Communication Technology »

Everett M. Rogers is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Communications and Associate Dean at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. His other works include Diffusion of Innovations and Communication Networks.

The industrial nations of the world have become Information Societies. Advanced technologies have created a communication revolution, and the individual, through the advent of computers, has become an active participant in this process. The "human" aspect, therefore, is as important as technologically advanced media systems in understanding communication technology. The flagship book in the Series in Communication Technology & Society, Communication Technology introduces the history and uses of the new technologies and examines basic issues posed by interactive media in areas that affect intellectual, organization, and social life. Author and series co-editor Everett M. Rogers defines the field of communication technology with its major implications for researchers, students, and practitioners in an age of ever more advanced information exchange.

Contents

Preface

CHAPTER 1. The Changing Nature of Human Communication

Nature of the New Communication Technologies

Implications for Communication Research

Welcome to the Information Society

Changes in the Labor Force

From Massification to Individualization

Why Information? Why Now?

The Research University in the Information Society

The MCC Moves to Austin

Governing the Future Information Society

A Kentucky Farmer Joins the Information Society

Summary

CHAPTER 2. What Are the New Communication Technologies?

Four Eras in the Evolution of Human Communication

I. Writing

II. Printing

III. Telecommunication

How the Telegraph Impacted Newspapers

IV. Interactive Communication

Computer Communication

Transistors and Semiconductors

Invention of the Microprocessor

The Rise of Computer Communication

Computer Bulletin Boards

Videotext and Teletext

Teleconferencing: Electronic Meetings

Social Presence and Nonverbal Communication

The New Cable TV

Satellite Communication

Qube in Columbus

Wired Cities

Summary

CHAPTER 3. History of Communication Science

A Personal Perspective

European Roots: Trade and Simmel

Four American Roots

John Dewey: Pragmatism

Charles Horton Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self

Robert E. Park and the Chicago School of Sociology

George Herbert Mead: The Self

The Engineers of Communication: Claude Shannon and Norbert Wiener

The Mathematical Theory of Communication

Shannon's Information Theory

The Impact of Shannon's Theory

Norbert Wiener and Cybernetics

The Yellow Peril

The Impact of Wiener'sCybernetic Theory

The Four Founders: Lasswell, Lewin, Hovland, Lazarsfeld

Harold D. Lasswell: Propaganda Effects

Kurt Lewin: Gatekeeping

Carl Hovland: Persuasion Research

Paul F. Lazarsfeld: Toolmaker

Wilbur Schramm: Institutionalizer

Communication Technology and Communication Science

CHAPTER 4. Adoption and Implementation of Communication Technologies

Diffusion of Innovations

What Is Special About the Diffusion of Communication Technologies?

Diffusion of Home Computers

Innovation That Failed: The Context System at Stanford University

Smashing the ATM Wall

Uses of an Electronic Mail System

Innovation Clusters and the Hot Market

Characteristics of the Adopters of the New Media

The Rapid Diffusion of VCR's

Naming a New Communication Technology

The Innovation Process in Organizations

A Model of the Innovation Process

The Diffusion of Microcomputers in California High Schools

Summary

CHAPTER 5. Social Impacts of Communication Technologies

From Audience Research to Effects Research

Past Research on Communication Effects

The Era of Minimal Effects

The Era of Conditional Effects

Process Versus Effects In Communication Research

A Typology of Impacts

Unemployment and Social Class

Silicon Valley Today: The Information Society of Tomorrow?

Impacts on Inequality

Communication Technology and Information Gaps

The Green Thumb in Kentucky

Gender Inequality in Computer Use

Computer Romance on DEAFNET

Information Overload

Privacy

Your Bank's Computer Knows a Lot About You

Decentralization

Teleworking

Impacts of a New Medium on Older Media

Impacts of Television on Radio and Film in the 1950's

Summary

CHAPTER 6. New Theory

Background

Inadequacies of the Linear Model for Studying Interactive Communication

Criticism of the Linear Model

A Convergence Model of Communication

Units of Analysis, Variables, and Time in the Data-Cube

Communication Network Analysis

The Information-Exchange as a Unit of Analysis

Electronic Emotion: Socio-Emotional Content in Computer Communication

Time as an Essential Dimension of Communication Behavior

Studying Interactivity in Computer Bulletin Boards

Investigating Interactivity

Summary

CHAPTER 7. New Research Methods

New Methods for the Study of New Media

The Typical Evaluation Research Design

Shortcomings of Existing Methods

New Data from New Media

Types of New Data

Computer Content Analysis

Advantages of Computer-Monitored Data

Disadvantages of Computer-Monitored Data

Summary

CHAPTER 8. Application of the New Communication

TechnologiesEducation and Children

The Home

Electronic Politics

The Office

Applications to Third World Development

Small Media for a Big Revolution

Conclusions

References

Index