After reading and learning about the Diffusions of Innovation Theory by Everett Rogers, it is clear to me that this theory was derived from something that happens often in modern society, especially as we are evolving to become centered around technology. To get a brief understanding of this theory, I visited the Wikipedia page for it, and then continued on with my own research. I found this article that clarifies the ideas seen on wikipedia more in depth.
This theory is broken up into five "steps" of how something diffuses to become a part of the mainstream technologies, with a heavy emphasis on how the social structure accepts or rejects the innovation. To start, the first step is interest/knowledge. Connecting this to my subject from the EOTO presentation, there was a n interest in moving filing systems to be digital, coinciding with the rise of computers and other technologies in corporate settings. Using this same article from one of my sources in the presentation, it is clear that the need for digital storage was becoming dire, and this creation found a solution to that.
The second step, as outlined by Rogers is persuasion. In my interoperation, this means that once the need is identified and the idea of how to fix that need is created, there is a need to persuade people into both understanding and agreeing with you. This came with one of the the first cloud computing companies, Salesforce. Simple persuasion techniques show that when there is an established need for something, people are more likely to buy it. The this step is evaluation/decision. This is essentially where the work to create whatever the idea is begins. This step is outlined in cloud computing as the creation of the cloud, with the name and functionality of it. Important to note that Rogers also put emphasis on evaluating this innovation to make sure it was still answering to the need that was identified in the second step.
Lastly, step four is trial/implementation. This is often where many innovations will either take off, or the idea will trickle out. Cloud computing was luckily enough a huge success, though it did face its challenges with adaptability as people were needing data storage spaces for both public and private information. This then brings in the final stage, which is adoption/confirmation. Cloud computing became widely popular and then led to the creation of some iconic companies that are still used today like Amazon Web Services and iCloud. Then, the innovation can diffuse fully into society and become an integral part, just as cloud computing has for us. Nobody thinks twice about saving a photo or uploading a document to the storage, because we have had this innovation for so long that it is part of our society now.
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