Program on Information Resources Policy

The Program on Information Resources Policy (PIRP) was a research program at Harvard University, sometimes referred to informally as "Harvard’s think tank on the information age." See ^[1] for a complete explanation. It was established on February 1, 1973 by Anthony Oettinger and John LeGates and closed on June 30, 2011 by the same principals. It worked in the realm of communications and information resources. At most points in its history it employed as many as 15 full time staffers, mostly professionals, as well as hosting scores of visiting scholars and sponsored researchers over the years. At any given time it was supported by about 100 different public and private organizations.

During the 1980s the Principals of PIRP, in addition to Oettinger and LeGates, included John F. McLaughin, who headed areas of postal policy as well as national security issues; Benjamin Compaine, who directed areas of the media and literacy; and Oswald H. Ganley, who focused on international issues such as transborder data flows.

As is typical for an academic program, it offered courses and seminars, but it also produced more than 500 book-length reports most with review from industry, government and academia.^[2] However its principal goal was to aid industry, government and public decision makers with sound reasoning and with information that was both impartial and competent. For that mission it developed research and dissemination methods that were innovative and unique.

How the Program Worked

In the words of the Program:^[3]

We deal mainly with controversial matters of continuing relevance.
We work on emerging issues in the middle time range—a focus close enough for the issues to be of concern to real stakeholders and remote enough for outcomes to be open.
We lay out the essentials of controversies but do not take sides, make recommendations, or attempt to predict the future.
We forego relationships that might bias us—such as consulting, partisan expert testimony, or membership on corporate boards.
We operate with diversified financial support from stakeholders in the controversies worked on.
Our work is reviewed by these stakeholders and by members of the relevant professions and disciplines.
All our work is available to the public. Everyone knows in advance that this is so.
Our work is neither proprietary nor classified. We neither work toward external deadlines nor respond to requests for proposals (RFPs).
We aspire to intellectual, financial, and institutional stability regardless of the ins and outs of fashions and incumbencies.

The Program held itself as being both impartial ^[4] and competent.^[5]

Because it worked in areas of contentious policy debates, from its founding the Principals were concerned about the perception that, for many researchers, accepting funding from a particular interest could taint the findings of the research, no matter how impartial the authors claimed to be. To address this concern, Oettinger and LeGates devised a funding plan that sought small sums from many competing stakeholders in the information industries. "Being bought by everybody, we are bought by nobody," is how they explained this model.^[6] All operations were funded by "Affiliates" that provided contributions, usually on an annual basis, that went into a blended "pot." The Principals made the determination what research to undertake, aiming to build knowledge for use when and where it’s needed. It never accepted funds from any source that would be designated for a specific research project. Whether a contributing affiliate or not, "We do not take sides—in any form. We are in the business of description, not prescription. We map the territory—you position your forces." ^[7]

To address the goal of competence, PIRP established process of continuous fact-finding and written analysis. It created a "vetting" procedure for all its published research. A first draft would be circulated among Affiliates as well as outsiders who might have relevant expertise. Among the question they were typically asked might be: Do we have the facts straight? Have we presented the position of your industry or your agency accurately? Have we unearthed the critical controversies?^[8]

The Program's primary avenue for disseminating its research was through its approximately 500 publications. Most were extensively reviewed by both disciplinary experts and by stakeholders in the topics under discussion. Full texts of almost all are available on the Program website.^[9]

However, PIRP's objective was to make the information it developed available to decision makers in real time. This was most often accomplished by face–to-face meetings, usually with senior people in the affiliates. One customary format would be for the affiliate to describe its major uncertainties. The Program's Principal's would respond with whatever they knew that might be relevant. The hoped-for result, if any, would be better information and thinking for the affiliate. Although Program Principals did not sign nondisclosure agreements, it assured those with whom they met confidentiality.^[10] Program Principals also disseminated its findings and analysis through testimony and presentations, when requested, to Federal and stale policymakers as well as in other public forums.

