5. The Umbrella Perspective on
Communication Technology
• Stems from the work of
Everett M. Rogers
(1931-2004) and Sandra
J. Ball –Rokeach (b.
1941). (August E. Grant,
Jennifer H. Meadows,
Communication
Technology Update, p.
2)
6. The Umbrella Perspective on
Communication Technology
• Understands Communication Technology on Five Levels:
• Hardware: the technology itself
• Software: the content of the technology
• Organizational Infrastructure: those involved in the
production/distribution of the technology
• Social System - the political, economic and media systems
environment etc.
• Individual Users - Users of technology, both actual and
potential
8. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations
• “Diffusion is the process in which an
innovation is communicated through
certain channels over time among the
members of a social system.” – Everett M.
Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations: 5th
Edition, p. 5
9. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations
• Elements:
• Innovation
• Communication
• Time
• Social system
11. Moore’s Innovation Adoption
Rate
• In his book Crossing
the Chasm, Geoffrey
A. Moore (b. 1946)
built upon Rogers’
work and published a
theory of innovation of
adoption rate.
12. Moore’s Innovation Adoption
Rate• Moore posits that innovations are adopted gradually
in phases. These consumers are characterized as:
• Innovators
• Early adapters
• Early majority
• Late majority
• Laggards
13. Moore’s Innovation Adoption
Rate
• “We have a bell curve.
The divisions in the
curve are roughly
equivalent to where
standard deviations
fall” (Moore, Crossing
the Chasm, p. 11)
14. Critical Mass Theory
• Critical Mass Theory is
another topic
addressed thoroughly
in Everett M. Rogers’
Diffusion of
Innovations.
15. Critical Mass Theory
• Critical mass is the sufficient number of adopters
of a particular innovation in a social system to
make the rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining
and create further growth.
16. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• Uses and gratifications theory is an audience-
centered approach to understanding why and
how people actively seek out specific media to
satisfy specific needs. It is unique in it focus on
how people use media.
17. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• Uses and
Gratifications Theory
has been developed
over time. In 1944,
Herta Herzog (1910-
2010) interviewed
soap opera listeners
and discovered three
gratifications
categories: emotional,
wishful thinking, and
learning.
18. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• The theory underwent a revival in the 1970s.
Elihu Katz (b. 1926), Jay Blumler (b. 1924),
Michael Gurevitch (1930-2008) and others have
expanded upon Herzog's work, making great
contributions to Uses and Gratifications Theory.
19. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• There are many reasons people use
media. Four primary factors for which
one may use the media:
• Diversion: Escape from routine and
problems; an emotional release
• Personal Relationships: Social utility
of information in conversation;
substitution of media for
companionship
• Personal Identity or Individual
Psychology: Value reinforcement or
reassurance; self-understanding,
reality exploration
• Surveillance: Information about
factors which might affect one or will
help one do or accomplish something
20. Media Systems Dependency Theory
• Media systems
dependency theory
was developed by
Sandra Ball-Rokeach
(b. 1941) and Melvin
DeFleur (b. 1923) in
1976 in an article titled
“A dependency model
of mass-media
effects”.
Communication
Research 3 (1): 3–21.
21. Media Systems Dependency Theory
• Media System
Dependency Theory
argues that there is a
positive correlation
between media and
dependency: The more
dependent a person is on
media to meet needs, the
more prevalent media will
be in the person's life,
and consequently the
person will be more
affected by media.
22. Media Systems Dependency Theory
• Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur
identify three media needs
which determine how
important media is to a person
at any given moment:
• 1. Surveillance: The need to
understand one's social world
• 2. Social Uitlity: The need to
act meaningfully and
effectively in that world
• 3) Fantasy-Escape: The need
to escape from that world
when tensions are high
23. Social Learning Theory/
Social Cognitive Theory
• Social cognitive theory postulates that knowledge
acquisition can be directly related to observing
others within the context of outside media
influences.
24. Social Learning Theory/
Social Cognitive Theory
• Social cognitive theory
developed from the
social learning theory
proposed by Neal E.
Miller (1909-2002) and
John Dollard (1900-
1980) in 1941.
