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Chapter Summary
Chapter 5 investigates how technology diffuses in society. The chapter provides an overview of the key concepts, theories, and research findings in the diffusion of innovations literature and discusses them in relation to the diffusion of specific technologies, such as the iPad Pro, FitBits, and AI assistants. The aim of the chapter is to examine key adopter groups, the differences among them, and their salient characteristics. Everett Rogers’s classic model of the diffusion of innovations, his model of the innovation decision process, and his categorization of adopter groups are elucidated in great detail to provide students with the necessary foundations in the field of diffusion of innovations. As part of this overview, innovators and early adopters are discussed as being among those who play active roles in promoting and diffusing new tools. Also discussed is how governments boost innovation through policy.
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, you should learn to do the following:
- to look at how technology is designed and developed prior to users adopting it;
- to trace the emergence of technopoles and uncover their social significance in the context of modern cities and economies;
- to discuss the concept of the creative class and show how it is leading toward economic prosperity in post-industrial cities;
- to investigate the concept of research and development (R&D) and the pressures existent in the sector;
- to examine the inner workings and outer pressures of software development teams, in particular in the gaming industry; and
- to uncover the ways in which algorithms structure how we see the world and serve as tools of oppression.