Download or read book Coordinating Technology written by Susanne K. Schmidt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Coordinating Technology, Susanne Schmidt and Raymund Werle present three case studies that highlight the actors, the process, the politics, and the influence exerted by international organizations in the construction of standards. The case studies concern the standards for facsimile terminals and transmission, videotex (a service that, with the exception of the French Minitel service, largely failed), and electronic mail. Schmidt and Werle follow each story from the realization by certain actors of the need for a standard, through complex negotiation processes involving many economic, political, and social interests, to the final agreement on a standard. In their analysis of these cases, they emphasize the many ways in which the processes are embedded in institutional structures and argue for the value of an institutionalist approach to technology studies.