Many observers comment on the rapid pace of technological change. But many technologies and technology-enabled practices—including flying cars, virtual reality, and nuclear fusion—have been very slow to diffuse, if they emerge at all. Even as a robust literature has examined factors that shape the development of new technologies and the timing of diffusion, few studies have examined how and why we continue to pay attention to technologies that have not, in fact, meaningfully diffused. In this study, we trace the development of telecommuting over three decades, beginning with the origins of the concept in 1973. We find that even as media rhetoric around telecommuting increases over time, the actual practice remains very limited—and nowhere approaching any predictions. Through an analysis of this rhetoric, we explain this persistent attention as a result of three factors: First, interpretive flexibility around telecommuting enables it to be posited as the solution to an ever-expanding array of problems. As these problems both arise and persist, they serve to sustain interest in telecommuting. Second, the continual emergence of new facilitating technologies offers a plausible explanation for why telecommuting had not earlier diffused and a justifiable reason to expect that it finally will. Finally, the promise of telecommuting leads to the emergence of a new market for technology products and services, such that commercial interests sustain telecommuting rhetoric in the absence of meaningful practice. Our study offers three main contributions: First, we provide insight into how the "pre-emergence" phase of technology and industry evolution may be sustained over many decades of non-emergence. Second, we foreground the role of interpretative flexibility in technology emergence, exploring how this flexibility may not be resolved over time but rather broadened. Finally, we contribute to the literature on hype by showing how hype need not be transitory and how interested organizations may not only respond to, but also generate, hype.
This seminar will have a broad interest across the School — particularly to those with an interest in technology and/or qualitative methods.