Bruce, H.: ¬The user's view of the Internet (2002)
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- Footnote
- Chapter 2 (Technology and People) focuses an several theories of technological acceptance and diffusion. Unfortunately, Bruce's presentation is somewhat confusing as he moves from one theory to next, never quite connecting them into a logical sequence or coherent whole. Two theories are of particular interest to Bruce: the Theory of Diffusion of Innovations and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Theory of Diffusion of Innovations is an "information-centric view of technology acceptance" in which technology adopters are placed in the information flows of society from which they learn about innovations and "drive innovation adoption decisions" (p. 20). The Theory of Planned Behavior maintains that the "performance of a behavior is a joint function of intentions and perceived behavioral control" (i.e., how muck control a person thinks they have) (pp. 22-23). Bruce combines these two theories to form the basis for the Technology Acceptance Model. This model posits that "an individual's acceptance of information technology is based an beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors" (p. 24). In all these theories and models echoes a recurring theme: "individual perceptions of the innovation or technology are critical" in terms of both its characteristics and its use (pp. 24-25). From these, in turn, Bruce derives a predictive theory of the role personal perceptions play in technology adoption: Personal Innovativeness of Information Technology Adoption (PIITA). Personal inventiveness is defined as "the willingness of an individual to try out any new information technology" (p. 26). In general, the PIITA theory predicts that information technology will be adopted by individuals that have a greater exposure to mass media, rely less an the evaluation of information technology by others, exhibit a greater ability to cope with uncertainty and take risks, and requires a less positive perception of an information technology prior to its adoption. Chapter 3 (A Focus an Usings) introduces the User-Centered Paradigm (UCP). The UCP is characteristic of the shift of emphasis from technology to users as the driving force behind technology and research agendas for Internet development [for a dissenting view, see Andrew Dillion's (2003) challenge to the utility of user-centerness for design guidance]. It entails the "broad acceptance of the user-oriented perspective across a range of disciplines and professional fields," such as business, education, cognitive engineering, and information science (p. 34).
The UCP's effect an business practices is focused mainly in the management and marketing areas. Marketing experienced a shift from "product-oriented operations" with its focus an "selling the products' features" and customer contact only at the point of sale toward more service-Centered business practice ("customer Jemand orientation") and the development of one-to-one customer relationships (pp. 35-36). For management, the adoption of the UCP caused a shift from "mechanistic, bureaucratic, top-down organizational structures" to "flatter, inclusive, and participative" ones (p. 37). In education, practice shifted from the teachercentered model where the "teacher is responsible for and makes all the decisions related to the learning environment" to a learnercentered model where the student is "responsible for his or her own learning" and the teacher focuses an "matching learning events to the individual skills, aptitudes, and interests of the individual learner" (pp. 38-39). Cognitive engineering saw the rise of "user-Centered design" and human factors that were concerned with applying "scientific knowledge of humans to the design of man-machine interface systems" (p. 44). The UCP had a great effect an Information Science in the "design of information systems" (p. 47). Previous to UCP's explicit proposed by Brenda Dervin and M. Nilan in 1986, systems design was dominated by the "physical of system oriented paradigm" (p. 48). The physical paradigm held a positivistic and materialistic view of technology and (passive) human interaction as exemplified by the 1953 Cranfield tests of information retrieval mechanisms. Instead, the UCP focuses an "users rather than systems" by making the perceptions of individual information users the "centerpiece consideration for information service and system design" (pp. 47-48). Bruce briefly touches an the various schools of thought within user-oriented paradigm, such as the cognitive/self studies approach with its emphasis is an an individual's knowledge structures or model of the world [e.g., Belkin (1990)], the cognitve/context studies approach that focuses an "context in explaining variations in information behavior" [e.g., Savolainen (1995) and Dervin's (1999) sensemaking], and the social constructionism/discourse analytic theory with its focus an that language, not mental/knowledge constructs, as the primary shaper of the world as a system of intersubjective meanings [e.g., Talja 1996], (pp. 53-54). Drawing from the rich tradition of user oriented research, Bruce attempts to gain a metatheoretical understanding of the Internet as a phenomena by combining Dervin's (1996) "micromoments of human usings" with the French philosopher Bruno Latour's (1999) "conception of Circulating reference" to form what 1 term the Metatheory of Circulating Usings (pp. ix, 56, 60). According to Bruce, Latour's concept is designed to bridge "the gap between mind and object" by engaging in a "succession of finely grained transformations that construct and transfer truth about the object" through a chain of "microtranslations" from "matter to form," thereby connecting mind and object (p. 56). The connection works as long as the chain remains unbroken. The nature of this chain of "information producing translations" are such that as one moves away from the object, one experiences a "reduction" of the object's "locality, particularity, materiality, multiplicity and continuity," while simultaneously gaining the "amplification" of its "compatibility, standardization, text, calculation, circulation, and relative universality" (p. 57).
This book suffers from two major shortcomings: the failure to explain how the metatheory is actually used to analyze extant research data, and the failure to explicitly link the data presented to the conclusions drawn. The analytical function of Bruce's metatheory is clearly stated, but no explicit explanation or example is given to show how he actually accomplished this analysis. Granted, it is impractical given the volume of research data involved, to show how every bit of the data in Chapter 4 was derived. However, several examples of how the metatheory was applied would have been useful in understanding its actual function in the study at hand as well as its potential utility any future studies. More serious is the lack of explicit linkage between the data summary presented in Chapter 4 and the conclusions given in Chapter 5. Each chapter is presented as stand-alone entities containing no citations or internal referencing to connect the data with the conclusions. This leaves the readers with no ready means to evaluate the concluding construct of the user's view of the Internet in light of the data from which it was ostensibly derived. The readers must either go back and laboriously construct the connections themselves, or just take the author's word for it. Because the goal of the book is to create a convincing construct of the user's view of the Internet for others to understand, follow, apply, and improve upon in the "next generation of Internet development," the burden of proof is an the author, not the readers (pp. ix, 183). This oversight may not be so crucial if the author were presenting an exploratory essay designed primarily to stimulate thought and expand our perceptions. However, given that the book is intended as a scholarly work (otherwise why the tremendous effort in analyzing and summarizing vast quantities of research data in Chapter 4?), the lack of explicit linkage between the data and the conclusion is not only puzzling, but simply unacceptable. In summary then, the book is strong in its theoretical and metatheoretical development, presentation of the research data and scope of the literature review, and clarity of the concluding construct of the user's view of the Internet. If these items are of particular interest to the you, then this book may be worth your while. Otherwise, the failure of the book to provide an explanation of how the Metatheory of Circulating Usings is applied in analyzing extant research data, coupled with book's failure to link explicitly the data presented with the conclusions severely undermines this reviewer's confidence in the author's conclusions."
