At the end of every semester graduate students in journalism worship the god of Power Point. This semester, I had a difficult time getting into it. My presentation for my Communication in Technology Transfer class was on diffusing assistive technology to dyslexic college students. The confluence between Power Point and dyslexic college students weren’t quite resonating with me.
I threw together a rock video instead.
The study of technology transfer isn’t just about technology, but in a broader sense the theory of how the phenomenon of cultural change occurs. My textbook, “DIffusion of Innovations” by Everett Rogers, applies as readily to church revivals as it does to cell phones. What’s known today as “viral marketing” is described in the Bible as “evangelism.”
As a delegate for Barrack Obama, I’ve been applying what I’m learning in class to the presidential election. Innovators tend to be cultural outsiders. As such, they may not be easily accepted by others. Obama is an example of this because he’s not quite “black” in his upbringing, but not quite white either. The same could be said of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, who was rejected by the Catholic Church leadership but accepted by his fellow college professors and students.
Though dyslexia afflicts only 10 percent of individuals, 35 percent of American entrepreneurs describe themselves as dyslexic. Functional MRIs reveal that dyslexic brains function differently than “normal” ones. Their different brains make dyslexics the ultimate innovators.
Discount investment company founder Charles Schwab, a dyslexic, speaks of his tendency to make logical leaps from A to Z, leaving his managers confused as to how he got there. This difficulty in communication may explain why Schwab flunked college English twice. Nevertheless, jetBlue CEO David Neeleman said his learning disability may even give him an advantage. Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea said, “Everyone should have dyslexia and A.D.D.”
Other traits are also associated with innovation. Obama is left-handed, a trait like dyslexia often associated with creative thinkers.
Other dyslexics compensate for their lack of reading skills through strong oral communication skills, including actors like Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Patrick Dempsey; attorneys like Erin Brockovich and David Boies(?); journalists like Anderson Cooper and Nelson Lauver; politicians like Gavin Newsom and Paul Wellstone.
Early adopters of new innovations tend to come from less risk averse populations: young people and members of higher socioeconomic groups. Obama has been called an “elitist” or “rock star” for the fact his supporters come from these groups, but this is consistent with a cultural movement for change. By contrast, Hillary Clinton is supported by traditionally risk averse populations such as older women and blue collar workers.
While Hillary Clinton and John McCain employ robocalling to get their message out, Obama’s campaign relies on viral marketing--personal calls and neighborhood canvassing by his supporters--benefitting from the fact young supporters are adept at using cell phone technology and often have call plans that allow them to making long distance calls for free.
Like a virus, cultural movements follow an S-curve, starting out slowly, then hitting a tipping point at which they diffuse rapidly throughout the population. Late adopters of new innovations are often influenced by opinion leaders, well-known individuals in a position to communicate their views to a broad audience. In the Democratic Party these are superdelegates. The fact superdelegates are starting to “tip” in favor of Obama suggest his campaign could reach a tipping point in time for the Democratic National Convention.
I wasn’t sure how my rock-video presentation would go over in class. Maybe people would think it wasn’t businesslike. To the tune of Lenny Kravitz’ “Fly Away”, I included photographs and quotes from dyslexic opinion leaders like Gavin Newsom, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Whoopi Goldberg, Anderson Cooper and Erin Brockovich, ending with jetBlue’s Neeleman and a jetBlue plane flying away to Kravitz singing “I want to get away, I want to fly away, Yeah, yeah, yeah” and jet engine sound effects.
At this point, one of my classmates, said, “Wow! The pictures fit with the lyrics.” My classmate Mike, who worked for many years in television news production and has a personality almost exactly like Robin Williams, was timing the presentation. He gave me a solid thumbs up, then later told me his son has dyslexia.
I threw together a rock video instead.
The study of technology transfer isn’t just about technology, but in a broader sense the theory of how the phenomenon of cultural change occurs. My textbook, “DIffusion of Innovations” by Everett Rogers, applies as readily to church revivals as it does to cell phones. What’s known today as “viral marketing” is described in the Bible as “evangelism.”
As a delegate for Barrack Obama, I’ve been applying what I’m learning in class to the presidential election. Innovators tend to be cultural outsiders. As such, they may not be easily accepted by others. Obama is an example of this because he’s not quite “black” in his upbringing, but not quite white either. The same could be said of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, who was rejected by the Catholic Church leadership but accepted by his fellow college professors and students.
Though dyslexia afflicts only 10 percent of individuals, 35 percent of American entrepreneurs describe themselves as dyslexic. Functional MRIs reveal that dyslexic brains function differently than “normal” ones. Their different brains make dyslexics the ultimate innovators.
Discount investment company founder Charles Schwab, a dyslexic, speaks of his tendency to make logical leaps from A to Z, leaving his managers confused as to how he got there. This difficulty in communication may explain why Schwab flunked college English twice. Nevertheless, jetBlue CEO David Neeleman said his learning disability may even give him an advantage. Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea said, “Everyone should have dyslexia and A.D.D.”
Other traits are also associated with innovation. Obama is left-handed, a trait like dyslexia often associated with creative thinkers.
Other dyslexics compensate for their lack of reading skills through strong oral communication skills, including actors like Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Patrick Dempsey; attorneys like Erin Brockovich and David Boies(?); journalists like Anderson Cooper and Nelson Lauver; politicians like Gavin Newsom and Paul Wellstone.
Early adopters of new innovations tend to come from less risk averse populations: young people and members of higher socioeconomic groups. Obama has been called an “elitist” or “rock star” for the fact his supporters come from these groups, but this is consistent with a cultural movement for change. By contrast, Hillary Clinton is supported by traditionally risk averse populations such as older women and blue collar workers.
While Hillary Clinton and John McCain employ robocalling to get their message out, Obama’s campaign relies on viral marketing--personal calls and neighborhood canvassing by his supporters--benefitting from the fact young supporters are adept at using cell phone technology and often have call plans that allow them to making long distance calls for free.
Like a virus, cultural movements follow an S-curve, starting out slowly, then hitting a tipping point at which they diffuse rapidly throughout the population. Late adopters of new innovations are often influenced by opinion leaders, well-known individuals in a position to communicate their views to a broad audience. In the Democratic Party these are superdelegates. The fact superdelegates are starting to “tip” in favor of Obama suggest his campaign could reach a tipping point in time for the Democratic National Convention.
I wasn’t sure how my rock-video presentation would go over in class. Maybe people would think it wasn’t businesslike. To the tune of Lenny Kravitz’ “Fly Away”, I included photographs and quotes from dyslexic opinion leaders like Gavin Newsom, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Whoopi Goldberg, Anderson Cooper and Erin Brockovich, ending with jetBlue’s Neeleman and a jetBlue plane flying away to Kravitz singing “I want to get away, I want to fly away, Yeah, yeah, yeah” and jet engine sound effects.
At this point, one of my classmates, said, “Wow! The pictures fit with the lyrics.” My classmate Mike, who worked for many years in television news production and has a personality almost exactly like Robin Williams, was timing the presentation. He gave me a solid thumbs up, then later told me his son has dyslexia.
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