Introduction

Abstract

This book is about many of the most mundane objects surrounding us. It is about the objects that we use at home, outdoors or at work; objects otherwise as diverse as tea bags, television sets, bridges and microchips. Throughout this book, we shall refer to such objects as ‘technical artefacts’. Typically, these are tangible, material objects that serve a practical purpose, either incidentally or regularly. By calling these objects ‘artefacts’, we take them as objects that have been created, sometimes by ourselves, but more commonly by others. We may occasionally build a makeshift bridge for personal use but most of the bridges that we encounter were built by other people.