Social Scientists and their Theories on New Media

Social Aspects of New Media Technologies

Presentation slide deck:

Social Aspects of New Media Technologies

Williams, F., Strover, S. and Grant, A. E. (1994). Social aspects of new media technologies. In J. Bryant J. & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 463-482). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

While many people and researches have defined the term “New Media” in different ways, one of the interpretations offered in this book is that sometimes new media is the extensions of older forms of media or enhancements to existing ones. Researchers found that new media seem to influence individuals’ and groups’ patterns and capabilities for communication. For social scientists, the human and social impact, such as applications and consequences, is of more interest to them than the technology itself.

Uses and Gratifications

The basis for uses and gratifications is looking at active audiences who use goal-directed media to fulfill gratifications and how they interact with technology to make sense of the varied messages. Indeed, there is a noticeable variability in how audiences interact (in terms of nature of media, effects, patterns of use, and the process) with the increasingly varied forms of messages. Consider Cable Television technology for an example. When cable companies first introduced their services, they were lucky to have found their consumers already existing in the market (those already owning TV sets).  Those consumers, when applying Christensen’s signals for change lens, happened to be undershot customers willing to pay a little more in exchange for improved television reception and variety/specific programing, such as news, sports, movie channels, and so on (Christensen, Anthony, Roth 1994).

As more and more people acquired cable television, viewing behavior was categorized into 2 styles: 1. Ritualized: or habitual. In our household for example, my husband always wants to see what’s on TV, and has to have the TV on for absolutely no specific reason or purpose, but for the mere fulfillment that it is providing background noise sometimes.
2. Instrumental: or purposeful. I certainly fall within this group because I am a highly selective viewer who knows exactly what shows I want to watch and when they come on.  The use of DVR technology (which was introduced even later) to record my favorite shows and skip all advertisements; a development associated with Diffusion Threshold which I will touch on later on in this abstract, further refined my selectivity and viewing behavior.

Critical Mass

For the purposes of this reading, Critical Mass means the number of individuals who must be involved in a social movement before it may “explode” into being.  In other words, it is when a certain technology gets to a point where it is widely adopted by users to a state of “all or none”.  Electronic Mail and Facsimile are clear examples. Here is a funny anecdote I would like to share to illustrate when you know a certain technology has achieved critical mass. As an international student in Tennessee State University in 1995, and having recently emigrated from Syria, I didn’t own a computer of course or even have an email account/address. At an International Student Conference, where I got to meet many incredible students from across the globe, I felt immediately excluded when I saw the reactions (some of which were a bit extreme) of my new friends as they found out I didn’t have email! I clearly recall one of the students from Japan who literally started banging her head against the wall, and another from Portugal who faked fainting upon learning this news. You can imagine how I felt at the time and exactly what I was planning to do as soon as I arrived home later that week. The rational behind my reaction is summarized in the following quote from this chapter: “People may be forced to adopt a communication technology, with all the benefits and drawback that go along with it, simply to maintain their current communication networks.” (William, Strover, Grant, 1994).

In applying Christensen’s theories on Signals of Change, I was clearly a non-customer who didn’t see any value in obtaining electronic mail to transport messages the same way snail mail or telephone can! After my experience at the students’ conference, I was quickly converted to an overshot customer, who was pressured to pay for a service they didn’t see the value in. Ironically, it wasn’t long before my siblings across the country acquired email accounts and I happened to start working from home. My new circumstances this time, took my out of the overshot customer bucket into the into the undershot customer bucket because my basic email service was no longer satisfactory which meant I was on the hunt for better, faster service with enhanced features and capabilities (Christensen, Anthony, Roth 2004).

It is important to note however, that in order for certain technologies to reach critical mass, a certain set of technical standards, vertical integration, and compatibility with existing technologies are necessary. This is how the term “diffusion threshold” is explained in this book. One easy example of it is the VCR technology. Of course, attracting advertisers’ support is another hurdle to overcome before achieving critical mass so that the technology is able to sustain its own distribution and adoption.

Diffusion of Innovations

Is how we reach a decision to adopt a new technology or not. This process encompasses four different steps, and I will link them to a recent experience at work to help explain each of the stages: 1. Knowledge: I recently became aware of something new (The release of Internet Explorer 9) through the Microsoft’s MSW site as well as other sources, but at the time, I hadn’t formed an opinion about whether or not this new product is valuable. 2. Persuasion: Since then, I’ve made attitudinal evaluations of the idea and further inquired
about IE9, by asking my office mate about the learning curve and his experience
with IE9 since he only installed it a week before. I also logged on to the company’s internal website to learn more about it. This series of rational behaviors is the basis for forming a decision. 3. Decision: Either adopting or rejecting. In this case, I’ve decided to adopt the innovation by installing IE9 on my machine, but it doesn’t stop me from continuing to react and reevaluate my decision. 4. Confirmation: Did I make the right decision? I am  either confirming that I’ve made the right decision or possibly considering reversing my decision. Even though I am annoyed by some of the changes made to the use interface (which don’t make any sense to me), I plan to stick to my initial decision to adopt IE 9,  especially after having learned that IE10 is already in the works, and I certainly don’t want to be left behind.

Credits

Williams, F., Strover, S. and Grant, A. E. (1994). Social aspects of new media technologies. In J. Bryant J. & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 463-482). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Christensen, C. M., Anthony, S. D. and Roth, E.A. (2004). Seeing what’s next. (pp. 3-27). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4398562798/

04/20 update: Reflection on in-class discussion:

It was very helpful to lead the discussion more than just once, and it was certainly the first time I’ve been asked to do so. Usually, I prepare, present, and be done with it. Yes, I often ask for feedback from multiple attendees and make a genuin effort to consider their constructive criticism, but this was different.

In the first discussion, I ran out of time. There was so much more I still wanted to discuss with group 4, and there wasn’t much time left for questions. In the second round, I stopped both videos half way and talked fast. This left plenty of time for answering questions, but the rushed pace, took away from the substance and effectiveness of the presentation.

Third time is a charm! By the 3rd time, I had mastered the pace, and identified the most important points participants were curious about or had questions about. I received great feedback from my peers in the last group and was happy to have gone through this exercise for the first time.

Another learning from this incredible experience is to think of the setting. Not only it is important to think of your story and audience, but thinking and visualizing the setting would’ve been helpful and I am pretty sure I would’ve altered my presentation as a result. As I finalized my presentation, I didn’t consider the loud classroom or the fact that 5 discussion leaders were presenting to different groups simultaneously, otherwise I would’ve shortened the two- minute long video I had embedded in my presentation. When I viewed my slide show at home, the video made sense and was actually pretty funny, but due to the noise in the classroom and the fact that my audience was watching and listening to my presentation using my little laptop, the video lost its impact.

All great learnings, thank you Kathy!

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