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Arenas of innovation: understanding new configurational potentialities of communication technologies

Seungwhan Lee

Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, USA

The entrenched institutions have repeatedly failed to understand the ‘new configurational potentiality’ of a new communication technology that enables new social and organizational configurations. While the potential for radical innovation made possible by a new communication technology remains below the corporate radar, it is often experimentation by fringe groups outside the established institutional framework that facilitates its realization. This article examines the systemic qualities of the ‘arenas of innovation’ arising out of communities of technology enthusiasts brought together by the new technology that allow fringe groups to generate critical insights that escape corporate eyes. The analysis starts with an examination of the systemic properties of the arena of innovation within which radio’s new configurational potentiality, broadcasting, was identified. Thereafter, the analysis moves to our own times and looks at the arena of innovation that has emerged around the Internet. Finally, the article draws on the experience with radio and the Internet to identify and discuss the defining qualities of an archetypal arena of innovation.

Key Words: creative culture • early broadcasting • Internet breakthroughs

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