Paschal Preston

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Professor Paschal Preston is an author and academic at Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland. Preston has written several books related to communications.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Published works

Books by Paschal Preston include:

Notable Reviews

  1. In The Carrier Wave: New IT and the Geography of Innovation, Preston lays out the concept of the carrier wave. This idea influenced the model of sociotechnical development that was later set forth by Glen Norcliffe in Ride to Modernity: The Bicycle in Canada, 1869-1900. [1] Hugh G. J. Aitken reviewed The Carrier Wave in the journal Isis , writing, "Unfortunately, an ambiguity remains and is never resolved: whether the alleged long wave is generated by technological innovations (in which case it would be better called a "carried" wave) or, alternatively, creates the conditions in which technological innovations can occur." [2] In Town Planning Review, Tom Stonier called the work "a valuable book, crammed with statistics, organised into a useful body of information." [3]
  2. Frank Webster wrote in regards to Preston's book Reshaping Communications, that he "has produced a noteworthy book which will have considerable influence on those concerned with information and communication matters. It is extraordinarily wide ranging, encompassing just about every matter of significance in this sprawling field, while presenting a forceful, even polemical, thesis." [4] Reviewing the same work Jan Fernback wrote that Preston "attempts to assess the impact of new communication technology by marrying economics, social science, and information science together with non-academic, industrial literatures." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kondratiev wave</span> Hypothesized cycle-like phenomena in the modern world economy

In economics, Kondratiev waves are hypothesized cycle-like phenomena in the modern world economy. The phenomenon is closely connected with the technology life cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innovation</span> Practical implementation of improvements

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.

New media are communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for the influx of interactive CD-ROMs for entertainment and education. The new media technologies, sometimes known as Web 2.0, include a wide range of web-related communication tools such as blogs, wikis, online social networking, virtual worlds, and other social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science and technology studies</span> Academic field

Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication studies</span> Academic discipline

Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different cultures. Communication is commonly defined as giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, information, signals or messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to seek information, to give information or to express emotions effectively. Communication studies is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge that encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation at a level of individual agency and interaction to social and cultural communication systems at a macro level.

The ethics of technology is a sub-field of ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age, the transitional shift in society wherein personal computers and subsequent devices provide for the quick and easy transfer of information. Technology ethics is the application of ethical thinking to the growing concerns of technology as new technologies continue to rise in prominence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diffusion of innovations</span> Theory on how and why new ideas spread

Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. The theory was popularized by Everett Rogers in his book Diffusion of Innovations, first published in 1962. Rogers argues that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digitality</span> The era of living in digital culture(s)

Digitality is used to mean the condition of living in a digital culture, derived from Nicholas Negroponte's book Being Digital in analogy with modernity and post-modernity.

Technological change (TC) or technological development is the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes. In essence, technological change covers the invention of technologies and their commercialization or release as open source via research and development, the continual improvement of technologies, and the diffusion of technologies throughout industry or society. In short, technological change is based on both better and more technology.

Theories of technological change and innovation attempt to explain the factors that shape technological innovation as well as the impact of technology on society and culture. Some of the most contemporary theories of technological change reject two of the previous views: the linear model of technological innovation and other, the technological determinism. To challenge the linear model, some of today's theories of technological change and innovation point to the history of technology, where they find evidence that technological innovation often gives rise to new scientific fields, and emphasizes the important role that social networks and cultural values play in creating and shaping technological artifacts. To challenge the so-called "technological determinism", today's theories of technological change emphasize the scope of the need of technical choice, which they find to be greater than most laypeople can realize; as scientists in philosophy of science, and further science and technology often like to say about this "It could have been different." For this reason, theorists who take these positions often argue that a greater public involvement in technological decision-making is desired.