25. The Theory of the Long Tail
• The theory of the Long Tail states that society is
increasingly shifting away from a focus on a
relatively small number mainstream products at the
head of the demand curve and toward a huge
number of niches in the tail.
26. The Theory of the Long Tail
• A big factor in the Theory
of the Long Tail is the
Internet. The web allows
consumers to find less
popular items and
subjects. Products with
lesser demand can now
find an audience. For
instance, Amazon, Netflix
and iTunes can afford to
feature lesser known
books, movies and
songs. respectively
27. The Theory of the Long Tail
• The Theory of the Long
Tail is obviously relatively
new. It was popularized by
Chris Anderson (b. 1961)
in an article in the October
2004 issue of Wired
magazine article. He
expounded on the theory
in his book The Long Tail:
Why the Future of
Business Is Selling Less of
More (2006).
28. The Principle of Relative
Constancy
• The Principle of
Relative Constancy
claims that the
popularity of new
media will not
completely eliminate
established forms of
media. For example,
the internet will not
make TV, radio or
newspapers obsolete.
29. The Principle of Relative
Constancy
• For instance, the rise
of television in the
1950s cut into the
market shares of
movies, radio and
newspapers. But those
media survived.
31. Smartphones
• The smart phone is a is a
mobile phone with
advanced computing
capacity and connectivity.
The device was
conceptualized in 1973
but was not produced
until 1994. The term
“smart phone” debuted in
1997, when Ericsson
dubbed its GS 88
“Penelope” concept as a
Smart Phone.
32. Smartphones
• In June 2013, the Pew Research Center’s Internet &
American Life Project, reported that 61% of Americans
own a smart phone.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/06/more-
than-half-of-americans-own-smartphones/)
33. Smartphones
• 61& marks a significant
jump is smart phone
ownership. According to
Pew’s previous reports,
the figure is up from 46&
in February 2012 and
35% in May 2011.
(http://abcnews.go.com/bl
ogs/technology/2013/06/
more-than-half-of-
americans-own-
smartphones/)
• Based on Moore’s
Innovation Adaptation
Rate, the smart phone
has surpassed the point
of innovators , early
adopters and early
majority and entered the
point of a late majority.
34. Smartphones
• In May 2013, smartphone
ownership reached critical
mass for the first time in
the United States. The
device is now self –
sustaining.
(http://news.cnet.com/830
1-1035_3-57587932-
94/smartphone-
ownership-reaches-
critical-mass-in-the-u.s/)
35. Smartphones
• Smartphones have the capacity to
meet most needs of the Uses and
Gratifications Theory. In June
2013, research by Parks
Associates reported that 48% of
U.S. smartphone users currently
use apps for day-to-day
information and entertainment. In
addition, 15% a smartphone
phone to order food while 12%
use the device to shop.
(http://www.mobilesecurityzone.co
m/topics/mobile-
security/articles/343963-what-
people-use-their-
smartphones.htm)
36. Smartphones
• Smartphones are also
exemplars of the Media
Systems Dependency
Theory. In May 2013, a
study from Experian
discovered that users
spend an average of 58
minutes per day on their
smartphones. Talk time still
outweighed times spent on
other applications.
(http://www.cnn.com/2013/0
5/29/tech/mobile/smartphon
e-time-study)
37. Smartphones
• Smartphones are here to
stay. It is predicted that
by 2015, 84% of mobile
users in North America
and 88% in Western
Europe will be
smartphone users.
(http://www.mobilesecurit
yzone.com/topics/mobile-
security/articles/343963-
what-people-use-their-
smartphones.htm)
38. The Internet
• The Internet is a global
system of interconnected
computer networks that
use the standard Internet
protocol suite. Developed
in the 1960s, the Internet
has had a tremendous
impact on culture and
commerce since the mid-
1990s and now serves
several billion users
worldwide.
39. Social Networking
• A social networking service is a platform to build social
networks or social relations among people. Numerous
social networking applications are available to
contemporary users.
40. Television
• Television is a medium
for transmitting and
receiving moving images
and sounds. Kenjiro
Takayanagi
demonstrated the first
working television in
Japan in 1926. The
technology became
commercially available in
the late 1920s and has
been a primary means of
communication since the
1950s.
