Recipes for cookies: how institutions shape communication technologies
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: The ability of communication technologies to favor certain societal concerns, such as privacy, is widely recognized. This article argues an institutional analysis is central to understanding how a technology affects a societal concern. This is demonstrated with a case study of the cookies technology, which has been shaped in differing ways by universities, firms, and consortia. A comparative institutional analysis finds that each of these institutions acted according to their own norms and processes in influencing the recipe for cookies. It is these institutional tendencies that shaped the cookies technology. By understanding these tendencies, policymakers can better assess, predict, and proactively influence the development of communication technologies to improve societal welfare.
Source: New Media & Society
Authors: Rajiv C. Shah, Jay P. Kesan
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2153990158