User Unfriendly

Consumer Struggles with Personal Technologies, from Clocks and Sewing Machines to Cars and Computers

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book User Unfriendly by Joseph J. Corn, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joseph J. Corn ISBN: 9781421401935
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: November 1, 2011
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Joseph J. Corn
ISBN: 9781421401935
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: November 1, 2011
Imprint:
Language: English

We’ve all been there. Seduced by the sleek designs and smart capabilities of the newest gadgets, we end up stumped by their complicated set-up instructions and exasperating error messages. In this fascinating history, Joseph J. Corn maps two centuries of consumer frustration and struggle with personal technologies.

Aggravation with the new machines people adopt and live with is as old as the industrial revolution. Clocks, sewing machines, cameras, lawn mowers, bicycles, electric lights, cars, and computers: all can empower and exhilarate, but they can also exact a form of servitude. Adopters puzzle over which type and model to buy and then how to operate the device, diagnose its troubles, and meet its insatiable appetite for accessories, replacement parts, or upgrades. It intrigues Corn that we put up with the frustrations our technology thrusts upon us, battling with the unfamiliar and climbing the steep learning curves. It is this ongoing struggle, more than the uses to which we ultimately put our machines, that animates this thought-provoking study.

Having extensively researched owner’s manuals, computer user-group newsletters, and how-to literature, Corn brings a fresh, consumer-oriented approach to the history of technology. User Unfriendly will be valuable to historians of technology, students of American culture, and anyone interested in our modern dependence on machines and gadgets.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

We’ve all been there. Seduced by the sleek designs and smart capabilities of the newest gadgets, we end up stumped by their complicated set-up instructions and exasperating error messages. In this fascinating history, Joseph J. Corn maps two centuries of consumer frustration and struggle with personal technologies.

Aggravation with the new machines people adopt and live with is as old as the industrial revolution. Clocks, sewing machines, cameras, lawn mowers, bicycles, electric lights, cars, and computers: all can empower and exhilarate, but they can also exact a form of servitude. Adopters puzzle over which type and model to buy and then how to operate the device, diagnose its troubles, and meet its insatiable appetite for accessories, replacement parts, or upgrades. It intrigues Corn that we put up with the frustrations our technology thrusts upon us, battling with the unfamiliar and climbing the steep learning curves. It is this ongoing struggle, more than the uses to which we ultimately put our machines, that animates this thought-provoking study.

Having extensively researched owner’s manuals, computer user-group newsletters, and how-to literature, Corn brings a fresh, consumer-oriented approach to the history of technology. User Unfriendly will be valuable to historians of technology, students of American culture, and anyone interested in our modern dependence on machines and gadgets.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Rock Star by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Handbook for Health Care Ethics Committees by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Universities and Their Cities by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Ungulate Taxonomy by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book On the Other Hand by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Crisis in an Atlantic Empire by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book A Man's Guide to Healthy Aging by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Obesity Interventions in Underserved Communities by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book FastLane by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Making Sense of IBS by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Confronting Chronic Pain by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Unconscious Crime by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Chance Particulars by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Getting Inside Your Head by Joseph J. Corn
Cover of the book Revolution and Resistance by Joseph J. Corn
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy