Harmeet Sawhney - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Harmeet Sawhney

Telecommunications Policy, Sep 1, 1992

The public telephone network is often referred to as the 'highway' of the information a... more The public telephone network is often referred to as the 'highway' of the information age. The advocates of investments in telecommunications infrastructure evoke the 'highway analogy' to underscore its social and economic importance. However, the analogy has not been developed beyond a relatively simple metaphor. In this article the 'highway analogy' is used as a heuristic device for model construction. The experience with transportation technologies is used to develop an abstract model for understanding the growth pattern of the emerging telecommunications technologies.

Popular Communication, Apr 2, 2016

ABSTRACT The piano competition, once held under aristocratic patronage, evolved into a mechanized... more ABSTRACT The piano competition, once held under aristocratic patronage, evolved into a mechanized system as the industry clamored for objective evaluations to create bona fide piano stars. Critics and fans pushed back, complaining that the homogenizing system of production crushed individuality. The piano competition is evolving again, as the social media and interactive technologies have presented new latitudes to various actors. The subsequent reposturing by them has led to the emergence of a new type of competition, wherein the focus is not on the final product (the winning pianist) but on the selection process, which has become a highly publicized spectacle that is profitable for the organizers and rewarding to other actors including contestants who do not win. This shift dispels the tension between production and performance by turning the stage into the star of the show, effectively freeing pianists to express their musicality by appealing directly to the audience.

ABSTRACT The accuracy of our forecasts about a new communication technology depend on our ability... more ABSTRACT The accuracy of our forecasts about a new communication technology depend on our ability to detect new "liberties of action" it offers. We, however, are unable to recognize them because we tend to view the new technology via metaphors based on old ones. Furthermore, the entrenched institutions seek to guide its development within the existing framework with minimal disruptions. Within this context, the breakthroughs which shatter our conceptual blinders come from the activities of fringe groups fueled by the thrill of experimentation rather than the prospect of commercial gain. For example, while corporations (RCA, Westinghouse, AT&T and others) interested in point-to-point wireless telegraphy viewed the scattering of radio waves as a nuisance, amateur radio enthusiasts saw the potential of point-to-multipoint broadcasting. Similarly, the activities of fringe groups were critical in the development of e-mail and internet broadcasting. This paper explains how the fringe groups form an "arena of innovation" outside the established institutional framework which facilitates the discovery of new liberties of action. It first examines the development of radio, e-mail, and internet broadcasting to identify parallels and then conceptualizes the processes via which fringe groups discover the new liberties of action of an emerging communication technology. Indiana University

Telecommunications Policy, Sep 1, 1993

ABSTRACT In the public policy discourse on telecommunications infrastructure there is a constant ... more ABSTRACT In the public policy discourse on telecommunications infrastructure there is a constant lament about the fragmentation and chaos within the regulatory environment in the USA. It is often sugested that 'top-down' network models are far more efficient than the 'bottom-up' approach which characterizes US domestic telecommunications. The recent successes of more centralized countries lend support to this perspective. However, the analysis presented in this paper suggests that the USA should refrain from copying the success formulae of other countries. The US cultural context is very different from other countries' and therefore there is a need to develop an indigenous strategy which is more suitable for a markedly polycentric environment.

Media, Culture & Society, May 1, 2004

The Information Society, Jun 1, 2000

... mode. Keywords information gap, information poor, information rich, uni-versal access,univers... more ... mode. Keywords information gap, information poor, information rich, uni-versal access,universal service ... If the benchmark is regular e-mail, the universal service package will not include high-speed access to the Internet. Although ...

The Information Society, 1998

In many ways it is futile to think about the future. There are far too many variables involved an... more In many ways it is futile to think about the future. There are far too many variables involved and it is almost impossible to make accurate predictions. But, in the arena of information and communications technologies (ICT), the sheer pace of technological change forces us to confront it. We have to factor in the future when we make investment, regulatory, and other decisions about ICT. i The preferred device is a formal model which allows us to make predictions with a high degree of accuracy. Such a model requires a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and availability of accurate data. Unfortunately, the sheer complexity of the processes leading to the development of a large technical system such as the "information superhighway" does not readily lend itself to precise modelling. The processes tend to be ambiguous and ill-defined and accurate data are a rare commodity. In such situations metaphors and analogies offer a viable alternative to formal models. They help us handle situations where there is "high uncertainty, missing data, unclear goals, and poorly understood parameters". 1 We have to accept the fact that although the use of metaphors is not a particularly elegant or sophisticated technique, it is perhaps the only conceptual tool we have for understanding the development of a new technology. We should therefore direct our energies towards understanding the peculiarities of this tool: How can we leverage it to maximise the potential 6

Info, May 9, 2008

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to chart the evolving internet-mobile internet relationship ... more Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to chart the evolving internet-mobile internet relationship in Japan. Design/methodology/approach-The approach takes the form of a case study. Findings-The original i-Mode-based model for mobile internet in Japan was largely an ordered system except for relatively marginal unofficial web sites, which unlike official web sites were not listed on the browser, where an element of chaos reigned. The introduction of Google search engine changed the ecosystem by giving the unofficial web sites new visibility. Practical implications-The interface between the internet and its wireless extensions is a potential source of powerful influences both ways and needs to be watched. Originality/value-The paper looks at the little studied interface between the chaotic internet and its mobile extensions, largely ordered systems, to see whether the chaos of the internet will spill over to its mobile extensions or whether the order of the latter will march on to the former.

