Question Time: 'there is little question that new communication technologies are spread through the diffusion of innovations process. However, how might new communication media themselves contribute to the diffusion of innovations process and other innovations?'

As this is my first attempt at creating my own blog post on the internet, to make life a little easier for myself i am going to break the question down into smaller parts and then answer it as a whole.
The 'Diffusion of Innovation' theory is a process given to who, what rate, when, where, why and how new ideas/innovations are adopted in society. With the rise of new communication technologies, it is fair to blame the innovators for taking on these new technologies and developing them further so that they can reach us ‘early’ or ‘late majority’ groups further down the track (Flew 2008).

This is the way that I have tried to answer the question:
New communications technology is spread through the diffusion of innovations process

Then...

How might...

New communication media contribute to the diffusion of innovations process for other innovations?

I believe that new communication media in today’s society contributes to the diffusion of innovations process for other innovations because it speeds up the process of diffusion on the groups associated with the theory. In simpler terms, as early adopters find something better to adopt, those in the late majority and the laggards finally catch on to the new idea/innovation and the process starts again.

An example of this process begins with the example given to us during the lecture about the Texas Hook ‘em’ Horns team. Rather than go on again about that example I thought it would be more interesting to draw in one of my own. Recently, whilst visiting my Grandparents I was excited to come across an iPod owned by none other than my 84 year old Grandfather, Papa. Although i am now on my 5th iPod and my 1st iPhone, you can imagine my excitement when he approached me for help downloading iTunes and music onto his new ‘music player’. The process was lengthy and everything had to be explained 400 times. Eventually both he and I gave up and I continued to put the music on there so he wouldn’t have to worry about the software updates and other crap associated with iTunes. As a non-computer user with a dial up modem, it proved really hard for him to come to terms with.

I consider Papa part of the late majority to laggards group of iPods and MP3 players in society today. As us kids are adopting the new iPhones or the brand new Nano’s with video or any other high tech, highly expensive gadgetry, he has just adopted an iPod. The flimsy, original-looking iPod that does exactly what it is meant to –play music. To his mates (who are also in their 80’s) he is an early adopter who has found a trend and will educate his mates on how to use it, eventually, then they become part of the late majority. And further down the track, I expect their ‘dinner parties’ and ‘boating trips’ to become dance festivals with my sad attempt at filling up my 84 year old Grandfather’s iPod with music that is some what easy-to-listen-to.
As a student at a great university, it was drilled into me from day one, never to use Wikipedia for anything other than gaining further useless research. As this is a blog (and part of my research) I have to admit I agree with the statement made on Wiki’s new media page. It is as follows ‘‘new media changes continuously due to the fact that it is constantly being modified and redefined by the interaction between the creative use of the masses’, emerging technologies (brought on by innovators) and cultural changes in society’ (2009). This statement sums up my view on answering the tutorial question, again, the fact that it is a cycle and new media communication will speed up the diffusion of innovations process.

Recently whilst driving to uni, I was listening to Rebecca Livingstone and John Birmingham on the morning show on 612 ABC Brisbane. A topic unknown to me was brought up about the technological move away from reality to what we know now as virtual reality and further on towards a world of, wait for it, Augmented reality. Augmented Reality? Sounds like something out of some type of war game. Actually, my research suggests, it is a ‘display in which simulated imagery, graphics, or symbology is superimposed on a view of the surrounding environment’ (Herts). According to the website ‘How Stuff Works’ the basic idea of augmented reality is to ‘superimpose graphics, audio and other sense enhancements over a real-world environment in real-time’ which will excite those innovators and early adopters (Bonsor 2009).
This is another example of how new communication media has contributed to the diffusion of innovations process and other (new) innovations in the sence that Rebecca and John from 612 just educated me on ‘Augmented Reality’ and what it means for the future. From my research I can now download an iPhone application that demonstrates augmented reality called the ‘TwitaRound’ application, coincidently, it shows nearby Twitter users (digital-media.net.au). Along with this comes another new iPhone application that is bound to be a great party trick. ‘Nameo’ allows iPhone users to download an application that delivers the business cards of people in the room and the ability to exchange the card in one simple click (Abbasi 2009). This shows evidently, that I am now an early adoptor of this technology (within reason) I’ve heard about it from an innovator and now I will show it to my friends and alas, the cycle continues.

Although new communication technology is spread through the diffusions of innovations process, newer communication media technology contributes to the diffusion process in multiple ways. As technology gets better the diffusion of innovations theory lifecycle is consistently being reset again and again. This process is speeding up partly due to society and their acceptance of new ideas and new communication technology.


References
(2009, 23/09/09). “New Media.” Retrieved 29/09/09, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media.
Abbasi, S. A. (2009). “I Phone App Nameo: A virtual business card exchanger.” 2009 from http://startupmeme.com/iphone-app-nameo-a-virtual-business-card-exchanger/
(16/06/09). “Augmented Reality iPhone app brings mobile directions into the real world.” Retrieved 29/09/09, from http://www.digital-media.net.au/article/Augmented-reality-iPhone-app-brings-mobile-directions-into-the-real-world/490667.aspx.
Bonsor, K. (2009) How Augmented Reality Will Work. How Stuff Works Volume, DOI:
Flew, T. (2008). New Media, Oxford University Press
Herts, D. “eMagin.” Retrieved 29/09/09, 2009, from http://www.emagin.com/technology/glossary.php