Technology is designed for instrumental action that reduces the uncertainty in the cause-effect relationships involved in achieving desired outcomes. There are two distinct components of technology. These are:
- Hardware technology – consisting of the tool that embodies the technology as a material or physical object, and
- Software technology – consists of the knowledge base for the toot (Rogers and Hart, 1998). A technology & refers to the combination of knowledge, inputs, and management practices used with productive resources to gain the desired output.
Concept of Technology with Features
Technology is a device-generated through the combination of knowledge, inputs, and management, practices that are used with productive resources to gain the desired output.
The way knowledge, inputs, and services are composed and combined, thus facilitating a certain system to function and survive, can be termed a technology.
Features of a Technology
There are several features or characteristics of the technology. The major ones are listed below:
- Newness
- Technical appropriateness
- Experimentally proved
- Adaptability
- Economic profitability
- Environmentally-friendliness
- Sustainability
- Relative advantage
- Compatibility
- Observability
Individuals tend to expose themselves to technologies to their interests, needs, or existing attitudes. One consciously or unconsciously avoids technologies that conflict with their predisposition. This tendency is referred to as selective exposure.
It may be argued individuals will seldom expose themselves to messages about technology unless they first feel a need for the technology and that even if-such individuals are exposed to the technological messages, such exposure will have little effect unless the individuals perceive the technology as relevant to his needs and as consistent with his existing attitudes and beliefs. This tendency is referred to as selective perception.
On the other hand, knowing fully or unknowingly, individuals remember the messages they think would be useful to solve their immediate problem, while they either ignore or forget the others. This is known as selective retention. Hence, selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention are the important aspects for an individual to consider technology for its adoption.