Communication Monographs, Sep 1, 2007

Mobile is the new technology of the day. But we need to keep in mind that it is the latest new te... more Mobile is the new technology of the day. But we need to keep in mind that it is the latest new technology. In other words, there have been new technologies in the past and there will be more in the...

Prometheus (St. Lucia), May 13, 2009

The power of Hughes' concept of reverse salients is evident in its widespread adoption and use in... more The power of Hughes' concept of reverse salients is evident in its widespread adoption and use in areas as diverse as water distribution, metals production, and mobile music businesses. In all these studies the reverse salient concept has been mainly applied to internal problems in the development of a large-scale system. We focus not only on reverse salients within a system but also at the meta-system level, wherein different systems come together to create a system of systems. We draw on the experience with containerization, which is a particularly interesting case study because it developed in response to the reverse salients at the metasystem level-the bottlenecks at the interfaces between motor carriers, railroads, and water carriers, the three systems that together form the overall surface transportation system. We examine the processes both within each system and also at the meta-system level and expand our understanding of reverse salients as a system development phenomenon.

Prometheus (St. Lucia), Sep 1, 2006

This paper seeks to understand how the possibility of a complementary relationship or its lack im... more This paper seeks to understand how the possibility of a complementary relationship or its lack impacts dynamics of competition between two competing network technologies. It examines the cases of gas-electricity and telegraph-telephone competition. The two case studies suggest that the degree of complementarity greatly shapes the dynamics of competition between an entrenched network technology and a new competitor. When there is little scope for a complementary relationship, as in the case of the gas-electricity battle, the strategists for the new technology have to subvert the old system and build a new one on its ashes since there is little chance of coexistence. On the other hand, the possibility of a complementary relationship, as in the case of the telegraph-telephone battle, allows for the emergence of complex situations marked by coexistence interwoven with competition. These compromise positions, invariably involving re-negotiation of boundaries, are tempting resting spots for battle weary contestants. As the relationship between the old and the new system evolves, the nature of the complementary relationship changes, especially in the relative power of the two systems, and even if eventually the old system fades away the process is a long and gradual one.

The Information Society, Sep 1, 2003

ABSTRACT It is now widely accepted that universal service will have to be redefined time and agai... more ABSTRACT It is now widely accepted that universal service will have to be redefined time and again as the technological environment evolves. Accordingly, policymakers have sought to institute a process for a periodic review of the universal service package. In order to "automate" the initiation of the review process, they have devised market-indicators-based trigger mechanisms to flag new technologies that should be considered for inclusion in an expanded universal service package. This article interrogates the majoritarian assumptions behind the design of the trigger mechanisms. It shows how the pressures generated by systems to induce adoption of a new technology by citizens/consumers play as important a role as their uncoerced choices in the emergence of new consumption norms. The article calls for balanced thinking that also considers the system perspective.

Telecommunications Policy, Apr 1, 2004

A number of proposals have been put forward to reform universal service and make it compatible wi... more A number of proposals have been put forward to reform universal service and make it compatible with the new competitive telecommunications environment in the United States. The diversity and apparent contradictions between these proposals makes the public policy dialog scattered and confused. This paper introduces the idea of a 'possibility space' delineated by two dimensions-'intervention' and 'locus'-that lays out the contours of the emerging intellectual landscape by placing past practices as well as present proposals on the same conceptual plane. It suggests that the current approach to universal service reforms continues to be bound by the self-imposed limitations of a past regulatory era, and that a heterogeneous universal service policy is likely to be more suited to the new telecommunications environment.

Media, Culture & Society, Apr 1, 1996

Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 2007

Introduction All review essays brim with information. Whenever we attempted to devise a coherent ... more Introduction All review essays brim with information. Whenever we attempted to devise a coherent framework to organize this information, we found that we had left out sizeable portions of the universal access literature. On the other hand, our efforts to cover the literature exhaustively generated an organizational structure at such a high level of generality that it lost its analytical edge. The root of these problems lies in the peculiar nature of the literature on universal access. It is sprawling and diffused across many different domains. Everybody seems to have something to say about universal access but there is little common understanding of the core concepts and issues. Furthermore, the loosely defined concept has been applied to a wide range of domains, ranging from primary education to the rights of people with disabilities. In effect, we found ourselves dealing with an intellectual terrain that would not fit into typological boxes. The breadth and diversity of the literature are mirrored in the conceptual ambiguity surrounding universal service itself. At various times in its history, universal service has been interpreted to mean an interconnected telecommunications network; universal geographical coverage; subsidized access to telecommunications services and information and communication technologies (ICTs); access for communities with specialized needs, such as the disabled; and so on. In the various literatures that we reviewed, this conceptual ambiguity continues to be in evidence-universal service is shorthand for a variety of socioeconomic objectives underlying telecommunications policy open to selective interpretation based on the ideological proclivities and policy goals of the interest group professing the viewpoint. A critical review essay therefore has to begin by clarifying the universal service concept itself. We do so by examining the egalitarian impulse at the heart of universalism-the idea that some services need to be accessible to all citizens in a democracy. This egalitarian impulse

The Information Society, Mar 23, 2007

Springer eBooks, Jan 11, 2006