<i>The Wealth of Networks</i> 2006 book by Yochai Benkler

The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom is a book by Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler published by Yale University Press on April 3, 2006. The book has been recognized as one of the most influential works of its time concerning the rise and impact of the Internet on the society, particularly in the sphere of economics. It also helped popularize the term Benkler coined few years earlier, the commons-based peer production (CBPP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ithiel de Sola Pool</span> American social scientist (1917–1984)

Ithiel de Sola Pool was an American academic who was a widely celebrated and often controversial figure in the field of social sciences and information technology. He did significant research on technology and its effects on society. He coined the term "convergence" to describe the effect of various scientific innovations on society in a futuristic world, and made predictions of ways that technology would impact society that were often prescient. In his 1983 book Technologies of Freedom, he predicted that digital electronics would allow convergence between historically separated modes of communication, and that these modes would eventually become one single grand system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technological revolution</span> Period of rapid technological change

A technological revolution is a period in which one or more technologies is replaced by another novel technology in a short amount of time. It is a time of accelerated technological progress characterized by innovations whose rapid application and diffusion typically cause an abrupt change in society.

International communication is the communication practice that occurs across international borders. The need for international communication was due to the increasing effects and influences of globalization. As a field of study, international communication is a branch of communication studies, concerned with the scope of "government-to-government", "business-to-business", and "people-to-people" interactions at a global level. Currently, international communication is being taught at colleges worldwide. Due to the increasingly globalized market, employees who possess the ability to effectively communicate across cultures are in high demand. International communication "encompasses political, economic, social, cultural and military concerns".

Democratization of technology refers to the process by which access to technology rapidly continues to become more accessible to more people. New technologies and improved user experiences have empowered those outside of the technical industry to access and use technological products and services. At an increasing scale, consumers have greater access to use and purchase technologically sophisticated products, as well as to participate meaningfully in the development of these products. Industry innovation and user demand have been associated with more affordable, user-friendly products. This is an ongoing process, beginning with the development of mass production and increasing dramatically as digitization became commonplace.

Mutual shaping suggests that society and technology are not mutually exclusive to one another and, instead, influence and shape each other. This process is a combination of social determinism and technological determinism. The term mutual shaping was developed through science and technology studies (STS) in an attempt to explain the detailed process of technological design. Mutual shaping is argued to have a more comprehensive understanding of the development of new media because it considers technological and social change as directly affecting the other.

The Political Economy of Communications is a branch of communication studies or media studies which studies the power relations that shape the communication of information from the mass media to its public. PEC analyzes the power relations between the mass media system, information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the wider socioeconomic structure in which these operate, with a focus on understanding the historical and current state of technological developments. PEC has proliferated in the 2000s with the modernization of technology. The advancement of media has created conversation about the effects of colonialism and PEC.

Benoît Godin was a Canadian political scientist and sociologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Marvin</span> Professor and author

Carolyn Marvin is a professor and author that specializes in communication, culture and media, political communication, and technology and society. Marvin is currently the Frances Yates Emeritus Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. Marvin is the author of two major publications, When Old Technologies Were New and Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the American Flag.

References

  1. Epperson, Bruce (April 2002). "Book Review: Ride to Modernity: The Bicycle in Canada, 1869-1900". Technology and Culture . 43 (2): 425–426. doi:10.1353/tech.2002.0058. S2CID   108647463.
  2. Aitken, Hugh G. J. (1990). "Review: The Carrier Wave: New Information Technology and the Geography of Innovation, 1846-2003". Isis . 81 (2): 325–327. doi:10.1086/355379. JSTOR   233728.
  3. Stonier, Tom (January 1989). "Hall, Peter and Preston, Paschal, "The Carrier Wave: New Information Technology and the Geography of Innovation", 1846-2003 (Book Review)" (PDF). Town Planning Review. 60 (1): 106. doi:10.3828/tpr.60.1.w2562w213j65115r . Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  4. Webster, Frank (2001). "Review: Reshaping Communications: Technology, Information and Social Change". Information, Communication & Society. 4 (4): 634–641.
  5. Fernback, Jan (2002). "Journalism and New Media / Reshaping Communications: Technology, Information and Social Change". Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. 57 (2). doi:10.1177/107769580205700206. S2CID   140804420 . Retrieved 23 August 2014.