Diffusion of Innovation Diffusion Research

Diffusion of Innovation

Diffusion Research

The Internet

Daisley, L. (2007). How the Internet Changed the World. The Morning News.

URL: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/how-the-internet-changed-the-world

Tags: change management, innovations, modern innovations, the "modern" world

Summation: In many ways, the reason the Internet changed the world so much was that it changed the way people performed day-to-day tasks. Communication was by phone or letter; research was done at a library, purchasing at a store, and to compare prices, one had to drive to each individual store. Information was limited, but accessible in certain areas, but it was not immediate. Instead, finding information quickly has become commonplace; knowing which information to embrace or discard still remains a problem.

Chapter: 5 Diffusion Research

Personal Computers

Citation: Manes, S. (October 20, 1999). The Machine that Changed my World. PC World.

URL: http://www.pcworld.com/article/13377/the_machine_that_changed_my_world.html

Tags: change management, innovations, computers, first computers, computer hardware

Summation: It is difficult to imagine a world without Smart Phones, Laptops and Personal Computers. Memory and storage in early computers were so precious that programming was not very sophisticated. Now, research can be done, many items can be published at home, and interactive machines with thousands of times more memory now cost just a few hundred dollars. Not only has this changed the way we work, but more why we work. And, as information becomes more valuable as a commodity, new technological innovations will continue to inform and guide the public.

Chapter: 5 Diffusion Research

Mobile Phones

Citation: Meek, J. (November 10, 2002). Hi, I'm G2. The Guardian.

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2002/nov/11/mobilephones.electronicgoods

Tags: telephony, cell phones, smart phones, telephone innovations, digital technology

Summation: Almost everyone in the United States and the EU own a cell phone, and every 6th person in the world owns one. Each day, thousands of new users access digital technology and become new users of cell phones. Legal clerics in Islamic countries now must rule whether chat via cell phone constitutes viable legal communication. Along with the internet, the mobile phone has changed society because it allows for relatively instant gratification. We cannot wait to think about a letter, we must respond NOW. Telephony has even changed the languages in many countries: not simply due to talking, but more to changing the language for texting, etc.

Chapter: 6 Typology

DNA Testing/Sequencing

Citation: Rimmer, L. (May 30, 2011). 5 Ways a DNA Test that Can Change Your World View.

URL: http://www.abroadintheyard.com/ways-dna-test-can-change-your-world-view-human-origins/

Tags: Medical innovations, medical equipment, worldview, genetics

Summation: We now know definitively that modern humans are almost genetically alike, Because of genetic sequencing, we have a greater understanding of genetic information, race, ethnicity, and the origins on modern mankind. We know what it is that contributes to making us individuals, and what information is simple "there" for reasons we cannot understand.

Chapter: 6 Typology

Fiber Optics

Citation: Harris, R. (October 6, 2009). Fiber Optics, Imaging Pioneers Win Physics Nobel.

URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113527362

Tags: Science innovations, innovations that changed the world, innovations with light, nobel winners

Summation: Fiber optic cables make our modern world possible, carrying huge amounts of information to and fro rapidly and without issues like los calls, lost television signals, etc. In addition, because of range of distances that information now must travel for it to be viable, fiber optic networks are a must. This innovation is also an example of crossover issues; as information technology required more and more outputs, this technology evolved to handle that same information in a synergistic manner -- the more information that needed to travel the more companies would innovate to ensure compatibility.

Chapter: 6 Typology

Genetically modified foods

Citation: Melnick, M. (September 20, 2010). 6 Genetically Modified Foods That Changed The World.

URL: http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/20/6-genetically-modified-foods-that-changed-the-world/

Tags: genetics, genetics and food, genetically modified foods, modern food production

Summation: Despite many scare tactics; modifying certain crops has the potential to change the world to a point in which hunger is not as much of a problem for Third World countries that are heavily dependent upon certain agricultural products (e.g. rice). The idea is to modify certain portions of the genetic code in plants to code for certain pests, or to allow for drought or other unseasonable conditions. The theory is that if more products make it to harvest, some of the world's food issues and hunger problems will be resolved.

Chapter: 7 Bias and Blame

MRI Imaging Technology

Citation: Butterworth, T. (May 24, 2007). Fifteen People Who Changed The World. Forbes.

URL: http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/23/people-changed-world-tech-07rev_cz_tb_0524changers.html

Tags: science innovation, the brain, surgery, modern medicine, medical innovations

Summation: Using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Technology), we can now envision the body in three dimensions and find hidden information, particularly regarding the brain. This has enabled us to completely change surgery, since we can see what is going on with an individual's body without cutting. In fact, it has dramatically changed the manner in which we even understand certain parts of the body; for instance the brain, in which individual differentiation is not apparent to the naked eye.

Chapter: 7 Bias and Blame

Social Networking

Citation: Social Networks and How They Have Changed the World. (2010). All Things CRM.

URL: http://www.allthingscrm.com/crm-basics/social-networks-and-how-they-have-changed-the-world-of-business.html

Tags: social networking, modern society, change management, innovations that changed people

Summation: The modern world is different because of the manner in which Internet communication both enhances and detracts from the typical way humans dealt with each other for millennia. Contact management in business, for instance, was a chore, and took up a great deal of time -- now it is part of being linked in to the right contact software. Just in business social networking allows for dissemination of information about companies, generating new contacts, and opening up communication between customers and people who have the same lifestyle interests.

Chapter: 7 Bias and Blame

Online Shopping

Citation: Greenfield, R. (September 6, 2011). Amazon is Changing the Future. Atlantic Wire.

URL: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/09/amazon-changing-future-online-shopping/42107/

Tags: shopping, shopping innovations, shopping experiences, e-commerce, e-bay, amazon

Summation: Amazon.com, and others, have changed the way we shop. Instead of shopping for a specific item, we now shop for that item, and then, because of our interest in certain items, we are directed towards similar items or ancillary items that are part of a shopping experience. This is possible because electronic technology can now keep track not just of our purchases, but of the items we browse, how long we browse them, how our browsing habits change, and what we buy even from other retailers.

Chapter: 8 Recall

Opening up of China

Citation: 1972 in Review." (January 1973). UPI.Com.

URL: http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1972/1972-Election/12305688736666-2/#title

Tags: political innovation, world politics, china, globalism, political change

Summation: China, known as the "sleeping giant," has transformed itself from a rural, pre-industrial society to an economic and political powerhouse in just a few decades. Since 1949, through the Great Patriotic Revolution led by Mao Tse-Tung, China has literally moved from a feudal economic system to one of the world's fastest growing economies in the global environment. In 1972, while Mao was still alive but Deng controlling most of the upper echelons of political power, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, The results of the week long visit, most of it orchestrated by Henry Kissinger, were vast: a political agreement that there was only one China and an agreement to settle the Taiwanese situation; to open trade and commerce between China and the West; and to reduce tensions between the two countries. Nixon himself commented, "This was the week that changed the world, as what we have said in that Communique is not nearly as important as what we will do in the years ahead to build a bridge across 16,000 miles and 22 years of hostilities which have divided us in the past. And what we have said today is that we shall build that bridge."

Chapter: 8 Recall

Data Mining

Citation: Thearling, K. (2009). An Introduction to Data Mining.

URL: http://www.thearling.com/dmintro/dminto_2.htm

Tags: data mining, computer innovations, business innovations, computer data

Summation: One of the most promising developments in the field of computing and computer memory over the past few decades has been the ability to bring tremendous complex and large data sets into database management that are both affordable and workable for many organizations. Improvement in computer power has also allowed for the field of artificial intelligence to evolve which also improves the sifting of massive amounts of information for appropriate use in business, military, governmental, and academic venues. Essentially, data mining is taking as much information as possible for a variety of databases, sifting it intelligently and coming up with usable information that will help with Chapter: 8 Recall

Open Source Software and Platforms

Citation: Shimel, A. (March 25, 2011). How Open Source Really is Changing the World.

URL: http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/how-open-source-really-changing-world

Tags: computer innovations, computer evolutions, software evaluation, software ideas

Summation: Political change in the 21st century is not being driven by the military -- these are tools of the old guard. Instead, the forces of change use technology to effect change. The internet, social networks, mobile phone, etc. are all being view by a new, more modern, generation as tools that grant them access to a larger world in which programs and information are largely accessible from anywhere and at any time. Potentially, this changes the way profit is used to build a larger network of computer users who now wish to harness the power of technology to develop a new world.

Chapter: 9 Socioeconmics

Berlin Wall Falls/Soviet Union Collapses

Citation: Koeller, D. (2003), Fall of the Berlin Wall. WebChron.

