Cellular Telephones in the United States

1. If the fax was invented in 1843, why did it take so long before it was adopted?

2. What was the “appropriate telephone infrastructure to support fax”?

3. Who were the first users of fax machines?

4. What were the advantages of using a fax over alternative methods of sending information?

Diffusion of an Interactive Innovation: BITNET and INTERNET

1. What was BITNET?

2. What is meant by the term “sequential interdependence”?

3. How did this affect the diffusion of BITNET?

4. What is meant by the term “reciprocal interdependence”?

5. How did this affect the diffusion of BITNET?

6. What was the origin of the INTERNET?

7. What is meant by the term “critical mass”?

Networks in the Diffusion of a Medical Drug

1. What evidence did the Coleman study provide that showed the influence of networks on doctors adopting tetracycline?

2. What alternative interpretations have other researchers made based on Coleman’s data?

Nondiffusion of the Dvorak Keyboard

1. Why was the QWERTY keyboard designed the way it is?

2. How have technological changes made the original QWERTY design less desirable?

3. In what ways is the Dvorak keyboard superior to the QWERTY keyboard?

4. Why has the Dvorak keyboard not been widely accepted?

How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum

1. Why were electric rather than gas refrigerators marketed?

The Trail of the Mouse: From SRI to Xerox to Apple

1. What conditions led to the mouse being developed for the marketplace?

How Thermos Designed a New Electric Grill

1. Why did Thermos design an electric rather than a charcoal or gas grill?

2. How did Thermos change the organizational structure of its innovation team?

3. What effects did this change have?

IT, Gender, and Professional Practice: Or, Why an Automated Drug Distribution System Was Sent Back to the Manufacturer

1. What did the automated drug distribution system do?

2. Why was it introduced into the facility?

3. In what ways did it affect nurses and pharmacists?

4. Why was it sent back?

5. What, if anything, did gender have to do with the acceptance or rejection of the system?