Compatibility helps everyone: Jonathan Coopersmith on standards for technology

What do fax machines have in common with electric cars? More than you may think. History professor Jonathan Coopersmith, who studied the development of fax technology, argues in this March 2017 essay in The Conversation that in order for electric cars to eventually succeed, competing electric car makers need to follow the example of fax development and adopt uniform charging standards. (In case you aren’t familiar with them, fax machines were once key business communication tools, allowing a printed document to be fed into a machine and transmitted over telephone lines; a similar machine on the other end of the call would receive a facsimile of the original document—hence, “fax”.)

Read it here: Coopersmith, "What fax machines can teach us about electric cars”

1. Does Coopersmith’s title live up to its promise? What can fax machines teach us about electric cars? Summarize Coopersmith’s argument. Is it persuasive? Why or why not?
2. Coopersmith’s essay doesn’t really have an explicit They Say; still, he is entering an ongoing conversation with competing positions. What is the conversation that Coopersmith is joining? Why might he have chosen not to present an explicit They Say? Is his choice effective? Why or why not?
3. According to Coopersmith, the eventual success of fax machine standards was due to two key factors. What were they? How easily were you able to find the information for answering that question? What device does Coopersmith use to tie the information together?
4. Coopersmith is a history professor who has done extensive research on the development of fax machine standards. Why might a historian have studied such a topic? Do you think the history of these standards is a topic worthy of research? Why or why not?
5. We generally don’t have to pay much attention to the standards that facilitate our daily lives. One example, as Coopersmith notes, is being able to plug any toaster into any electric outlet in the US without a second thought. What other standards do we rely on and take for granted? (Here’s another example to help you start thinking: standard time zones didn’t just happen by themselves.) Choose one such standard and investigate its history. Write an essay briefly summarizing your investigation and take a position on whether the standard is important and worthwhile, providing reasons to support your conclusion.

Comments

[Mallory]

I think the reason Coopersmith is joining the converstaion on whether electric cars are easy to use or not. He does not use an explicit "they say" to prevent name calling. This choice is effective because he can get his point across in a much gentler way. Instead of screaming at the car companies for not making a Universal car plug-in, he compares this situation to the fax machines. This could show the car companies what happened in the past and may encourage them to learn from that.

[Callie]

Although this is a very interesting topic that approaches a fairly important topic, I find it kind of odd that a history teacher would spend so much time to research the history of fax machines for a analogy. His argument was very persuasive in the sense that in order to help the electric car movement, companies need to work together to create a charger that will virtually work for all of the cars. However, I do not understand why someone would waste so much time researching such a dull topic--the history of fax machines.

[Anna]

Coopersmith's title,"what fax machines can teach us about electric cars" does live up to his promise.Coopersmith starts out the article by discussing fax machienes and how unreliable they can be, however he mentions that electric cars can also be very unreliable because not every charge stations works for every car. In bringing this up he made his argument that both fax machines and electric cars have good and bad sides to them, and that is why standards are extremely important when creating electric cars. His argument was very persuasive because he gave very good exaples, facts, and supporting details to everything he said.

[T Marbuery]

I believe Coopersmith's point is not a direct correlation between electric cars and fax machines. I also feel like his title should have been a different title.Although his reference with the fax machine was a success, I expected him to state a direct comparison between the two subjects instead of just persuading the reader to his beliefs.

[Callie]

Anna, I kindly disagree, I believe that throughout his article he is able to make the reader precisely understand how the history of the fax machine industry can help progress the electric car industry.

[Hannah]

in a way, i do believe that coopersmith's title lived up to its promise. he connected fax machines and electric cars by pointing out the need for standard chargers/plug-ins for the different brands of cars and how we could fix this problem like we did with the fax machines. however, this is really the only thing these two items can "teach" us. his argument was persuasive but at the same time i could argue back that the easier fix to the problem is that people just buy normal cars that run on gas.

[Kingston Garnett]

I think Coopersmith’s title did live up to his promise. The article is about how there needs to be some sort of standardization in the charging stations of electric cars. He relates that to how when fax machines first came out they weren't standardized and they ran into a lot of problems. eventually they standardized the fax machines and everyone was able to use them and communicate together. I think his article was persuasive because he played to the readers motions a lot in the article. He talked about how we need to cooperate and it's not fair for people with electric cars. When you make statements like that it plays to the emotions of the reader and makes them feel like they want to help you out as if you are the underdog and everyone is against you and all you want is peace and unity.