URL: http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/world/berlinwallfall.rev.html

Tags: Political innovation, political/social upheaval, modernism in Europe

Summation: By the end of 1989, the Soviet-backed regimes of Eastern Europe no longer existed and the Berlin Wall, the quintessential symbol of the Cold War, had been decimated. This dissatisfaction with communism as practiced Soviet style was now being openly criticized, even in the Russian Republic, the so-called "homeland of communism." Extreme vocal critiques came first from the outlying republics and the ethnic minorities, many of who had been living in a tradition of autocracy for centuries. Gorbachev's message of change and openness, despite the appeal in the West, stripped the Soviet Union of structure, and right-wing conservative communists tried to topple his regime in August of 1991. This caused Soviet Russians, fed up with communism, to openly protest; a few months later the party.

Chapter: 9 Socioeconmics

The European Union

Citation: Chanona, A. (2003). "A Comparative Perspective Between the European Union

And NAFTA." Miami European Union Center -- University of Miami.

URL: http://www6.miami.edu/EUCenter/chanonafinal.pdf

Tags: Political innovation, political/social upheaval, modernism in Europe

Summation: -- Since World War II, many European scholars and politicians realized that not only was war between them a proven economic and political disaster (e.g. over the past several centuries), a lack of exploration into economic and cultural areas of commonality kept individuals from realizing their true potential. Looking at the areas reasonably then, the movement to regionalize and allow a single currency unlocks travel restrictions, and open up trade between the 500 million European citizens seemed the only reasonable action

Chapter: 9 Socioeconmics

NAFTA

Citation: Griswold, D. (2002). "NAFTA at 10: An Economic and Foreign Policy Success."

Center for Trade Policy Studies.

URL:: http://www6.miami.edu/EUCenter/chanonafinal.pdf

Tags: Political innovation, modern trade agreements, modern economics

Summation: NAFTA is the most significant attempt at regional economic integration. An agreement between the United States and Canada to enter into a free trade agreement took place January 1, 1989 with the goal of eliminating all tariffs between the two countries by 1998. In 1991, talks included Mexico to establish free trade amongst all three countries. By late 1993, the government of all three countries had ratified the agreement. Since 1994, NAFTA has positively impacted trade and economic issues in Mexico, Canada, and the United States; with other Central and Latin American countries receiving peripheral benefits and inquiring about full membership. The agricultural industries in particular have shown positive benefit, with exports in each country increasing -- and in Mexico to its highest levels ever. Since NAFTA, Mexico is Canada's sixth-largest export destination and moved Mexico into the top 10 world exporters.

Chapter: 10 Agricultural Mechanization

The European Union

Citation: Agricultural Mechanization. (2006). Oklahoma Historical Society.

URL: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AG005.html

Tags: modern farming, agricultural innovation, agricultural inventions

Summation: -- Pre-20th century farming was labor intensive, food spoiled, and much of the land remained unusable for agriculture. With the innovation of mechanization, irrigation, advances in fertilization and crop control, farmers could now produce larger and larger yields with fewer people. This allowed farming to become a larger business and more and more exports to be placed on the open market.

Chapter: 10 Agricultural

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration

Citation: Ross, D. (2005). Air Condition and Refrigeration.

URL: http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3867

Tags: refrigeration, farming, food production, modern food production, storage

Summation: -- Refrigeration allowed products to be shipped to further destinations and remain fresh. This encouraged trade and also opened up new markets for agricultural goods. Taking air-conditioning into the offices allowed for buildings to be taller and house more people. Working was far more comfortable, but also had a major impact on architectural design and building materials. The systems-related design profession also recognizes that it must respond to environmental and "green" building concerns. These include, but are not limited to, energy conservation as an end in itself, indoor air quality, sustainable design considerations, and new technology that will better address the global environment of both the present and the future.

Chapter: 10 Agricultural

Household Appliances

Citation: Schmitt, R. (2005). Household Appliances.

URL: http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3781

Tags: Political innovation, political/social upheaval, modernism in Europe

Summation: The high tech of household appliances is a lot more than "under-the-hood" electronics. New and improved materials enable designs of convenience and efficiency. High performance plastics, especially, allow us to build style as well as functionality into our appliances. Household appliance engineers have just as rich an array of "high technologies" to feed their inventive minds as any other engineers. Innovation continues: cooking food to perfection up to eight times faster than with conventional ovens, using light. Washers and dryers that "talk" to each other, letting the dryer know what's coming, improving clothes care and saving time. Foods may be kept fresher, dishes more complicated. Yet, in contrast with this improvement, due to modern societal issues, people eat out even more.