Resistance to ETDs in Academe:
Diffusion of Innovation
Jude Edminster
Bowling Green State University
Presentation Preview
• Diffusion of Innovation Theory
• Relative Advantages of ETDs
• Compatibility with academic community norms and values
• Complexity, Trialability, and Observability of ETDs
•
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
• Diffusion: the process by which innovation is communicated through
– particular channels – over time
– within a particular social system
• Diffusion is social change
Characteristics of Innovation
• Relative Advantage
• Compatibility
• Complexity
• Trialability
• Observability
Characteristics of ETDs created in PDF
• Most are identical to print.
• Only a few contain links, color, or computer generated graphics.
• Hierarchical and linear information structure prevails.
• Alphabetic text retains centrality.
Relative Advantages of PDF
• Amplified access (when unrestricted)
– Boon to developing countries – Early notoriety for authors
• Less space required for archiving
– More timely cataloguing – Earlier availability
Characteristics of ETDs created in HTML
• Comprises multisequential units of
alphabetic text, visual information, sound, other data
• Articulates all data by electronic links
• Reveals the network of scholarly texts that underlie the dissertation
• Accomodates a de-centered text
Relative Advantages of HTML
• Allows researchers to organize information according to their own needs
• Facilitates a cyclical, organic, intuitive research process
• Radiates linked texts so as to place information in a broader context
• Reveals multiple connections among theories, facts, investigations and disciplines
Relative Advantages of HTML
• Engages readers on multiple cognitive levels
• Encourages the meaning-making process of synaeshthesia
• Promotes greater cognitive activity
Compatibility with Academic Social System
• The social structure of academe affects the diffusion of ETDs in several ways:
– Social system values and norms
– Position of change agents within the system – Formal and interpersonal communication
structure
– Consequences of innovation to the operation of
Academic Social System Norms and Values
• Representation of dissertation research as alphabetic text
• Promotion of hierarchical faculty/student relationships
• Maintenance of a community of learning and cooperation
• Maintenance of a community of power and
Complexity
• Students require special training to write ETDs that contain non-textual elements.
• Faculty require special training to evaluate ETDs that contain non-textual elements.
Trialability
• The use of pilot projects to develop and test new procedures required by ETD adoption:
– Graduate school document processing
– Library document processing and archiving – Student and faculty training programs
Observability
• Viewable digital collections of ETDs online
• Multiple language searching capability
• Increased viewing of international research
Conclusion
• Marketing ETDs to academic audiences requires:
– An understanding of the diffusion process
– Further research in identifying individuals and groups who possess the characteristics of early adopters
– Successful location of support pockets within
