Preliminary Programme

The idea of cell-based mobile radio systems appeared at Bell Laboratories in the United States in the late 1940s. However, technical proposals for a cellular standard were not drawn up until 1971 by AT&T and its Bell Laboratories. This standard was called "Advanced Mobile Phone System" (AMPS). During the early 1980’s, analog cellular telephone systems experienced very rapid growth in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Despite the growth in Europe and Japan, AMPS still was the most common standard for mobile communications worldwide in the middle of the nineties (Compared to the Total Number of Subscribers AMPS was leading the global market share with about 46%, followed by GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications) 20% and TACS (Total Access Communications System; an AMPS-Derivant developed by British Telecom and Mercury )16% of the gobal market). A few years later the situation had changed completely: By the date of July 2000 the European standard GSM had 220 million subscribers followed by AMPS with 70 and CDMA with about 35 million subscribers. The outstanding leading position in worldwide market share and the fact that GSM had been implemented in about 135 countries at that point in time, were good reasons for ITU and others to denote the GSM-Standard as the "de facto" standard for global mobile communications.

Regarding the dramatic shift in market share leadership from the USA to Europe the following question arises: how could this happen just in the moment, when the mobile phone technology turned form analog to digital? How could the "Land of Computing Power, Microchips and Silicon Valley" loose its leading position to Europe as soon as the technology itself became "microchiped", "computerized" and "siliconized"?

The comparative analysis aims at detecting different underlying processes of institutionalization, marktet regulation and political bargaining of the cell phone digitalization in Europe and in the USA, regarding standards. The idea to apply standardization processes as an analytical category is inspired by the approach of Bowker and Star and their theory of classification. Standards are to be taken as intermediary functional entities, not only by fitting one technological element to another, but also as means to identify and bargain technology in political and socioeconomic contexts. Therefore, technological standards can be seen as discursive patterns. In the sense of Bowker and Star standards are not "given". They have to be built up in complex processes of classification, innovation and political bargaining. (Show less)

Standardization was an important process in the development from artisan technology to industrial technology. It took shape in the Netherlands during the sixteenth century in connection with shipbuilding and the army where it came to discipline and organization of the soldiers and to their weaponry. Standardization supported the Dutch in emancipating themselves from the Spanish oppressors in their Eighty Years War and in subsequently colonizing many overseas territories, such as the Indies. The resulting trade contributed to the so-called Golden Century in the 17th century in the Netherlands. The paper deals with the question under which technological and social conditions this standardization could develop. Not only national conditions will be considered but also international conditions related to the revolutionary dynamics of the European history. This opens a new perspective on an essential episode in the Dutch history. (Show less)

The process of modernization in Europe is generally described in terms of shifting centers of power and creativity, in which the following sequence of nations is popular: Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Russia and North America. The implied mechanism behind this process remains largely unclear. This paper aims at formulating a new periodization on the basis of the factual dynamics of European history, in which the interaction of technology and society played an important part. It will be made clear that European history is motored by a series of revolutionary events taking place in different regions, involving different social classes and drawing on different values. These events represent a progressive historical drive stimulating secularization and commercialization and resulting in an explosive development of technology. The paper will especially show the sixteenth century German contribution, which is neglected in much historical literature. (Show less)