Financial Supporters/Work Affiliates

Over its career, the Program was supported at one time or another by about 400 organizations, called "Affiliates". They included industry players, government agencies, non-profit organizations, trade associations and advocacy groups in the U.S., Canada and globally. It worked closely with those and many others. Here is the complete list over the 38 years of its operations:

ABRH Consulting, Inc.
Abt Associates, Inc.
Action for Children's Television
Advertising Mail Marketing Association
Aetna Life & Casualty Co.
American Broadcasting Companies
American Can Company
American District Telegraph Co.
American Management Systems, Inc.
American Newspaper Publishers Association
American Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Ameritech
Ameritech Publishing
Anderson, Benjamin & Read
Anderson, Benjamin, Read & Haney, Inc.
Anonymous Startup
Apple Computer, Inc.
Applied Telecommunications Technologies, Inc.
Arthur D. Little, Inc.
Association of American Publishers
AT&T Corp.
AT&T Information Systems
Auerbach Publishers, Inc.
Australian & Overseas Telecommunications Corp. (Australia)
Australian Telecommunications Users Group (Australia)
Automated Marketing Systems
A.H. Belo Corp.
Bell Atlantic
Bell Canada
Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
BellSouth Corp.
Beneficial Management Corporation
Berner & Berner
The Boeing Company
Boice Dunham Group Inc.
Albert Bonniers Forlag AB (Sweden)
Booth Newspapers
Booz Allen Hamilton
Boston Broadcasters, Inc.
The Boston Globe
Braxton Associates
Bunker Ramo Corporation
Bull, S.A. (France)
Burroughs Corporation
Business Information Publishing Co.
Cable & Wireless (U.K.)
Canada Post (Canada)
Carvajal S.A. (Colombia)
CBS Broadcast Group
CBS Inc.
Cellular One
Centel Corporation
Center for Excellence in Education
Central Telephone & Utilities Corp.
Centro Studi San Salvador, Telecom Italia (Italy)
Channel Four Television Co., Ltd. (UK)
Chronicle Broadcasting Company
CIRCIT at RMIT (Australia)
Citibank N.A.
CMC Limited (India)
Codex Corp.
The College Board
Commission of the European Communities (Europe)
Common Cause
Communications Workers of America
Computer and Communications Industry Assoc.
Computer Industry Association
Computer Intelligence
COMSAT
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Continental Cablevision, Inc.
Continental Graphics Gorp.
Continental Telecom, Inc.
Continental Telephone Corp.
Coopers and Lybrand
Copley Newspapers
Corning Inc.
Cowles Media Co.
Cox Enterprises, Inc.
Critical Path
CSC Index (U.K.)
CyberMedia Convergence Consulting
CyraCom International
DACOM (Korea)
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Ltd. (Japan)
Databit Inc.
Data America Corp.
Data Communications Corp. of Korea (Korea)
Data Transmission Company
Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group
Department of Communications (Australia)
Department of Communications (Canada)
Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.
Dialog Corp.
Dialog Information Services, Inc.
Digital Equipment Corp.
Direction Générale des Télécommuications (France)
Diversified Communications, Inc.
Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette
Doubleday, Inc.
Doubleday and Co., Inc.
Dow Jones & Co., Inc.
Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.
DRI/McGraw Hill
Dun & Bradstreet
Economics and Technology, Inc.
Educational Testing Service
EG&G, Inc.
EIC/Intelligence Inc.
Ellacoya Networks, Inc.
Elsevier Science Publishers (Netherlands)
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Equifax
LM Ericsson (Sweden)
ESL Inc. – A TRW Company
ETRI (Korea)
European Parliament (Europe)
Exxon Enterprises, Inc.
eYak, Inc.
FaxNet Corp.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Field Enterprises, Inc.
First Data Corp.
First National Bank of Boston