[Amelia D]

Coopersmith's title does relate well with his article. Coopersmith thoroughly compares how the fax industry relates to electric cars. He expresses that the fax machine business did not boom until there was one cohesive standard. He is stating that the electric car industry could learn a thing or two from the fax business. For electric cars to really take off, and thrive all companies need to have the same standard. Coopersmith is persuasive because he uses relevant examples to prove his point. Coopersmith is explaining that if all the chargers for electric cars had the same features, more people would be willing to invest in an electric car.

[Mashama B]

Coopersmith's title does live up to its promise because his discussion about fax machines did teach the reader about a certain aspect of electric cars. Fax machines teach us the importance of standards. Before different fax machines were able to communicate with each other, the sales were pretty low. Once they made any, and every, fax machine able to communicate with each other with no problems, there were more purchases. If electric cars were able to charge at all gas/charging stations, there will be more purchases of them as well. Coopersmith's argument is persuasive because he uses a strong comparison to make sense of his point.

[K. Sheffield]

I do not believe that Coopersmith's title lived up to it's promise because although fax machine's took years to be compatible with one another the issue here is that charging of electric cars and the adapters being the same at charging stations. Yes there is a similarity between fax machines and chargers for electric cars compatibility but I do not believe that one could simply look at fax machines and say that fax machines can teach us about electric cars. The article was mainly about electric cars not being compatible at all charging stations. This article made very few references to fax machines.

[Yazmin K. Mackey]

The key factors to the fax machine were that they were royalty-free (any company can adhere to the standard without paying a fee to the creators) and to not restrictive as to prevent fax machine manufacturers from introducing other features (faster transmission). I found this information but referencing back to where I had read it and then comprehended what Coopersmith had said into another part. Coopersmith using referencing and historical background to compare what he had researched and discover from previous years and what could happen in the near future,

[The Real Brandon Ashley]

I do not think that the title of the argument corresponds with the meaning of the article. I feel that with this title there should have been more comparison between these two topics than was presents. Although the title was not very strong, I feel that he presented a very persuasive argument for why there should be a universal plug for electric cars. He uses references such as gas powered vehicles and being able to plug a toaster into any outlet to strengthen his argument. I think he puts up a valid argument, he just needs to add facts to back it up.

[Cassie]

The title does not meet the point that Summarize Coopersmith is trying to make. He gave no facts to back up his argument. He makes it clear that a fax machine is similar to a electric car by talking about how they both fax machines and electric cars have a big issue, one being it cant communicate and the other being there are to many chargers making it hard for someone to charge their car. If there was a different title I feel like it would help with his argument.

[James L]

Coppersmith's research into this topic was not without reason. While I do not know his exact reasoning, it could be a number of things including owning one of these cars or simply wanting more people to get less environmentally hurtful cars. This topic is worthy of research because of the huge market that could open up because of cooperation between these companies. It could make electric cars just as accessible and useful as normal gas cars.

[Lily]

While Coopersmith's title is certainly catchy; it really does not correlate into the argument as much as I had assumed before reading the piece. As i reader I automatically assumed that the connection drawn between the two would be more technologically relevant. Instead it was more about the changes that the companies had to make more in a sense of advertisement as opposed to the make and models of the two inventions. I believe that his argument is definitely filled with extremely well thought out points making it persuasive and intriguing to the reader, but because of the title i left the article feeling a little let down that an electric car was not manufactured in the same way as a fax machine.

[Tim]

His title does live up to the idea of using fax machines advancements to further improve electric vehicle universally. Electric vehicles can be the future of daily commute, but without the standard charging ports, they will never be as effective as possible. With the fax machines, they had a standard that was not too restrictive and allowed for change among each brand of fax machines but still sent universally. It was quite persuasive in telling the people it is time to put differences in technology aside and work together to make electric cars more efficient.

[jeff]

Brianna I'm going to have to disagree with you. Just because fax machines were able to make it over the hump doesn't mean electric cars will be guaranteed to as well. The current standard regarding automobile fueling is gasoline. Changing the standard from gasoline to electric charging seems to be a much more difficult goal than a simple fax machine.

[Lily]

In response to James L. I do agree with the fact that the topic was worthy of research. Fax machines may not be as relevant anymore as a result of more instantaneous modes of communication, but electric cars are and will continue to grow as an industry throughout the US. Therefore the research done to compare how fax machines were successful to help the industry of electric cars is worthwhile.

