At the Interface

The Case of the Electric Push Button, 1880-1923

Bibliographic Data

ID4020708
AuthorsRachel Plotnick (0000-0002-7599-7058, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume53
Issue4
Pages815-845
Publication date2012-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTechnology and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/tech.2012.0138
OpenAlexW1986077439
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited15

This article uses the case of electric push buttons to argue for more systematic scholarly attention to user interfaces as objects of historical study. Between 1880 and 1923, push buttons diffused rapidly as switches for controlling domestic devices ranging from bells to lights. In a first stage from approximately 1880 to 1915, historical actors employed strategies to make electricity intelligible to and safe for consumers: some advanced a view of buttons as technical mechanisms that laypersons should know how to construct and deconstruct; others propagated a vision of buttons as mediums for using electricity without thought or effort. In a second phase after 1915, when many individuals had come to take push-button interfaces for granted, the electrical industry endeavored to undo this reification by revealing technical processes behind buttons. The article investigates how varying pedagogical models factored into social, cultural and political negotiations around electricity, consumption and everyday practices

Construct (python library) · Consumption (sociology) · Electrical engineering · Electricity · Human–computer interaction · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Reification (Marxism) · Social science · Sociology · Undo · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Engineering · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Law · Media, Communication, and Education

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