First National Bank of Chicago
France Telecom (France)
Frost & Sullivan, Inc.
Fujitsu Research Institute (Japan)
Gannett Co., Inc.
Gartner Group, Inc.
General Electric Co.
General Motors Corp.
General Telephone & Electronics
GNB Technologies
Grupo Clarin (Argentina)
GTE Corp.
GTE Sprint Communications Corp.
Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Hambrecht & Quist
Hanaro Telecom Corp. (Korea)
Harper & Row
Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc.
Harvard University
Hazel Associates
R.A. Hearst
Hearst Newspapers
High Acre Systems, Inc.
Hitachi Research Institute (Japan)
Honeywell, Inc.
Household Finance Corporation
Hughes Aircraft Co.
Hughes Communication Services, Inc.
E. F. Hutton and Co., Inc.
IBM Corp.
Illinois Bell
IQ, Inc.
Information Gatekeepers, Inc.
Information Industry Association
Intel Corp.
Interconsult
International Business Machines Corporation
International Data Corp.
International Monetary Fund
International Paper
International Paper Company
International Resource Development
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT)
International Telephone & Telegraph Corp.
Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc.
Investment Company Institute
Invoco AB Gunnar Bergvall (Sweden)
Iran Communications and Development Institute (Iran)
Irving Trust Co.
I.T. Direction Ltd. (UK)
Italtel (Italy)
Japan Telecom (Japan)
Kapor Family Foundation
Kavner & Associates
Knight-Ridder Information, Inc.
Knowledge Industry Publications, Inc.
Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Korea Telecom (Korea)
Korea Mobile Telecom (Korea)
Korean Information Society Development Institute (Korea)
KPN (Netherlands)
Lee Enterprises, Inc.
Lexis-Nexis
Eli Lilly and Co.
Lincoln Laboratory, MIT
LiTel Telecommunications, Inc.
Litton Industries, Inc.
Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Inc.
Lotus Development Corp.
Lucent Technologies
Marstellar Foundation
Martin Marietta Corp.
John and Mary R. Markle Foundation
McCann North America
McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
MCI Telecommunications, Inc.
McKinsey & Co., Inc.
Mead Corporation
Mead Data Central
MediaOne Group
MeesPierson (U.K.)
Merck & Co., Inc.
Meredith Corporation
Microsoft Corp.
MicroUnity
Ministry of Communications (Canada)
Minneapolis Star and Tribune Co.
MITRE Corp.
Motorola, Inc.
National Association of Letter Carriers
The National Cash Register Company
National Computer Board (Singapore)
National Security Research, Inc.
National Telephone Cooperative Assoc.
NCR Corp.
NEC Corp. (Japan)
NEST – Boston
The New York Times Company
New England Telephone
New Jersey Bell
Newspaper Association of America
Nippon Electric Co. (Japan)
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (Japan)
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Public Corp (Japan)
NMC/Northwestern University
Norfolk & Southern Corporation
Norfolk & Western Railway Co.
North Communications
Northeast Consulting Resources, Inc.
Northern Telecom (Canada)
Northrop Corp.
Nova Systems Inc.
NYNEX
Ohio Bell
Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., S.p.A. (Italy)
Oppenheimer and Company, Inc.
OSCOM Communications, Inc. (Australia)
OTC Limited (Australia)
The Overseas Telecommunications Commission (Australia)
Pacific Bell
Pacific Bell Directory
Pacific Telesis Group
Payment Systems, Inc.
PDS Consulting
Pearson Longman Ltd. (United Kingdom)
J.C. Penney Co., Inc.
Pergamon Press Ltd. (United Kingdom)
PetaData Holdings, Ltd. (Bermuda)
Philips Kommunikations (Netherlands)
Pitney Bowes, Inc.
Planning Research Corporation
Polaroid Foundation, Inc.
The Post Office (U.K.)
PRC Information Sciences Company
Public Agenda Foundation
Puerto Rico Telephone Co. (Puerto Rico)
Qwest Communications International, Inc.
Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
Raytheon Company
RCA Corporation
