Paging Oprah Winfrey . . .

As an instructor of Comm 471:  Public Relations Media and Methods for the College of Communications, I spend a great deal of time in my class focusing on how to influence audiences, whether they are internal employees, government, consumers or the media itself.  The Rogers article on diffusion of innovation covered lots of the same issues.  My thought when reading about the boiling water in Los Molinas is that the first thing Nelida should have done was find a good publicist.  That publicist would have known who the village's answer to Oprah was and secured her endorsement of the water-boiling initiative.  Once the rest see someone they respect or admire doing it, it makes it easier for them to justify adopting it as well.  We've all heard about authors and entrepreneurs who are nobodies before Oprah takes an interest, and all of a sudden are mega-millionaires.  Same concept here.  Does Oprah really know better what's good for us?  Or does she just have the biggest microphone?  Peer pressure plays a big part in diffusion as well.  When I was in junior high school, many of the A-lister young men of my age carried their books and school supplies around in a large army green canvas sack, tossed over the shoulder like Santa's bag of toys for girls and boys.  I have no idea who thought this was a more practical solution than a traditional bookbag or backpack--everything in there certainly became a big mess once inside-- but I remember feeling inadequate that I was not among the elite that was allowed to carry my stuff around in this way, and desperately wanted to have one.  We can tie this back to our MIT discussion.  MIT has thought it prudent to put all of their course content online.  If I'm a school who wants to emulate and be associated with MIT, wouldn't I want to do what they do?   On a smaller scale with an education focus, if I'm trying to get a school to adopt my technology, wouldn't I start with a well-respected faculty member to help sell my case instead of aligning with the angry instructor who ties up every faculty meeting with a litany of complaints?