Facebook took 4.5 years to reach 100 million users worldwide. Apple’s App Store took 2 years. Tiktok took 9 months. ChatGPT took 2 months. Digital innovations with strong user appeal diffuse rapidly. This feeds the perception of ever-accelerating rates of technological change. But is this actually the case if we look carefully at the drivers and dynamics of technological change in both its material form (primarily hardware and infrastructure) and its non-material form (primarily software and social institutions)? Charlie Wilson is co-leading a project with Greg Nemet to examine exactly this question, assessing rates of change in a sample of both technological and ‘social’ innovations relevant to low carbon futures. This sample includes e-commerce, digital (cashless) payments, and digital skills which are all relevant to iDODDLE’s interest in digitalised daily life. Have these primarily social innovations been adopted more or less rapidly than the headline-grabbing hardware like solar PV or applications like ChatGPT? Charlie presented the project concept at the annual EDITS network conference, with interim results due out by the end of the year. Watch this space for more!
Access the full presentation here.
