Emerging Communication Technologies
Lecture 1: Introduction 19/2
What is emergent communication technology?
Emergent = Coming into existence
Technology= Something that is build and not part of the natural environment
Upcoming technologies, built for the purpose of
1. communicating through (emails)
2. communicating with (vb. Chat bots)
People have always been interacting with emergent communication technology
Vb. apple watch, smart homes
Some similarities across emergent technology
It always starts with an innovation
That can take quite a long time to evolve (robots)
There are profound differences in technology adoption
It doesn’t always last…
It comes with the good and the bad
Good and bad things vb. Social media, chat bots
Tay was a microsoft chat bot learned things online -> microsoft ended it
Each emerging communication technology started with a technological development
Immersive VR requires
- Processing power of CPU
- Big and fast GPU for realism
- Sensors for interaction and haptic feedback
,Chatbots require
- Processing power for NLP and NLU
- Autoregressive language models and deep-learning for humanlike text generation
Social robots require
- Wearable sensors
- Low power IoT solutions
Presence: feeling like you are not in the real world
Antropomorfism: seeing human things in non human things
Tasks
Indienen op woensdag -> punten staan op uploaden niet op inhoud
Case assignments
Open vragen op examen lijken op case studies
,Lecture 2: Technology Diffusion & Acceptance Models
Diffusion of Online Technology
Journalism: the gathering, assessment, creation, and presentation of news and information
How to obtain that information?
Prior to the WWW: specific client-based services, such as Lexis-Nexis and CompuServe
Main RQ of article
Who are the adopters of WWW for obtaining information?
Usage of WWW for information
Technology adoption: WWW as a search tool
in the newsroom
Substitution of previous technology: older
client-based services
Identification of important groups
- journalist as adopters
- librarians and editors as non-adopters
Try to identify in the video
- What communication technology did the telephone substitute? telegraph
- Positive things of the telephone: can hear a voice
- Who were the first users? (Early adopters): doctors, wealthy people
Diffusion of Innovations
Diffusion: The social process by which an innovation is communicated through certain
channels over time among members of a social system
Innovation = An idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit
of adoption
Channels = Two distinct ways (1) Mass Media and (2) Interpersonal Communication
Social System = Group of interrelated agents (work, family, etc)
Diffusion: five different adopter groups, defined by how early or how fast they adopt an
innovation
Adoption can mean two things
- Substitution of previous technology with new technology (e.g. journalists and WWW,
morse code v telephone (19th century))
- New technology, without substitution of previous technology
, To promote widespread dissemination of an innovation,
- Each adopter group should be targeted using different communication channels &
messages
- In the first groups: identify change agent, needed to obtain critical mass for further
diffusion
Three general variables that affect diffusion
1. Attributes of the innovation: Pros & cons
2. Attributes of the adopters: social influences
3. Attributes of the broader context: social & political influences (not in this course)
Attributes of the innovation
1. Costs: how many resources should I invest to use it?
2. Effectiveness: is it better than what it replaces
3. Simplicity: how easy is it to use?
4. Compatibility: does it fit with what I already do?
5. Observability: can I ‘experience’ the outcomes of using it?
6. Trialability: can I go back to the previous technology?
Attributes of the adopters: social influences
Innovators
- The first to try out technologies they perceive as new
- Risk-takers in terms of usefulness of the technology
- Unconstrained by social norms
- Very limited effort needed from marketing etc
Early adopters
- Tend to be opinion leaders
- Feel the need to change old technologies and adopt new technologies
- Already convinced of the usefulness of the new technology
Early majority
- Stronger need evidence that the new technology is useful
Social pressure and norms:
Tend to follow opinion leaders, but are not an opinion leader themselves
Late majority
- Tend to be skeptical towards change, need more convincing of the usefulness of the
technology
- Social influences: Will only adopt after the majority has tried it / is using it
Laggards
- Tend to be even more skeptical towards change
- Hardest group to get onboard
- Unconstrained by social norms
Lecture 1: Introduction 19/2
What is emergent communication technology?
