Communication of Innovations; A Journey with Ev Rogers

260 pages. Illustrations. Tables. Figures. About the Editors and Contributors. Subject Index. Name Index. Inscribed on half-title by Singhal. Cover has slight wear and soiling. This collection of 10 original essays honor the intellectual legacy of Everett M. Rogers (1931-2004) the pioneering and distinguished teacher-scholar of diffusion of innovations, communication networks, technology transfer, development communication, and the entertainment-education strategy. Well-known colleagues and contemporaries write on topics that not only piqued Rogers' curiosity, but to which he made seminal and lasting contributions. The concluding chapter documents Rogers' life journey from his modest farm boy beginnings in Iowa, through his distinguished academic career, to his final return to the farm. Everett M. Rogers (March 6, 1931 - October 21, 2004) was an eminent American communication theorist and sociologist, who originated the diffusion of innovations theory and introduced the term early adopter. He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico. Rogers held faculty positions at Ohio State University (1957-63), Michigan State University (1964-1973), and the University of Michigan (1973-1975). He was the Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication at Stanford University (1975-1985) and the Walter H. Annenberg Professor and Associate Dean for Doctoral Studies in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California (1985-1993). As Fulbright Lecturer, Rogers taught the National University of Colombia in Bogotá (1963-1964) and at the University of Paris in France (1981). He was also Distinguished Visiting Professor at New Mexico State University (1977), Visiting Professor at Ibero-American University in Mexico (1979), Ludwig Erhard Professor at the University of Bayreuth in Germany (1996), Wee Kim Wee Professor (1998) and Nanyang Professor (2000-2001) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University (1999-2000). He served as President of the International Communication Association (1980-1981) and Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California (1991-1992). In 1993, Rogers moved to the University of New Mexico as Chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism. He had become fond of Albuquerque while he was stationed at an airbase during the Korean War. He helped the UNM launch a doctoral program in communication with a special emphasis on cross-cultural and intercultural contexts. Rogers suffered from kidney disease and retired from the UNM in the summer of 2004. He died a few months later, survived by his wife, Dr. Corinne Shefner-Rogers, and two sons: David Rogers and Everett King. During his 47-year academic career, Rogers authored more than 30 books and over 500 articles. Rogers proposes that adopters of any new innovation or idea can be categorized as innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%), based on the mathematically based Bell curve. These categories, based on standard deviations from the mean of the normal curve, provide a common language for innovation researchers. Each adopter's willingness and ability to adopt an innovation depends on their awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. People can fall into different categories for different innovations-a farmer might be an early adopter of mechanical innovations, but a late majority adopter of biological innovations or VCRs. When graphed, the rate of adoption formed what came to typify the Diffusion of Innovations model, a logistic curve) The graph shows a cumulative percentage of adopters over time-slow at the start, more rapid as adoption increases, then leveling off until only a small percentage of laggards have not adopted. His research and work became widely accepted in communications and tec.…