Emerging innovation networks and the print-on-paper sociotechnical regime

The sociotechnical regime of the print-on-paper prevails as the main medium of textual communication despite concerns on its environmental implications. Radical innovation in the form of application of generic technologies is required to address these sustainability concerns. Electronic book technologies are seen as those applications of IT providing an alternative form of textual display. According to sociotechnical transitions theory the electronic book is positioned as a niche in relation to the print-on-paper regime. SNA is applied in order to describe the niche as a sociotechnical network. It emerges that network substructures indicate potential sociotechnical trajectories regarding the development of the electronic book niche.