Ederyn Williams
{{Short description|British academic, commentator and writer}}
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Ederyn Williams (born 21 September 1946){{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/williams-raymond-1921-1988|title=Williams, Raymond 1921–1988 {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=30 January 2020}} is a British academic, commentator and writer whose work focuses on social presence theory and technology transfer.{{Cite web|url=https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/|title=Warwick Ventures: Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Office of The University of Warwick|website=warwick.ac.uk|access-date=30 January 2020}}{{Cite book|author=Short, John|author2=Williams, Ederyn|author3=Christie, Bruce|title=The Social Psychology of Telecommunications|date=1976|publisher=Wiley|others=Williams, Ederyn, Christie, Bruce|isbn=0-471-01581-4|location=London|oclc=2585964}}
Early life and education
Williams is the son of the Welsh academic and television critic Raymond Williams.{{Cite web|url=http://infed.org/mobi/raymond-williams-and-education-a-slow-reach-again-for-control/|title=Raymond Williams and education – a slow reach again for control |website=infed.org|language=en-GB|access-date=30 January 2020}} Williams earned a DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1971.{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/ederyn-williams-2a06194/ |title=Ederyn Williams LinkedIn|website=LinkedIn}}{{self-published inline|date=December 2021}}
Social presence theory
Williams, along with fellow social psychologists Bruce Christie and John Short, developed social presence theory in 1976.{{Cite book|author=Short, John|author2=Williams, Ederyn|author3=Christie, Bruce|title=The Social Psychology of Telecommunications|date=1976|publisher=Wiley|others=Williams, Ederyn, Christie, Bruce|isbn=0-471-01581-4|location=London|oclc=2585964}}{{page needed|date=December 2021}} Social presence theory is defined as "the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships." This theory argues that media differ in their ability to convey intimacy and immediacy. Social presence theory is a key theory in understanding interpersonal communication and has found to be a strong indicator in satisfaction.{{cite book |last1=Calefato |first1=Fabio |last2=Lanubile |first2=Filippo |title=Advances in Computers |date=2010 |publisher=Elsevier |pages=271–313 |chapter=Communication Media Selection for Remote Interaction of Ad Hoc Groups |doi=10.1016/S0065-2458(10)78006-2 |isbn=978-0-12-381019-9 |volume=78 }}
Career
He worked at British Telecom on a 'viewdata' system called Prestel. This was similar to the much more successful French system Minitel. It never got more than 90,000 subscribers. Both systems were replaced by the Internet and World Wide Web.
He wrote an assessment in 1979: Strengths and weaknesses of Prestel.{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Ederyn |title=Strengths and weaknesses of Prestel |journal=Computer Communications |date=1 April 1979 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=56–59 |doi=10.1016/0140-3664(79)90121-X }}
In the early 1980s, Williams was briefly the head of the short-lived gaming company, Telecomsoft.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1986-11-06|title=Popular Computing Weekly (1986-11-06)|date=6 November 1986}}
In 1991, Williams became the Managing Director of Leeds Innovations Ltd. at the University of Leeds.{{Cite web|url=https://www.praxisunico.org.uk/news/member-detail.asp?ItemID=458|title=PraxisUnico – Commercialising research – Queen's Award for Director of Warwick Ventures|date=25 February 2014|access-date=30 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225000041/https://www.praxisunico.org.uk/news/member-detail.asp?ItemID=458|archive-date=25 February 2014}} In 2000, Williams joined the University of Warwick, where he founded an academic department that later became Warwick Ventures Ltd. The company branded itself as a technology commercialisation company. In April 2010, Williams was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion for his pivotal role in the development of "knowledge transfer from universities to businesses in the UK." Williams retired from Warwick Ventures in September 2011 and now serves as the Director of Biosite Systems Ltd.{{Cite web|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/news/quentin_compton-bishop|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140220114320/http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ventures/news/quentin_compton-bishop|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 February 2014|title=Warwick Ventures welcomes its new CEO|date=20 February 2014|website=archive.is|access-date=30 January 2020}}
References
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Category:Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion (2010)
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:British businesspeople
Category:Johns Hopkins University people
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