowed him to
remain in contact with both at the same time. Effectively, he was able to benefit from the
opportunity to telecommute, rather than commute, between the two centres.
The pilot trials of the video-conferencing link also show how other applications can
emerge during the course of experimentation. In this case, the technology enabled the
development of a 'virtual academic space' for discussion between colleagues, a use not
originally envisaged when the pilot was devised.
The various accounts in this report do however also show the frustrations which can be
involved when using new technologies. For example, the academic video-conferencing
programme was handicapped by the limitations in the Internet's bandwidth, and with
technical problems in using the file transfer software. Another example was the problem
faced by the Expo teleworker in acquiring a modem and then getting it to work; his
account of the lengthy delays, spreading over many weeks, will strike a chord with many
people.
2.7.6. Internationalisation and decentralisation
The various teleworking pilots described in this report together make the point that the
geography of work is changing. No longer is it necessary for a company's workers to be
together physically in one place; a corollary of this is that neither do they necessarily
need to live in close proximity to one another.
This opens up exciting prospects for rejuvenating economically deprived, remote or rural
areas - though, as Teleurba pointed out, telework equally has much to offer urban areas
as well.
It also challenges the traditional view of the commercial benefits to be obtained from
ever-greater centralisation. But if teleworking should lead organisations to look again at
the potential benefits of decentralisation it also, apparently paradoxically, points towards
the growing internationalisation of work.
As the trans-national partnerships of all three projects amply demonstrate, telework
acknowledges no international boundaries. Not everyone will necessarily find work by
telecommuting between countries, but it can be done - and, indeed, this report shows that
it has been done.
Telework is an important issue for the future economic health of our continent, and the
findings of these three Telework Stimulation projects are a valuable addition to the
telework debate.
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