The U.S. communication infrastructure is changing rapidly as a result of technological advances, deregulation, and an economic climate that is increasingly competitive. This change is affecting the way in which information is created, processed, transmitted, and provided to individuals and institutions. The report analyzes the implications of new communication technologies for business, politics, culture, and individuals, and suggests possible strategies and options for congressional consideration.

A manual for OTA employees, providing guidance for drafting proposals and reports. Includes standards and procedures for communicating with Congress.

A study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks at how "advances in technology and increased competition in the communications marketplace will significantly affect USPS finances, service levels, and labor force requirements over the next two decades" (p. xi).

This background paper on U.S. banks is one of several case studies prepared as part of a huger assessment of International Telecommunications Networks and U.S.-European Trade in Services.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "presents the results of an overview study on the use of computer technology in national information systems and related public policy issues" (p. iii).

A study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that examines the Final Acts of the General World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-79) "in a comprehensive way-describing U.S. preparations and involvement, and the impact of the conference" (p. 3).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "describes the technologies now and likely to be available to providers and users of financial services" (p. iii).

This report examines the role wireless technologies will play in the emerging National Information Infrastructure (NII) and identifies the challenges that policymakers, regulators, and wireless service providers will face as they begin to more closely integrate wireless systems with existing wireline networks. The report also discusses some of the technical and social implications of the widespread use of wireless technologies— paying particular attention to the profound changes that wireless systems may cause in patterns of mobility.

The report discusses the opportunities for Native Americans to use telecommunications (including computer networking, videoconferencing, multimedia, digital and wireless technologies, and the like) in the realms of culture, education, health care, economic development, and governance.

This report takes a strategic look at the development of electronic commerce and identifies the characteristics of the infrastructure that will be required to support it. The report found that, in an electronically networked economy, the design and underlying architecture of the global information infrastructure will have a major impact on national economic growth and development.

This report examines the impact of recent and anticipated advances in communication and information technologies on the intellectual property system. It focuses primarily on the Federal copyright system, and on the continuing effectiveness of copyright law as a policy tool in the light of technologies such as audioand videorecorders, computer programs, electronic databases, and telecommunications networks.

This report examines an array of sustainable development definitions and discusses their common elements. Current agriculture, energy, and industry technologies are described as well as the strides being made in education, communication, and information technologies that could support sustainable development.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on "technological developments in the basic communication and information infrastructure of the United States that present new or changed opportunities for and vulnerabilities to electronic surveillance, not on the details of specific surveillance devices" (Foreward).

This study explores the role that communication technologies can play in securing rural America’s future. It develops several policy strategies and options to encourage such development. The study was requested by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and Senators Charles E. Grassley and Orrin G. Hatch.

This report responds to requests by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Government Operations to assess the role that communication and information technologies play in the securities markets. The Committee desired a benchmark for gauging progress made toward the national market system envisioned by the 1975 Act. This report assesses the current use of information technology by U.S. securities exchanges and over-the-counter dealers, by related futures and options markets, and by associated industries and regulatory agencies.

This report examines the U.S. preparations process for WARC-92, highlighting efforts to integrate the needs and concerns of various interest groups. It also reviews the forces and trends affecting the United States as it approaches WARC-92, and is intended to inform future congressional oversight of the domestic and international radio communication policy process.

This report discusses the intellectual property rights. The concern is primarily with how modern electronics has changed the locus of creation, publishing, and distribution of such property.

This report examines new policy approaches that would focus on development of innovative strategies for economic revitalization of urban core areas (including central cities and inner suburbs); creation of partnerships between urban cores and industry, state governments, and suburban jurisdictions; and movement toward full pricing of development and infrastructure to reduce or eliminate price subsidies now encouraging dispersed development.

This report aims to synthesize discussions, correspondences and readings in terms of a novel framework that characterizes advances in the field of educational science and technology.

There are standards to protect the environment and human health and safety, and to mediate commercial transactions. Other standards ensure that different products are compatible when hooked together. This report is looking across industry sectors; it evaluates the U.S. standards setting process in the light of its changing economic and technological environment, and compares it to processes in other countries.

This background paper focuses on the Federal role in supporting a national high-performance computing initiative. High-performance ‘‘supercomputers’ * are fast becoming tools of international competition and they play an important role in such areas as scientific research, weather forecasting, and popular entertainment. They may prove to be the key to maintaining America’s preeminence in science and engineering. The automotive, aerospace, electronic, and pharmaceutical industries are becoming more reliant on the use of high-performance computers in the analysis, engineering, design, and manufacture of high-technology products.

Part I of the report discusses how the meaning of “the press” has expanded from printed material to include a wide range of broadcast and electronic media. Satellites, computers, electronic bulletin boards, teletex, videotext, and other new ways of gathering, editing, and delivering news are blurring legal and regulatory distinctions between common carriers and “the press, ” thus changing arguments about the constitutional rights that they have each enjoyed. Part II addresses freedom of speech and press as they apply to scientific communications and technological know-how. As science and technology become ever more important to our economy and our military strength, the delicate balance between individual rights and the national interest becomes both more important and more difficult to maintain.

A case study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that examines different types of technologies that are relevant to learning disabilities.

This report assesses the state of the knowledge, identifies key future challenges in each of the three components of earthquake risk reduction—earth science, engineering, and implementation—and offers policy options to improve federal efforts.