DOCUMENT RESUME ED 104 425 an Experiment in Conference T.V. British Columbia Telephone Co., Vancouver. DESCRIPTORS *Communicatio
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 104 425 IR 001 829 TITLE An Experiment in Conference T.V. INSTITUTION British Columbia Telephone Co., Vancouver. PUB DATE 74 NOTE 93p. EDRS PRICE MF-$O.76 HC -$4.43 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Communication (Thought Transfer); Evaluation; *Experiments; Innovation; Research; Technology; *Telecommunication; Television IDENTIFIERS British Columbia; Two Nay Television; Vancouver; Victoria ABSTRACT Using business customers, a two-way television conference experiment was conducted between Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. Two-way conferences were conducted between telephone officials, businessmen and government officials, college students, elementary-school pupils and teachers, and a psychiatrist and clients. Discussion topics included administrative decision-making, idea generation, personnel and budget matters, sexual therapy between the psychiatrist and client, and classroom instruction. Participants were interviewed to determine their reactions afterwards. In general, it was concluded that the method was most successful with small groups at eachterminal, in which interaction was necessary and nonverbal communication involved. Instructional use was least effective, communication being essentially one-way. Technical aspects of the experiment are described. Instruments used to determine reaction are appended. (S K) on experiment in CO\FERE\CE TV yQ 0 ,..i.ts....-4;??: ;i,, ,..441 ;''''siof s......,. ,... , '3; 4A1016., ...0, eS Is , , .. -, :: .. /* U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, --10-:"%.,; EDUCATION &WELFARE ..,..- ,s NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF i-': ... EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM .1. THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN 0M ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR Of ',. STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE .,(' SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY Ye 3%. ..1, ./. ; 8 H B.C.TEL 1ABLF OF CONTFNTS Pages Foreword 2 Introduction 9 Summary and Conclusions 16 Behavioral 23 Technical 49 Appendix 57 -*..., t S PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY- F, RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY t1:_01_15.1,s4U _If111,%ct vv. CO TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING 111L-1,1, 4 UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN- STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO- DUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM RE- 3 QUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER foreword IL 1110 significant aspect of conferencetelevision is that it requires video transmission in bothdirections so that the parti- cipants at either end can see as well asbeing seen. This requirement for the transmission of broadbandvideo and audio signals in bcth directions creates many difficult technicalproblems in the switching, transmission and terminal equipmentportions of the network. Since we are on the threshold ofmaking some important decisions regarding broadband transmissionnetworks within the city and between cities it becomesimperative to have a clear understand- ing of the market demand for two-waytelevision facilities and a clear understanding of the mostlikely applications, customers, and practical formats. if we are able to determine that the actual requirements for two-way transmission islow, then specialized broad- band networks can be designed forefficient one-way transmission and switching and we can therefore predict thatsuch facilities will be used essentially for informationdissemination or information retrieval purposes. On the other hand, if asignificant number of customers such as educational institutions,hospitals, businesses or governments require two-way visual communicationsfor their own particular purposes, then advanceknowledge of this will be of paramountimport- ance in the technicaldesign of our future broadband communication networks; in determining our relationshipwith the cable television industry; and in our attitudes andresponsibilities towards other potential influence on our posture competitors. It will also have considerable and to new telecommunicationslegislation proposed by the Federal research Provincial governments. In short, the real subject of our is the two-way broadbandtransmission network. Our conference tele- vision trial between Vancouver andVictoria was an attempt to identify the most logical users of two-wayvisual communications and to obtain format a better understandingof the most desirable terminal equipment needed to encourage efficientcommunication. 2 - The use of television in interactive conmunication over a distance is by no means a new concept and dates back to the 1930's. In the early 1950's, Bell Laboratories in tne United States initiated a large research and development program to produce the Picturephone system. This project involved not only the design of the sophisticated two-way terminal device but also a transmission and switching system based on digital transmission at the 1.5 megabit rate. In order to make the system compatible with existing telephone transmission systems, Bell Laboratories reduced the picture raster to 250 lines and compress- ed the video signal to 1 megahertz. These techniques resulted in a picture of low resolution in a format suitable only for a head and shoulders view of the user.The final system, placed in service in July of 1970, was a notable technical achievement but within two years it became obvious that there was little market demand for the service. This was probably due to the format of the Picturephone terminal which was an extension in conc,apt of the existing telephone instrument, and which could not be used for groups of people or for the proper display of documents cr other graphic material. Another approach to two-way visual conbnunications (typified by Confravision in the United Kingdom and the Conference Television system operated by Bell Canada in Ontario and Quebec) provides a public walk-in type television studio so that meetings can be held with participants in different cities, provided that they assemble at the conference television locations. During the last five years, interest in the subject has mushroomed and many agencies are conducting a variety of tests and trials. In Canada, research is under way at Carleton University, at the Communications Research Council, and in the Department of Communications. Research has been done in Sweden by the Stockholm School of Lconomics and L.M. Ericsson, in Holland by Philips - r- Research Laboratories and in Australia by theAustralian Post Office. The First National City Bank in New Yorkhas had a private system in operation for ten years and a similar systemis in use in Japan. New York Tel, Bell Labs and CBS Labsin Stanford, Connecticut have all been involved in this type of research. B.C. Tel became involved in aconference television exper- iment because of the lack of information on thepotential impact of specialized two-way conference television systemsand the possible need to develop broadband networks. During the trial we used the name Confravision, however for this report, we preferredthe generic name conference T.V. which is used throughout, exceptin the appendix which contains a copy of the questionnaire. Various departments at B.C. Tel have hadconsiderable exper- ience in a variety of television applications. B.C. Tel provides net- work video channels, broadcast videopick-up service, and industrial closed circuit television. In addition, specialized personnelhave participated in the development of educationaltelevision, and have successfully implemented an information display systuiin the Vancouver Stock Exchange. These applications characteristically use one-way video transmission, and do not place any greatburden on the majority of users to participate in the production process. Two-way video service, in which being viewed is as necessary asviewing, places a new psychological strain onthe participants. Viable uses for this type of service will befound only after careful research into the behavior of people using such afacility. We observed that in spite of thethorough engineering and professional appearance of the studios, previousapproaches were far from successful in attracting paying customers. However, considerable evidence remained that there would be aneed for two-way television transmission if the proper marketenvironment and terminal format 4 could be identified. We decided to try a different approach. It was based on the theory that public terminals were inconvenient for most people, and being designed for generalpurpose applications, failed to solve specific communications problems. We felt that in its final and functional format, two-way visual facilities must be convenient for the user, that is, in his conferenceroom, on his office floor, in his firm or within his building. We felt that the format of the terminal equipment must be specifically designed and constructed to meet the special require- ments of the user, therefore the terminal equipment for a conference room in a business should be expected to be substantially different from the equipment format used in a hospital or from that used in a school or in an industrial manufacturing plant. We expected that the role of the common carrier would be to provide the transmission and switching only and that the design and provision of the terminal equipment would be the responsibility of the customer. We tried to avoid pre-conceived ideas of the optimum size of a two-way visual transmission network. Although our trial was conducted between Vancouver and Victoria, 57 miles apart and separated by the Strait of Georgia, we felt that the most desirable network might be entirely within the downtown core or within the city;