RCA Global Communications
Research Institute of Telecommunications and Economics (Japan)
RESEAU (Italy)
Revista Nacional de Telematica (Brazil)
Reuters Limited (UK)
Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission
Rizzoli Corriere della Sera (Italy)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Rockwell International
Royal Bank of Canada (Canada)
Saint Phalle International Group
St. Petersburg Times
St. Regis Paper Co
Salomon Brothers
Samara Associates
Satellite Business Systems
Scaife Family Charitable Trusts
Scientifica-Atlanta, Inc.
Scott & Fetzer Co.
SEAT S.P.A. (Italy)
Seiden & de Cuevas, Inc.
Siemens AG (Germany)
SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (Korea)
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sonexis
Source Telecomputing Corp.
Southam Inc. (Canada)
Southern California Edison Co.
Southern New England Telecommunications Corp.
Southern Pacific Communications Co.
Southern Railway System
Southwestern Bell Corp.
Sprague Electric Company
Sprint Communications Co. L.P.
Standard Shares
State of California Public Utilities Commission
State of Minnesota Funding
State of Nebraska Telecommunications and Information Center
Strategy Assistance Services
Stromberg-Carlson Corporation
Swedish Television (Sweden)
Swiss Bank Corp. (Switzerland)
Systems Applications, Inc.
TEKNIBANK S.p.A. (Italy)
Telecom Australia (Australia)
Telecom Futures, Inc.
Telecom Plus International
Telecommunications Research Action Center (TRAC)
Telemation Management Group, Inc.
Telematix International Ltd. (Belgium)
Telesat Canada (Canada)
Tele/Scope Daily
Tele/Scope Networks, Inc.
Telstra Corp. Ltd. (Australia)
TFS, Inc.
Third Class Mail Association
Thomson Professional Publishing
Time Inc.
Times Mirror Co.
Times Publishing Co.
TOR LLC
The Toronto Star (Canada)
Torstar Corp. (Canada)
Transamerica Corporation
TransMedia Exchange
Tribune Company
TRW, Inc.
UBS Brinson (Switzerland)
UNIEMP (Brazil)
United Air Lines
United Parcel Service
United States Government:
- Central Intelligence Agency
- Department of Commerce
  - National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
  - National Technical Information Service
  - National Telecommunications and Information Administration
  - Office of Telecommunications
- Department of Defense
  - Defense Communications Agency
  - Defense Intelligence Agency
  - Defense Technical Information Center
  - National Defense University
  - Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
- Department of Energy
- Department of Health and Human Services
  - National Library of Medicine
- Department of the Treasury
  - Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
- Department of State
  - Office of Communications
- Executive Office of the President
  - Office of Telecommunications Policy
- Federal Communications Commission
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- General Services Administration
- Internal Revenue Service
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Communications System
- National Security Agency
- U.S. Army
  - Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Information Management
- U.S. General Accounting Office
- United States Information Agency
- United States Postal Rate Commission
- United States Postal Service
Upoc
United Telecommunications, Inc.
US - Japan Foundation
U.S. Media Group
US West
Vanguard Technology Corporation of America, Inc.
Venturist, Inc.
Verizon
Veronis, Suhler & Associates, Inc.
Viacom Broadcasting
Videosoft Solutions, Inc.
VISA International
Voice of America
Warner Amex Cable Communications Inc.
Warner Communications, Inc.
The Washington Post Co.
Western Union
Western Union International, Inc.
Weyerhaeuser
Williams Telecommunications
Wolters Kluwer (Netherlands)
Wolters Samson Group (Netherlands)
Xerox Corporation
Zenith Radio Corporation

