Everett M. “EV” Rogers
Everett Rogers was born on 6 March 1931 in Carroll, Lowa, United States. EV Rogers was an 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 authored 37 books, 500 journal articles, 140 book chapters, and some 150 – research reports in his five-decade career. This publications influenced the field of rural sociology, development communication, international development, social marketing, public health and others.
∆ Publications
Some famous Books are: –
~ 1969: – Modernization among peasants: The impact of communication.
~ 1973: – Communication strategies for family planning.
~ 1976: – Communication in organizations (with Agarwala-Rogers).
~ 1976: – Communication and development: Critical perspectives.
~ 1981: – Communication networks: Toward a new paradigm for research.
~ 1984: – Silicon Valley fever: Growth of high-technology culture.
~ 1985: – The media revolution in America and in Western Europe.
~ 1986: – Communication technology: The new media in society.
~ 1994: – A history of communication study: A biographical approach.
~ 1999: – Intercultural communication.
~2003: – Diffusion of innovations (5th edition).
~2008: – The fourteenth paw: Growing up on a Lowa farm in the 1930s.
∆ Diffusion of Innovations Theory
When the first edition of Diffusion of Innovations was published in 1962, Rogers was an assistant professor of rural sociology at Ohio State University. He was 31 years old and becoming a renowned academic figure. In the mid-2000s, The Diffusion of Innovations became the second most-cited book in the social sciences. (Arvind Singhal: Introducing Professor Everett M. Rogers, 47th Annual Research Lecturer, University of New Mexico). The fifth edition of Diffusion of Innovations in 2003, with (Nancy Singer Olaguera) addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas.
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.
When graphed, the rate of adoption formed what came to typify the Diffusion of Innovations model, a sigmoid 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 technology adoption studies, and also found its way into a variety of other social science studies. Rogers was also able to relate his communications research to practical health problems, including hygiene, family planning, cancer prevention, and drunk driving.
The mechanism of Diffusion Rogers five stages (steps)
- Awareness
- Interest
- Evaluation
- Trial, and
- Adoption,
these are integral to this theory.
Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Given that decisions are not authoritative or collective, each member of the social system faces his/her own innovation-decision that follows a 5-step process and they are from sender end, communication that is being done from the sender, communicator can to diffuse, to disseminate, to adopt, to get the knowledge first to be given, to persuade, to create interest and ask him to take decision, then he/she will go and implement it and if he/she feels that the product is ok or good then he/she will confirm in a simple way.
∆ Elements in The Diffusion of Innovations
The four main elements in diffusion of innovations are:-
- Innovation
- Communication Channel
- Time
- Social System
✓Communication Channel
*1. Interpersonal Channels:- It refers to those which are used for face to face communication between two or more.
*2. Mass Media Channels:- These enable the message to reach a larger, diverse audience simultaneously in a relatively shorter time. Ex.- Radio, Television etc
*3. Localite Channels:- They originate within the social system of the receiver. Ex.- Neighbour’s relatives, opinion leaders etc. they originate outside a particular social system. E.g., extension worker, sales personnel etc.
*4. Cosmopolite Channels:- It is those channels, who are not in your close periphery but their words are very important. Ex.- Important personalities, important institutions etc.
Source:- Wikipedia, Sen Academy of Media(YT)
Pic Credit:- Arvind Singhal 2016 contributions of EV Rogers pdf
Written By: – Rajat Ranjan
