The Failure to Control (PowerPoint incl.)

Centuries of development and improvements to communications technology have revealed fairly predictable production and market trends. The lifecycle of a product has been established, the theories of performance have been addressed and the pros and cons of competition have been identified.

 

In her book, “A Social History of American Technology,” Ruth Schwartz Cowan follows the introduction and displacement of communications technologies. Starting with the development of wireless telegraphy in 1887 and following history through to the 1990s’ popularity of cable television, Cowan uncovers the patterns of technological growth. The focus of her work, however, is the question of “Who should be in charge of all the various technologies of communication?” (p. 273).

 

Control has been a highly sought after position in the lucrative business of communications. Many factors come into play regarding control: Inventors claim intellectual property rights, governments want control over the nation’s infrastructure, entrepreneurs seek to topple incumbents for a piece of the cash flow, and the public is filled with amateurs who want the right to free use of communications technologies. Together, these factors have created a market in which a single front-runner in the communications and technology field has rarely stayed on top for long.

 

After British Marconi expanded to American Marconi and essentially controlled the U.S. communications infrastructure, the Federal Government realized the vulnerability of having the country’s network in the hands of foreigners – particularly during times of war. From that point forward, the U.S. government has made a point of keeping infrastructure localized and free of monopolies.

 

The path of development that Cowan follows is such:

Wireless Telegraphy -Wireless Telephony-Wireless Broadcasting-Television-Computers

 

Following is a slide show presentation intended to help guide discussions on these topics:

 

 

Similarities can be found between Cowan’s propositions and those of other experts. In “Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave,” Bower and Christensen acknowledge that “One of the most consistent patterns in business is the failure of leading companies to stay at the top of their industries when technologies or markets change” (p. 43). This relates to the lack of control that Cowan speaks of.

 

Tom Standage’s “The Victorian Internet” also touches on the topic: “Any industry founded on a particular technology faces the danger that a new invention will render it obsolete” (p. 180).

 

Modern examples of technology innovations and displacements include disk drives as studied by Bower and Christensen, the displacement of print media by online media, and the progression toward smaller yet more useful cell phones.

 

A part of Cowan’s work that stands out to me is her discussion of cable television as an important venue for special interest groups:

 

“By radically cutting the cost of transmission, satellites made special interest channels economically feasible, channels that would carry programs that appealed to only a segment of the nation’s audience; cartoon channels for children; instructional channels for schools; religious channels for fundamentalist; movie, music, and shopping channels…” (p. 291).

 

To me, this parallels the topics of Chris Anderson’s book, “The Long Tail,” and how the Internet today has aided the rise of special interest voices and products.

 

Cowan states that, “Cable television exercised a powerful, decentralizing force, creating new means by which independent points of view could be heard” (p. 292).

 

This is similar to how, through the World Wide Web, bloggers are given a platform from which to be heard, Amazon is able to serve customers with niche interests, amateurs can create online programming, and independent bands are able to share their music with the world.

 

While the control of the communications technology sector is constantly fought over, overarching good comes from the resulting innovations and improvements. Although consumers often don’t realize what they want (if they are already happy with their current technology), they will come to enjoy the benefits of new technologies that are often more efficient and less costly.

 

Sources:

 

Anderson, Chris. (2006). The Long Tail. New York: Hyperion.

 

Bower, Joseph L. and Christensen, Clayton M. (1995, January-February). Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave. Harvard Business Review, 43-53.

 

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. (1997). A Social History of American Technology. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Standage, Tom. (1998). The Victorian Internet. New York: Walker and Company.