Reviews and Compliments

The impact of the Program is hard to measure directly: How can it be determined that organizations made better decisions? One metric would the breadth and continuity of the financial support (see list of affiliates). Another would be quotable feedback and praise from the people with whom the program worked. Here are some samples. (A longer list is at.^[11]) :

In my view, you and your group are more significant than anyone else in the information age turning out so well. Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO, Verizon, 2012

My Federal Agency is only a year old as of yesterday, but it owes some of the impetus for its formation to spade work begun by Mr. Oettinger, Mr. LeGates and your colleagues for the past several years.... Your Program has also been a source of important substantive ideas and insights. I myself have cribbed shamelessly....

Ambassador John E. Reinhardt, Director, International Communications Agency

I wish I had discovered this place two years ago before I went to the FCC. I'm sure I could have had two more productive years had I had a chance to talk to you beforehand.

Anne Jones, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

You are like a breath of fresh air blowing through a miasma of hot air, which permeates the national dialogue on telephony. You are the only one I have met in the last fourteen years…who understands the situation, articulates it, and does so without prejudice.

Edward P. Larkin, Chairman, New York Public Service Commission

In the course of its work on developing the JCS bill, the Investigations Subcommittee, which I chair, has benefited significantly from the studies authored by retired General J. H. Cushman. I understand that the Program on Information Resources Policy has sponsored General Cushman’s work, and commend you for supporting a project that is having an immediate, constructive impact as the Congress frames the future structure of the defense establishment.

Congressman Bill Nichols

The Program on Information Resources Policy, through its independent and incisive analyses, free from special interest and partisan considerations, has helped me and my predecessors cut through the noise and get to the bottom of important public policy issues in the communications and information field. Over the years, the Harvard Program has become an indispensable institution on which policymakers in both the public and private sector have come to depend for truthful and fearless advice, even if its views have run sometimes counter to popular or conventional wisdom. For a Congressman to deal with people who are in fact impartial and competent is a rare experience. I recognize this program and your work as being critical to the development of sound telecommunications policy, and I support your continued efforts to examine these important issues.

Congressman Edward J. Markey, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance, 1991

This chapter is the most succinct and analytical source yet available for elucidating local distribution policy, planning, and marketing.

Journal of Communications, 1985

(Longstaff’s draft is) the best thing I ever read in the field. I need another copy. Senator McCain is reading it and won’t let it go.

John McCain/Mark Buse, Senator John McCain’s office, 1995

Your work is a distinguished contribution not only to the world of research and to your university, but to all of us whose life is caught up in the business of communication.

Robert D. Lilley, President, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1974

Last week’s conference was the finest I have ever attended.

John R. Bennett, President, Transamerica Information Services, 1977

We are appreciative of the constructive work that you have been doing, particularly in the postal arena, and we certainly hope that you will continue to contribute to clearer thinking about the Postal Service here in this country.

Kent Rhodes, Chairman, Reader's Digest, 1978

Your center is a gold mine of information—and I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness in filling up my reading file with such helpful and insightful materials.

"You could have used my name if you hadn’t asked", Executive Office of the President, 1990

Your chart of information industries revenues will save us and our consultants many hundreds of hours of labor. I am especially grateful for your willingness to send a handwritten table prior to publication—we will guard it with our lives.

Charles M. Oliver, Director, Legislative and Regulatory Policy, CBS, Inc., 1981

I want both of you to know that our luncheon session last month and your follow-on work paid big dividends for us.

George H. Bolling, Vice President, Advanced Programs, COMSAT, 1990

There is no trace of the mindless pap which passes as "debate on regulation."

Media Information Australia

Have now read the C3I paper. Absolutely fascinating, and very useful to me in preparing a speech I hope to make on the SDI program later this week. The quality of the discussion was quite exceptional, and kept me reading all weekend!

Sir Ian Lloyd, M.P., House of Commons, U.K., Chairman: All parties Committee on Communications Technology

The Program is in our view the pre-eminent honest broker in the massive job of keeping track of what is happening to, and within, the industry that comprises the means of moving information from place to place.

John Morgan, Assistant to Executive Vice President, Communications Workers of America

There is no question at all that Washington looks at your work as an outside expert of very high credibility. I see your testimony reflected in their decisions as well as hearing about you in their discussions. Your work and your role are excellent.

William Ditch, American District Telegraph Corporation

David Charlton was very high in praise for you as the highest quality effort he has ever come in contact with.

Frank Kapper, Corning, Inc

I am amazed at the religious fervor with which Apple is using your map. I was handed it as background reading for my meeting with Sculley, Chairman and Nagle, Chief Scientist. They said “this may take you a while”.

John Schwartz, Newsweek (reporter)

This chapter is the most succinct and analytical source yet available for elucidating local distribution policy, planning, and marketing.

Journal of Communications

References

External links

Official PIRP web site

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