Jing Wang's Seminar Blog

Some scholars studying the history of communication technologies, such as Douglas (1987) and Fischer (1992), emphasized a social focus in the early history of a technology – radio for Douglas and the telephone for Fischer. Opposed to technology determinism, they described how major institutions, individuals and the interaction between them influenced the development and adoption of the technologies. According to Douglas and Fischer, the inventors and manufacturers focused on corporate and/or military use of the technology, and ignored the usage by the general public. Since these scholars seem to believe that the “boom” of the respective technology is when it was widely adopted by the public, this inattention to the general public’s use is explicitly or implicitly attributed as a misconception by the industry, and hindered the technology’s development for some time.

To understand whether the radio and telephone industries’ inattention to the general public’s use was a fault or an inevitable stage of technology development, we need to understand the different “imagined users” by Douglas and Fischer and by the industries. What factors led them to their respective conclusions and would it be better or even practical for the industries to have adopted a different concept of “imagined users”? This paper will first introduce two related concepts – “imagined users” and “diffusion of innovation,” – and then present historical evidence why the inventors and the industries developed their imagined users and how this concept guided their technical and business practice.

Posted by jwang40 at 05:09 PM | Permalink

In terms of the time bias and space bias, I think the Internet is very high on the space bias but low on the time bias. The Internet as a communication medium can cover a vast geographical area immediately. Like some people said, the Internet killed distance. However, the Internet is low on the time bias. Information online is changing all the time and at a high speed. When website pages are updated, it is usually very hard to find the pervious versions. So it is easy to get the latest information, but can be very difficult to have the information last long.

Based on its high space bias and low time bias, Innis probably would propose that the Internet is a communication medium that encourages geographical extension and democratic society and discourages long lasting tradition and customs.

Take the geographical extension as an example. Though nowadays’ state boundaries are more stable than in earlier human history, and therefore territory expansion is less frequent, political and cultural influence can and in many cases has successfully overcome geographic barriers with the use of the Internet. Similar to Innis’s analysis of radio, the Internet changed the communication boundaries from the political and geographical ones to the linguistic one, i.e. it extends influences to people speaking the same language. Therefore, the Internet should encourage people to look beyond their local area and have more interest in the outside world.

Many people also share the belief that the Internet encourages democracy. If newspaper, and radio have encouraged democracy by quickly disseminating information and creating an informed public, the superior speed the Internet offers should render it great contribution to the development of democracy. Even better than newspaper and radio, the Internet breaks the information monopoly, and give the voice to diverse parties – a basic characteristic of a democratic society.

However, since the online information is low on the time bias, it is hard to have long lasting tradition and customs. A piece of online information can have enormous impact in a moment, and completely lose the impact the next moment. Tradition and customs are replaced by fads, which come and go quickly without many deep meanings.

Therefore, the Internet society could be one in which people receive information fast, react to information fast, but show no profound patterns or principles for those reactions.

Posted by jwang40 at 10:44 PM | Permalink

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Posted by jwang40 at 04:33 PM | Permalink

In Chapter 2, “the Bias of Communication”, the key proposition is that “the use of a medium of communication over a long period will to some extent determine the character of knowledge to be communicated and suggest that its pervasive influence will eventually create a civilization in which life and flexibility will become exceedingly difficult to maintain and that the advantages of a new medium will become such as to lead to the emergency of a new civilization” (p. 34). The key concepts include the characteristics of the communication medium at that time, control over time or over space, and substitution of human civilization.

Innis examined a series of Western civilizations, and characterized them as either emphasizing control over time or control over space. He explained the rise and fall of each of these civilizations as due to their differential emphasis over time and space. It is frequently stated that the previous civilization was replaced by the new one because the new one corrected the previous one in its failure to strengthen the control over time (or space), and the new one was replaced by the newer one because while overcorrecting the previous one, the new civilization weakened its control over space (or time). It seems the civilizations alternate between control over time and over space, trying to reach the equilibrium.

Innis believed the inherent traits of the primary communication medium in each civilization determine whether it would emphasize the control over time or space. Media heavy but durable, like clay and stone, led to emphasis on control over time, while media light but perishable, like papyrus and parchment, led to emphasis on control over space.

Innis’s propositions are original, especially by assigning communication medium such a critical role in historical development of human civilization. It is inspiring that the medium affects potentials for the content, channels and influence of communication, which affect the control and stability of a civilization. Using tangible artifacts such as stone and papyrus to explain human history may sound more convincing to many people than inferring from historical events and figures, the “facts” of which are frequently under dispute.

However, Innis’s view is a strong version of technology determinism. The available technology, the communication medium in this case, is the only determinant for the development of human civilization. No agency is counted, either in selection among alternative media or in the actual organizing and governing carried out in different civilizations. Human beings seem completely passive and controlled by the communication medium. Therefore, while offering a new and intriguing perspective, Innis missed many other factors that should be taken into consideration, and offered an oversimplified explanation.

Posted by jwang40 at 03:34 PM | Permalink

In the early history of both radio and telephone, the business and military use of the technology overshadowed the general public’s use. It was the Navy and a few big companies that first employed the new technologies and heavily influenced the early development of the technologies. They seemed to have a good understanding of the benefits the new technologies could bring them. The general public adopted the new technologies much later.

However, in Trinidad, according to Miller and Slater’s description, the general public welcomed the Internet more quickly and with more enthusiasm. The majority of the households in Trinidad have at least one family member who gets online. Email and online chatting are nothing novel to the Trinidadians. Many people even created their own websites and take the responsibility to introduce Trinidad to the world.

Compared to all this, the Trinidadian business world is far left behind. Most companies seem have no idea what the Internet can do for them. They know it is a cool thing, and they are supposed to use it, but they don’t know how to use it. Therefore, many of them just use it for their online “flyer.” They have no suggestions on what to put on their website or how to design it, let alone how to use it for ecommerce, like integrating the front and the back sides. The whole advertising industry was virtually taking no part in the development of the Internet in Trinidad, and few of them have their own website (p.153)

There are at least two reasons for this difference. The first reason is about the development stage of the technology. In the books on radio and telephone, we read about the “birth” of the technology: at that time and in that place, that technology, though as a combination of many previously existing technologies, occurred and was adopted for the first time. However, the Trinidad story is different. When the Internet was introduced into Trinidad, it has been widely adopted both by the business and the general public in US and other developed countries. The telecommunication and ISP companies and the general public all know how the Internet can serve the general public and what a big market it is. Thus, the market for the general public was not ignored or left behind.

The Trinidadian characteristics are another reason. The big-scaled overseas migration of the Trinidadian population makes the general public whole-heartedly appreciate the function of the Internet in connecting geographically dispersed family members. However, reluctance of the business world is also rooted in the Trinidadian characteristics. Their inadequate infrastructure and small local market make the business world believe that any reasonable level of expenditure is not justified (p.154). Therefore, for the Internet in Trinidad, it is the general public’s use surpassing the business’s use.

Posted by jwang40 at 10:55 PM | Permalink