Finding aids in context: using Records Continuum and Diffusion of Innovations models to interpret descriptive choices

The Australian series system has been identified as useful in describing the multiple relationships increasingly identified in archival collections due to complex administrative history, the need to describe electronic records or a wish to describe multiple views of a single group of archives. However, throughout New Zealand it has been fully adopted by relatively few Archives. A mixed-methods survey was carried out to investigate motivators and barriers to the adoption of the Australian series system, using quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis of responses to a questionnaire. Using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory and the records continuum model to suggest factors and map the results, it was found that the main motivator to use the AuSS was an archivist convinced of its value, through training or previous use, and with an awareness of archival conventions and standards. Other motivators included a large collection with a complex administrative history, the availability of compatible software, institutional support, and expert advice recommending its use. Barriers included lack of awareness or training, lack of autonomy for the archivist, and lack of resources. Changes to description occurred when particular moments of opportunity coincided with perceived needs. These factors worked together at all levels of the records continuum to affect decisions made by archivists on the type of description to use in their finding aids. Wider use of the AuSS to enable better information sharing and more fully-developed contextual description could be achieved through the provision of better publicised information; expert advice on implementation and on migration of existing data; and practical, readymade, simple and adaptable templates for finding aids.

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Contagious Description: Factors Influencing the Adoption of the Australian Series System in New Zealand Archives

10.26686/wgtn.16993006.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Belinda Jane Battley

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations ◽

Expert Advice ◽

Series System ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations Theory ◽

Perceived Needs ◽

Records Continuum ◽

Finding Aids ◽

Administrative History ◽

Records Continuum Model

The Australian series system has been identified as useful in describing the multiple relationships increasingly identified in archival collections due to complex administrative history, the need to describe electronic records or a wish to describe multiple views of a single group of archives. However, throughout New Zealand it has been fully adopted by relatively few Archives. A mixed-methods survey was carried out to investigate motivators and barriers to the adoption of the Australian series system, using quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis of responses to a questionnaire. Using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory and the records continuum model to suggest factors and map the results, it was found that the main motivator to use the AuSS was an archivist convinced of its value, through training or previous use, and with an awareness of archival conventions and standards. Other motivators included a large collection with a complex administrative history, the availability of compatible software, institutional support, and expert advice recommending its use. Barriers included lack of awareness or training, lack of autonomy for the archivist, and lack of resources. Changes to description occurred when particular moments of opportunity coincided with perceived needs. These factors worked together at all levels of the records continuum to affect decisions made by archivists on the type of description to use in their finding aids. Wider use of the AuSS to enable better information sharing and more fully-developed contextual description could be achieved through the provision of better publicised information; expert advice on implementation and on migration of existing data; and practical, readymade, simple and adaptable templates for finding aids.

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Local government innovation diffusion in China: an event history analysis of a performance-based reform programme

International Review of Administrative Sciences ◽

10.1177/0020852315596211 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 84 (1) ◽

pp. 63-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jiannan Wu ◽

Pan Zhang

Keyword(s):

Innovation Diffusion ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations ◽

Event History Analysis ◽

Event History ◽

Probit Regression ◽

Relative Age ◽

Reform Programme ◽

History Analysis ◽

And Diffusion

The performance-based reform programme launched by Fujian province in 2000 has been adopted by many other Chinese provinces, including Zhejiang, Hebei, Anhui and Sichuan, over the past 12 years. This article aims to explore the antecedents of the adoption of this programme, in particular, the effects of senior figures' political promotion incentives and diffusion mechanisms. Specifically, event history analysis based on probit regression is used to examine data from 31 Chinese provinces for the 2000–2012 period. The results show that leaders' relative age and chances of being appointed to the Politburo, and distance to the general election, are significantly negatively correlated with the reform programme's adoption, but top-down diffusion is significantly positively correlated with it. Points for practitioners This study confirms that the nomenklatura system in China shapes the diffusion of innovations through the mechanisms of political promotion incentives and intergovernmental interactions. Thus, the dynamics of innovation diffusion are, to some extent, rooted in particular political institutions and shaped by political contexts. Furthermore, the desire for political promotions may figure as a general deep reason for decisions about whether to adopt innovations; therefore, strengthening these incentives for adopting reforms becomes a key strategy.

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Adoption of digital technology in the New Zealand motion picture industry

10.26686/wgtn.17006236 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Rachel Gwendoline McInnes

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Motion Picture ◽

Digital Technology ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations ◽

Motion Picture Industry ◽

Supply Side ◽

Traditional Research ◽

Adoption And Diffusion ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Supply Side Factors

This research applies Frambach's integrated model of the adoption and diffusion of innovations to the adoption of digital technology in the New Zealand motion picture industry. Previous models concerning innovation adoption have typically focused on adopter side variables. The model employed here integrates supply-side variables with the adopter-side variables focused on in traditional research. This research extends Frambach's model to consider the time and extent of adoption. The model is tested through a mail-out survey. Tests of associations between dependent and independent variables are carried out through four measures of association in a bivariate fashion. The results show that supply-side and adopter-side variables are both important influencers of the extent of adoption of digital technology in the motion picture industry. However supply-side factors do not appear to be important determinants of the time of adoption of digital technology in this industry.

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Divide and diffuse: Comparing digital divide and diffusion of innovations perspectives on mobile phone adoption

Mobile Media & Communication ◽

10.1177/2050157915590469 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 401-424 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ronald E. Rice ◽

Katy E. Pearce

Keyword(s):

Mobile Phone ◽

Digital Divide ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations ◽

And Diffusion

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Innovation

The European Guilds ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691137544.003.0008 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 438-510

Author(s):

Sheilagh Ogilvie

Keyword(s):

Technological Innovation ◽

Diffusion Of Innovations ◽

Spatial Clustering ◽

Technological Knowledge ◽

The Other ◽

Market Failures ◽

New Techniques ◽

The One ◽

And Diffusion

This chapter addresses how guilds dealt with technological innovation. Innovation is a final sphere in which market failures are widespread in premodern economies, as in modern ones. On the one hand, contemporaries frequently complained that guilds blocked new techniques and practices. On the other hand, guilds were in a position to generate cartel rents, and this might have encouraged their members to incur the costs of invention. Guilds might also have encouraged diffusion of technological knowledge through compulsory apprenticeship, mandatory travelling by journeymen, or the spatial clustering of practitioners. Guilds could also affect innovation unintentionally by things they did for other reasons. Guilds thus provide a rich context for investigating the role of different institutional mechanisms in encouraging the invention and diffusion of innovations.

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