Interactive Telecommunications and Local Community Processes

Abstract

Two-way cable television has vast potential for addressing the commun iation needs of both the private and public sectors in urban areas. Although there has been extensive discussion of potentialapplications of two-way cable television, few public uses have actually been devel oped. This can largely beattibuted to un certainty about the costs and benefits of such applications. This paper reports on an experiment which is supported by t h e National Science Foundation and designed to assess the role of in teractive telecommunications in the provision of urban services. The project is being conducted by the New York Univesity Alternate Media Center, School of the Arts and the Graduate School of Public Administration over a thirty-month period.