Emergent = Coming into existence
Technology= Something that is build and not part of the natural environment
Upcoming technologies, built for the purpose of
1. communicating through (emails)
2. communicating with (vb. Chat bots)
People have always been interacting with emergent communication technology
Vb. apple watch, smart homes
Some similarities across emergent technology
It always starts with an innovation
That can take quite a long time to evolve (robots)
There are profound differences in technology adoption
It doesn’t always last…
It comes with the good and the bad
Good and bad things vb. Social media, chat bots
Tay was a microsoft chat bot learned things online -> microsoft ended it
Each emerging communication technology started with a technological development
Immersive VR requires
- Processing power of CPU
- Big and fast GPU for realism
- Sensors for interaction and haptic feedback
,Chatbots require
- Processing power for NLP and NLU
- Autoregressive language models and deep-learning for humanlike text generation
Social robots require
- Wearable sensors
- Low power IoT solutions
Presence: feeling like you are not in the real world
Antropomorfism: seeing human things in non human things
Tasks
Indienen op woensdag -> punten staan op uploaden niet op inhoud
Case assignments
Open vragen op examen lijken op case studies
,Lecture 2: Technology Diffusion & Acceptance Models
Diffusion of Online Technology
Journalism: the gathering, assessment, creation, and presentation of news and information
How to obtain that information?
Prior to the WWW: specific client-based services, such as Lexis-Nexis and CompuServe
Main RQ of article
Who are the adopters of WWW for obtaining information?
Usage of WWW for information
Technology adoption: WWW as a search tool
in the newsroom
Substitution of previous technology: older
client-based services
Identification of important groups
- journalist as adopters
- librarians and editors as non-adopters
Try to identify in the video
- What communication technology did the telephone substitute? telegraph
- Positive things of the telephone: can hear a voice
- Who were the first users? (Early adopters): doctors, wealthy people
Diffusion of Innovations
Diffusion: The social process by which an innovation is communicated through certain
channels over time among members of a social system
Innovation = An idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit
of adoption
Channels = Two distinct ways (1) Mass Media and (2) Interpersonal Communication
Social System = Group of interrelated agents (work, family, etc)
Diffusion: five different adopter groups, defined by how early or how fast they adopt an
innovation
Adoption can mean two things
- Substitution of previous technology with new technology (e.g. journalists and WWW,
morse code v telephone (19th century))
- New technology, without substitution of previous technology
, To promote widespread dissemination of an innovation,
- Each adopter group should be targeted using different communication channels &
messages
- In the first groups: identify change agent, needed to obtain critical mass for further
diffusion
Three general variables that affect diffusion
1. Attributes of the innovation: Pros & cons
2. Attributes of the adopters: social influences
3. Attributes of the broader context: social & political influences (not in this course)
Attributes of the innovation
1. Costs: how many resources should I invest to use it?
2. Effectiveness: is it better than what it replaces
3. Simplicity: how easy is it to use?
4. Compatibility: does it fit with what I already do?
5. Observability: can I ‘experience’ the outcomes of using it?
6. Trialability: can I go back to the previous technology?
Attributes of the adopters: social influences
Innovators
- The first to try out technologies they perceive as new
- Risk-takers in terms of usefulness of the technology
- Unconstrained by social norms
- Very limited effort needed from marketing etc
Early adopters
- Tend to be opinion leaders
- Feel the need to change old technologies and adopt new technologies
- Already convinced of the usefulness of the new technology
Early majority
- Stronger need evidence that the new technology is useful
Social pressure and norms:
Tend to follow opinion leaders, but are not an opinion leader themselves
Late majority
- Tend to be skeptical towards change, need more convincing of the usefulness of the
technology
- Social influences: Will only adopt after the majority has tried it / is using it
Laggards
- Tend to be even more skeptical towards change
- Hardest group to get onboard
- Unconstrained by social norms
