EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
1 INTRODUCTION
• Emerging = Coming into existence
• Technology? = Something that is build and not part of the natural environment
• For the purpose of communicating and/or being communicated to / communicated with
emerging technologies follow the same pattern: Gartner Hype Cycle
1. Innovation Trigger
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations
3. Trough of Disillusionment
4. Slope of enlightenment
similarities:
• it comes with good and bad
• it doesn’t always last
• differences in adoption
• it always starts with an innovation
2 DIFFUSION & ACCEPTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY
• Journalism: the gathering, assessment, creation & presentation of news and information
• How to obtain that information? Prior to the WWW: specific client-based services,
such as Lexis-Nexis and CompuServe
2.1 HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
2.1.1 INTERNET
• 1969: ARPANET
o Connected 4 computers
o Oct 29: message from UCLA to Stanford
o System crashed after sending 2 letters
• 1989: Internet is born
,• The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide- area hypermedia information retrieval initiative
aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents
Main RQ of article: Who are the adopters of WWW for obtaining information?
2.2 THEORETICAL MODELS
2.2.1 COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION
• Diffusion = The 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 (doesn’t have to be new, but
you have to see it as new) 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
1. Substitution of previous technology with new technology (e.g. journalists and WWW)
2. New technology, without substitution of previous technology
• To promote widespread dissemination of an innovation,
o Each adopter group should be targeted using different communication channels &
messages
o In the first groups: identify change agents
2.2.1.1 THE INNOVATION-DECISION PROCESS
,1. Knowledge = When an individual becomes aware that theinnovation exists & starts to
understand how it works (Example: chatGPT)
2. Persuasion = When an individual develops a positive opinion towards the innovation
3. Decision = When aware & with a positive opinion, an individual will - at some point - try
out the innovation
4. Implementation = Application of the innovation in one’s daily life, with increasing levels
of usability and easy-of-use
5. Confirmation = Continued levels of innovation use & confirmation biased information
seeking
2.2.1.2 ADOPTER GROUPS
• Innovators
o The first to try out technologies they perceive as new
o Risk-takers in terms of usefulness of the technology
o Very limited effort needed from marketing etc
o important for the marketing firms
• Early adopters
o Tend to be opinion leaders that feel the need to change old technologies and adopt
new technologies
o Already convinced of the usefulness of the new technology
• Early majority
o Tend to follow opinion leaders, but are not an opinion leader
o Need evidence that the new technology is useful
• Late majority
o Tend to be skeptical towards change
o Will only adopt after the majority has tried it
• Laggards
o Tend to be even more skeptical towards change
o Hardest group to get onboard
you should focus on the 16% because
they can spread to innovation and trying
to persuade the others is too much of an
effort
,
1 INTRODUCTION
• Emerging = Coming into existence
• Technology? = Something that is build and not part of the natural environment
• For the purpose of communicating and/or being communicated to / communicated with
emerging technologies follow the same pattern: Gartner Hype Cycle
1. Innovation Trigger
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations
3. Trough of Disillusionment
4. Slope of enlightenment
similarities:
• it comes with good and bad
• it doesn’t always last
• differences in adoption
• it always starts with an innovation
2 DIFFUSION & ACCEPTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY
• Journalism: the gathering, assessment, creation & presentation of news and information
• How to obtain that information? Prior to the WWW: specific client-based services,
such as Lexis-Nexis and CompuServe
2.1 HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
2.1.1 INTERNET
• 1969: ARPANET
o Connected 4 computers
o Oct 29: message from UCLA to Stanford
o System crashed after sending 2 letters
• 1989: Internet is born
,• The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide- area hypermedia information retrieval initiative
aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents
Main RQ of article: Who are the adopters of WWW for obtaining information?
2.2 THEORETICAL MODELS
2.2.1 COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION
• Diffusion = The 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 (doesn’t have to be new, but
you have to see it as new) 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
1. Substitution of previous technology with new technology (e.g. journalists and WWW)
2. New technology, without substitution of previous technology
• To promote widespread dissemination of an innovation,
o Each adopter group should be targeted using different communication channels &
messages
o In the first groups: identify change agents
2.2.1.1 THE INNOVATION-DECISION PROCESS
,1. Knowledge = When an individual becomes aware that theinnovation exists & starts to
understand how it works (Example: chatGPT)
2. Persuasion = When an individual develops a positive opinion towards the innovation
3. Decision = When aware & with a positive opinion, an individual will - at some point - try
out the innovation
4. Implementation = Application of the innovation in one’s daily life, with increasing levels
of usability and easy-of-use
5. Confirmation = Continued levels of innovation use & confirmation biased information
seeking
2.2.1.2 ADOPTER GROUPS
• Innovators
o The first to try out technologies they perceive as new
o Risk-takers in terms of usefulness of the technology
o Very limited effort needed from marketing etc
o important for the marketing firms
• Early adopters
o Tend to be opinion leaders that feel the need to change old technologies and adopt
new technologies
o Already convinced of the usefulness of the new technology
• Early majority
o Tend to follow opinion leaders, but are not an opinion leader
o Need evidence that the new technology is useful
• Late majority
o Tend to be skeptical towards change
o Will only adopt after the majority has tried it
• Laggards
o Tend to be even more skeptical towards change
o Hardest group to get onboard
you should focus on the 16% because
they can spread to innovation and trying
to persuade the others is too much of an
effort
,
