{"title":"Weakness exploitation: Predicting socially communicative devices as a successor to internet-based graphical user interfaces","authors":"Jamy J. Li, M. Chignell","doi":"10.1386/eme_00150_1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Existing theories of technology transitions cannot predict what new technological paradigm will supplant the currently leading, internet-enabled graphical user interface paradigm. This article introduces a preliminary approach (‘weakness exploitation’) to explain the rise and fall of four technology ‘empires’: print, television, the internet and socially interactive devices (such as robots, chatbots and internet of things devices). The approach is related to technology diffusion and disruptive innovation, but with a predictive element induced from Marshall McLuhan’s descriptions of print and television as ‘extensions’ of the senses. It is applied to the internet as an historical example of a technology transition outside of McLuhan’s original analysis and to explain why excessive exposure to screen-rendered digital media as the internet’s exclusive access point may be replaced by a new ‘age’ of computationally intelligent, socially communicative devices. This new approach can help researchers and technologists conceptualize transitions between usage of incumbent and emerging technologies.","PeriodicalId":36155,"journal":{"name":"Explorations in Media Ecology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Explorations in Media Ecology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1386/eme_00150_1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Existing theories of technology transitions cannot predict what new technological paradigm will supplant the currently leading, internet-enabled graphical user interface paradigm. This article introduces a preliminary approach (‘weakness exploitation’) to explain the rise and fall of four technology ‘empires’: print, television, the internet and socially interactive devices (such as robots, chatbots and internet of things devices). The approach is related to technology diffusion and disruptive innovation, but with a predictive element induced from Marshall McLuhan’s descriptions of print and television as ‘extensions’ of the senses. It is applied to the internet as an historical example of a technology transition outside of McLuhan’s original analysis and to explain why excessive exposure to screen-rendered digital media as the internet’s exclusive access point may be replaced by a new ‘age’ of computationally intelligent, socially communicative devices. This new approach can help researchers and technologists conceptualize transitions between usage of incumbent and emerging technologies.