Thursday, November 11, 2010

Revolutionary E-mail?

Based on the quote from this chapter, “revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies--it happens when society adopts new behaviors,” do you agree or disagree? Cite examples to support your position.

Just as we have talked about before things become invisible over time. When something becomes invisible it no longer stands out and is integrated into many aspects of everyone's daily life, much like the Internet is today, or telephone. We may not remember a time, but at one point both of these ideas were revolutionary. They became truly revolutionary when people began to have other aspects of life revolve around the new technologies, not just when they started being used. I believe Clay Shirky is correct. Society truly becomes revolutionized when people's behavior is changed to fit a new technology.
Using the Internet to send e-mail, in chapter six of Shirky’s book shows a change in Societies behavior, not just an adoption of a new technology.  Many to many communication is vital in today's society. E-mail is one tool that makes this possible. When society began adopting this new idea and using the Internet's capabilities to interact e-mail was not yet revolutionary. The revolution happened once there was no other logical way to send a mass letter. Revolution happens when a person's first thought, their behavior, immediately points them to the new technology. This shows a change in society’s behavior. 
When society adopts the technology of e-mail it becomes one option for sending out a mass message, there were other forms of group communication. These other forms did not have the benefits that e-mail had, like quickness of delivery, inexpensive cost, and lack of need for synchronization. Once society realized the e-mail was the only reasonable way to send a mass message, it became second nature to gravitate to e-mail over any other type of communication.
E-mail in a way has become invisible in society. Once this shift to e-mail from other forms of communication happened it became revolutionary. It changed the way people thought about communication. It opened many doors of opportunity for communication. Adoption of a technology is quick, making that technology revolutionary takes more time.

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