Telecommuting '96 conference report

The term "telecommuting" was first coined by Jack Nilles in 1976, but researcher and practitioner interests in this topic have been inconsistent. In the mid 1980s, considerable telecommuting research was conducted (for example see Olson 1983, DeSanctis 1983) and practitioner interest was high, but by the late eighties and early nineties practitioner interest and research practice waned. If the enthusiasm at Telecommuting '96 is any indication, telecommuting has found renewed popularity. Over 100 practitioners and researchers from 10 different countries converged on Jacksonville, Florida in April to discuss the organizational and technological issues associated with telecommuting adoption and use. Jack Nilles, Tom Davenport and Roy Weber delivered keynote addresses, and the conference sessions included 27 presentations ranging from academic research papers to practitioner panel discussions to best demonstrated practices. The conference proceedings are available on the Web at http://www.cba.uga.edu/tc96/proceedings.html.