Communication Technology

Jenna Kelly

What will the communication technology landscape look like in 2021 A.D.?

How we as a society currently use technology……

Social Networking

The Umbrella Perspective on Communication Technology

• Hardware - the communication technology itself

• Software - the messages/content of the communication technology

• Organizational Infrastructure - those involved in the production/distribution

• Social System - the political, economic and media systems environment etc.

• Individual Users - actual and potential

Using the Umbrella Perspective: Xbox

• Xbox Live• Hardware-a gaming device that

allows you to play video games and chat online with opponents.

• Software-With over 23 million members, Xbox Live is unstoppable and provides entertainment to a large portion of our population.

• Organizational Infrastructure—Microsoft owns Xbox and they are far ahead of their competitors, Sony and Nintendo when it comes to production and distribution of the product.

• Social System-Xbox live is more than a gaming system. Microsoft has integrated social media into their plan making it very easy to update your Facebook status, stream videos, tweet, and connect face to face with friends and family via Kinect.

• Users-Loyal gamers. Potential users would be celebrities endorsing the device via social media outlets. Example: LeBron James playing Call of Duty on Youtube, Charlie Sheen tweeting about the latest Madden game.

Critical Mass Theory

Critical mass can be applied to many different aspects of sociodynamics. It becomes increasingly applicable to innovations in interactive media.

• “Critical mass" is the small segment of a societal system that does the work or action required to achieve the common good.

Using Critical Mass Theory: Pinterest

• “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.”

Pinterest is an innovative way to socially connect with a massive group of people and share common interests.

Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation

Knowledge – person becomes aware of an innovation and has some idea of how it functions.

•   Persuasion – person forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the innovation.

• Decision – person engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject the innovation.

• Implementation – person puts an innovation into use.

• Confirmation – person evaluates the results of an innovation-decision already made. 

Using Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation: Blogging

Knowledge: User may research different blog sites to find one that best suits their personal needs.

Persuasion: User would make a decision on which blog to create based on personal research.

Decision: Person would create the blog and make a decision of they enjoy using it or not.

Implementation: Success, and uses the blog regularly!

Confirmation: Blogger it is

Uses and Gratifications Theory

• What people do with media rather than what media does to people.

• How people use media at their convenience.

• Cognitive needs• Affective needs• Personal Integrative

needs• Social Integrative needs• Tension free needs

Using the Uses and Gratification Theory: e-readers

• E-readers such as the Kindle have changed the book industry and reading material drastically.

• The compact device is sleek, easy to use, and takes up minimal space.

• Society ‘needs’ this over a book for the mere fact that we are in the Digital Age, and books are on their way out completely, unfortunately.

Dependency Theory

• You become dependent on media information to meet certain needs and achieve certain goals.

• You rely on the media for information more so than before.

Using Dependency Theory: TiVo, On-Demand Television

• The TiVo® Premiere DVR is the world's first Smart DVR. It brings the best entertainment from cable and the web together in one place, with one remote and one simple search across everything.

Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Theory

People can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational learning (or modeling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors.

• Albert Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning.

Using social learning theory/social cognitive theory: reality television

• People watch reality television shows to vicariously live the lives of celebrities and normal folk to feel a sense of stability and normalcy.

• People watch and learn the lives of others to observe and operate in similar ways as they see on television.

The Principle of Relative Constancy

• This principle states that consumers spend a constant fraction of their income on mass media over time (constancy assumption), although they are expected to alter their spending patterns within mass media categories in response to the introduction of new mass media products or services (functional equivalence assumption).

Using the Principle of Relative Constancy: getting the latest phone

• Consumers feel as if they must keep up with the latest trends in cellular devices regardless if the phones serve the same purpose because our wants and needs extend with technology.

THE LONGTAIL THEORY

The Long Tail theory suggests that, as the Internet makes distribution easier -- and uses state-of-the-art recommendation systems that allows consumers to become aware of more obscure products -- demand will shift from the most popular products at the "head" of a demand curve .

Long Tail Theory in use: iTunes

• iTunes is a perfect example of the Long Tail because it provides ample opportunity for unknown artists to be discovered by fans based on search results and similar artists. It is a media that provides opportunity for up and coming artists.

In 2021……

Now that you’ve seen the why’s of technology today, here is a look at

our potential future.

Smartphones with breathalyzers?

• Although some may joke about such a thing, I foresee it happening and think it could potentially prevent many drunk driving incidents.

Technology taking jobs?

• Many fast food chains have already cut jobs and replaced them with robots, and it seems to be a continuing trend.

• Robots and computer machines can enter orders and date via voice based or by punching in numbers—which saves companies money and also takes jobs from citizens.

Sources Cited• Dependency Theory. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from • http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass

%20Media/Dependency%20Theory.doc/.

• • Retrieved December 10, 2011, from • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass_(sociodynamics).• • Retrieved December 12, 2011, from • http://www.fsc.yorku.ca/york/istheory/wiki/index.php/Diffusion_of_inno

vations_theory.

• • Longtail Theory. Retrieved from December 12, 2011 from, • http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2338.

Cont’d• Uses and Gratification. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from• http://communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/. • • The Mechanism of Diffusion. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from • http://www.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm• • • Retrieved December 10, 2011, from

http://people.bethel.edu/~socsco/ComTech/ComTechTheory.html. • • Psychology Today. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from • The Mechanism of Diffusion. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from • http://www.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm. • • Xbox Information. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from • www.xbox.com.• • I do not own any copyrights to any photographs. All photographs came from the search engine:

www.google.com .