[Josh C]

The two reasons the standardized fax machine was so successful are the fact that it was royalty free, which means companies could adhere to the standard without paying a fee to the standards creators, and the standard was not so restrictive as to prevent fax machine manufacturers from introducing other features such as faster transmission. Both of these factors were crucial to the standard fax machine's success.It was very easy to find this information because it was set aside in a paragraph all by itself and stated explicitly. Coopersmith uses history and similarities between the standard fax machine and electric cars to tie all the information together.

[mattison]

The success for fax machines was due to the fact that it is royalty- free, meaning that any company could adhere to the standard with not having to pay its creator with a fee. Second standard was to prevent fax machine manufactures from introducing other features,for example fast transmissions. This allowed competition through out companies on more than just price. I think these standards were easy to find because the way the paragraphs started, like when Coopersmith said "This key found two keys to its success". I feel that Coopersmith used good analogies through out his article with evolving technology and groups of manufactures.

[Brooke]

Yes, Coopersmith's title lives up to it's promise that fax machines can teach us about electric cars because of the standards for both of the technology. Fax machines faced the same problems that electric cars face. There is not an international standard to be able to use or recharge them. Fax machines had no potential at first to be a useful technology because any other person could have a different standard and therefore people couldn't use them. Coopersmith proves that when the International Telecommunications Union adopted the world wide standard people saw it as reliable and the industry sky rocketed. The problem with electric cars is there is not one way to charge an electric car. There is different kinds that only worked with certain cars. When gas is accessible to everyone why would anyone want to worry about running out of charge? Coopersmith's point is that if electric cars would go to an international standard, then it could increase the market just like the solution did with fax machines. Coopersmith's argument is persuasive because he connects the solution of the fax machines to a problem of electric cars and he presents a way that could possibly work.

[Tiffani P]

Coopersmith, a historian, might have studied the topic of fax machines because of the manufacturing process that it went through. He wanted to find a way to adapt uniform charging stations in order to make it more efficient for electrical cars. To do this, he needed to find proof that it would be beneficial and that is where the example of the fax machine came into play. I do believe the history of these standards is a topic worthy of research because the topic of fax machines supports his claim. As mentioned in his article, standardized fax machines allowed companies to compete on more than just price; they could compete on features as well. This resulted in a continuous wave of new and cheaper machines that attracted more user. If a standardized system of electrical charging stations were accepted, it could possibly yield the same factors.

[Ricky Bobby]

I agree with Jonathan Coopersmith's thesis and main point of his article. I thought he did a good job using a direct historical example based of the common understanding that history repeats itself. His analogy is successful in proving that allowing the free market to be the sole determining factor in a standard can prolong the problem and be unsuccessful. He proves the validity of his analogy by directly comparing them: "Like fax machines, electric vehicles' incompatibility reflected both evolving technology and groups of manufacturers promoting their own systems in hopes of dominating the market place." He provides a conversational tone with directly stating a "they say." He explains how fax machines were eventually successful because improved compatibility provided better communication unrivaled by other technology at the time. He compares this to the success of the standardization of household electronics but there are many other standardizations that promote efficiency including MLA formatting in our reading, heavy standardization of our highway systems as well as telephone networks.

[Gladys]

Technology has come along way and it has improved the way things work,you can access any information at the click of the button.

[Joseph Lai]

I agree with Katie that the title does fit with what the author wanted to say. Coopersmith is essentially arguing that standards can make a market more expansive and profitable. Jonathan Coopersmith’s article is all about comparisons of the compatibility of different technology anywhere people go. If a piece of tech is only available for use at specific locations or specific times, nobody would even think to use it. Coopersmith believes that if there were certain guidelines to follow when making new technology, these guidelines would make the use of it convenient and possible. Nobody wants to use a device that can only charge at one place such as their home. He uses the example of a fax machine as an analogy of what modern day tech such as electric cars should follow. The product should be royalty-free and not restrictive. Coopersmith says that the two basic approaches to creating appropriate technology standards is done by allowing the market to decide or creating a consensus among participants. Knowing what the market wants and what the consumers want will eliminate many chances for flaws with the product itself. Getting the sales is easy through efficient advertising, but keeping customer satisfaction is what matters. If all technology corporations had set standards to follow when making machines, sales would not be as slow as they are today with electric cars. This is not to say that all electric car companies are suffering in terms of profit and sales. Tesla, for example, has been prospering because it has a set standard to follow, which is sharing its patents in order to encourage the expansion for electric vehicles. This company has even agreed to have its cars and charging stations compatible in order to meet China Charging Standards. The inclusion of Tesla’s course of action to meet the needs of customers as well as its profits is one of the many examples that support Cooperfield’s assertion that technology companies need standards in order to be able to operate efficiently in the market.