{"product_id":"a-users-guide-to-the-age-of-tech-hardback-9781517918767","title":"A User's Guide to the Age of Tech (Hardback) 9781517918767","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eA User's Guide to the Age of Tech\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eGrant Wythoff (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781517918767\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 27 May 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e176 pages, 6 black \u0026amp; white illustrations\u003cbr\u003e21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.249 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"Expertly blending history, theory, and contemporary practice, \u003ci\u003eA User’s Guide to the Age of Tech\u003c\/i\u003e offers a fresh and illuminating take on why our bodies still matter as much as the devices they control.\" - Lauren F. Klein, coauthor of \u003ci\u003eData Feminism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow users experience and influence technological change-when so much of that change feels out of our control\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Every day, we casually employ one of the most complex tools ever created, using it to read the news, plan our day, and connect with friends. In \u003ci\u003eA User’s Guide to the Age of Tech, \u003c\/i\u003eGrant Wythoff investigates the process by which now-ubiquitous technologies like our phones become integrated into our lives, showing how the “gadget” stage-before devices are widely adopted-opens the door for users to co-create these technologies and adapt them toward unexpected ends.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e In this elegant, approachable work, Wythoff offers a view of how users make new technology their own, subverting dominant power structures and imagining uses never intended by their creators. Rooted in a detailed look into the history of technique (focusing on how we do things with tools rather than the tools themselves), \u003ci\u003eA User’s Guide to the Age of Tech\u003c\/i\u003e proceeds to complicate, and influence, discussion of subjects like the digital divide and AI. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Drawing on a range of sources, including novels, patents, and newspapers, Wythoff explores the vernacular philosophies that have emerged from users and their diverse, everyday practices, bringing down to earth the conversation about digital titans, away from the abstracted domains of server farms and algorithms. Lodging a passionate argument that we know ourselves better than the data brokers who appear to wield influence over our psyches, Wythoff invites readers (and tech users) to imagine their own digital technique, acknowledge their vast expertise, and see its immense value. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRetail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and\/or extended descriptions.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e Contents \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Preface: Technique in the Age of Tech \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e A primer on \u003ci\u003etÉkhnē, technics, technique,\u003c\/i\u003e and associated portraits of the way we do things. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e 1. Sleight of Hand \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Fashionable urbanites begin carrying wireless telegraphs in their pockets and wonder what to say to each other, 1919. Efforts to remain connected during social distancing measures show the fraying seams of that technoutopian vision, 2020. An introduction to the book’s main themes. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e 2. The Way We Do Things \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e In war-torn France, Marcel Mauss struggles to complete a treatise on the philosophy of technique, 1941. Virtuoso smartphone gestures flicker on the subway, 2019. Applied scientists propose a humanist technology criticism, 1850s. A report from the high theory of technique. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e 3. Technically Speaking \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Sailors, mechanics, and other technicians invent new words for tools and techniques, 1840s. Lexicographers hunt for specimens of those words in use, 1888. Linguists describe the meaning of a word as the company it keeps, 1957. An excavation of the low theory of technicians. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e 4. The Custody of Automatism \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Community technologists design intentional, cooperative infrastructures by building local consensus, 2023. Smartphone addicts miss their preinternet brains, 2014. A case for conscientious technique. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Epilogue: Reclaiming Technique \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e A diagnosis concerning technique as the fossil fuel of AI, and two possible futures for refusal. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Acknowledgments \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Notes \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Index \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Univ Of Minnesota Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52619261182232,"sku":"9781517918767","price":67.68,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/a-users-guide-to-the-age-of-tech-hardback-9781517918767","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}