2 research outputs found
Evolutionary dynamics of new media forms: the case of the open mobile web
This thesis is designed to improve our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of
media forms, with a special historical focus on the recent processes of Web and mobile
convergence and the early development of the cross-platform Web. It aims to investigate
the dynamics that have underpinned the creation, evolution and conventionalisation of
new media forms in the open mobile Web following the launch of 3G mobile networks.
In theoretical terms the thesis explores the possibilities for the analytical
integration of evolutionary approaches that traditionally have shed light on the discrete
components of the evolutionary ‘ensemble’ that comprises media’s textual forms, their
technologies and organisational systems. Among the theoretical pillars the study builds
on is, first, the cultural semiotic approach (Lotman) that is utilised for interpreting the
textual dynamics constituting the form evolution. Second, evolutionary economics
(Schumpeter, Freeman and others) is included for interpreting the market dynamics that
condition the formation of the media industries. Third, systems theoretical sociology
(Luhmann) is deployed in order to understand the broader dynamics of social organisation in late modernism. The integration of these approaches provides the conceptual
framework that focuses on the following phenomena: dialogic interchange among
industry sub-systems as enabling innovations and the emergence of new sub-systems; the
self-organisation of the sub-systems in the contingent environment; the role of memory
and systemic ‘path-dependencies’ in guiding the processes of self-organisation; and the
nature of the power relations that shape the dialogic processes.
The empirical study focuses on textual as well as organisational developments.
The semiotic analysis of mobile websites reveals the intertextual relations of the new
forms with other media domains, especially the desktop Web. The interviews with
representatives of industry stakeholders provide insights into the dialogic practices
between the parties engaged in designing the mobile Web, and how, via these practices,
the new platform, its media forms and institutional structures were shaped. The findings
point to the historical formation of two main industry sub-systems – ‘infrastructure
enablers’ and content providers – with different preferred alternatives for the design of
the cross-platform Web. The thesis demonstrates how the formation of these groups was
conditioned by their systemic path-dependencies, but also by the mesh of dialogic
relationships among them and by the resulting changes in the discursive constellations
framing the organisation of the industry and the norms for its media forms. The study
points to the first signs of the historically momentous emancipation of the mobile Webmedia forms, their shaking free of path-dependency on the desktop Web