2. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT
TECHNOLOGIES WOULD EXIST IN THE
FUTURE?
When thinking about all the exciting
innovations in our horizon I was
able to decide on the three I felt
would be the most widely
accepted by society.
4. I WAS ABLE TO COME TO THESE
CONCLUSIONS BY USING THE FOLLOWING
THEORIES:
The Umbrella Perspective
Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation
Moore’s Innovation Adoption Rate
Critical Mass Theory
Uses and Gratifications
Media System Dependency Theory
Social Learning
The Theory of the Long Tail
5. THE UMBRELLA PERSPECTIVE
The Umbrella Perspective is a way of translating the
meaning behind how communication technologies
come to be, how they work, and how they make their
way into society. There are five segments, all of which
fit together to make an umbrella, that describes this
process. Those five segments are:
Hardware
Software
Organizational Infrastructure
Social System:
Individual Users
6. ROGER’S DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION
According to Grant (2004), “This theory tries to
explain how an innovation is communicated over time
through different channels to members of a social
system”. When Grants speaks of the different
channels, he is explaining how innovations like the
iPhone or Kindle are presented to society through
different forms of media, including, television
commercials, internet ads, product placement, etc. In
essence this theory explains how and why this
innovation is or is not accepted within a given society.
7. MOORE’S INNOVATION ADOPTION RATE
In this theory we are taught about who are the first to adopt a new
technology and the last. Along with that we also lean the rate at
which different types of people adopt a new technology into their
world and the greater society. Grant (2004) explains "the rate of
adoption generally follows an S-shaped “diffusion curve” where
the X-axis is time and the Y-axis is percent of adopters”.
9. WIDESPREAD USE OF VIDEO MESSAGING
Using the previous theories I was able to gain a
better perspective of how Video Messaging will make
it’s way into society as a widespread communication
technology by the year 2021.
We are already on the way there with many
Innovators and Early Adopters using this technology.
In addition to this, many media formats are also
presenting this new technology in a positive and
reinforcing light.
10. CRITICAL MASS THEORY
The Critical Mass Theory discusses the point at which
a society begins to assimilate an innovation into
everyday life. An example of how the Critical Mass
Theory works would be when the iPods first came
out. At the beginning many people seemed hesitant
to switch over to a new music medium, but once they
learned more about the technology and how it worked
slowly people began to see the value in them. Now
you can’t walk down the street without seeing
someone using one.
11. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
The Uses and Gratifications Theory is used to
determine just that “Uses and Gratifications”. Have
you ever wondered what makes a product or
technology so successful? Does the technology
satisfy some basic need? Is it used for relaxation or
excitement? Is it used by habit? The Uses and
Gratification Theory seeks to answer these questions
and more.
12. MEDIA SYSTEM DEPENDENCY THEORY
According to Grant (1991), the Media System
Dependency Theory is “an ecological theory that
attempts to explore the role of media in society
by examining dependency relations within and
across levels of analysis” (p. 774). What this
means is that this theory attempts to explain why
people have dependencies on media. The
theory explains that there three types of needs
that are being
met, understanding, orientation, and play.
14. WISESPREAD USE OF TOUCH SCREEN
COMPUTERS
The aforementioned theories were effective in helping
me determine whether the widespread use of Touch
Screen Computers would be used in the future.
Touch Screen Computers are the new wave of
computer technology that provides ease in collecting
and transmitting data thus making communication
easier than ever before.
Furthermore, Touch Screen Computers are already
being assimilated into our society through the use of
Touch Screen Phones.
15. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
The Social Learning Theory examines how people
learn through modeling. An example of this would be
someone seeing me using my Translation Device to
speak with someone from another country, who
speaks a different language. After seeing me do that
they become aware of the product and may go pick it
up for themselves.
Either way they have been taught and modeled how
to use this new technology.
16. THE THEORY OF LONG TAIL
The Theory of the Long Tail explains how our society
is moving away from just providing consumers with
the most popular products, TV Shows, and Albums
and moving more in the direction of providing to niche
markets. What Chris Anderson, creator of the Theory
was able to discover was that “taken one at a
time, these niche markets may not generate
significant revenue but when they are
aggregated, these markets are significant”
(Grant, 2004, p. 49)
18. UNIVERSAL TRANSLATION DEVICES
Universal Translation devices are the next wave of
communicating.
As we as a society become more global, we also are
finding new ways to communicate like never before.
This type of device is already being used but by 2021
it will so widespread that anyone could travel to
another county and be able to speak with someone
with a different language then them without actually
learning the language.
This new innovation will open up worldwide
communication like we have never seen before.
19. DISCOVERING A DIFFERENT TOMORROW
Throughout the course of this semester I have been able
to learn about technology and how it greatly affects
our communication as a society.
With the new innovations of the future I was able to see
the possibility of future innovation. The truly excited to
see what comes next.
20. REFERENCE
. Grant, A.& Harman Meadows, J. (2001)
Communication Technology Update and
Fundamentals. Burlingham, MA: Focal Press.
