travelbehavior.com - Activity Approaches to Modeling the Effects of Information Technology on Personal Travel Behavior

This paper puts forth some ideas for extending travel behavior modeling to account for interactions between travel and telecommunications. Information technology (IT, sometimes referred to as communications and information technology, or CIT) is burgeoning, providing unlimited business opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop and sell IT products and services. While most of these products and services are not specifically designed to affect travel behavior, they do, often in subtle and unexpected ways. The connectivity of the Internet and the proliferation of capable and affordable home computers and communication devices have encouraged flexible work arrangements and made e-commerce the fastest growing sector of most western economies. For many people, the home has become a viable site for the conduct of certain activities that formerly could only be conducted at non-home locations. In addition, cellular telephones and other portable computer and communications devices have redefined our ability to conduct business and dynamically schedule activities while traveling or at locations away from home or workplace. The wave of technological advances that brought us the Internet, mobile phone, and personal digital assistants (PDA's) is not slowing down. The future will bring a next-generation Internet with higher speed, multimedia capability and intelligent agent technology. It will be accessible by both PC's and "Internet appliances" such as television set-top boxes, videogame consoles and smart handheld devices