Toy Theory: Technology and Imagination in Play

A novel interpretation of the history and theory of technology from the perspective of toys, play, and play objects.

Toy Theory addresses the relationships between toys and technology in two distinct but overlapping ways: first, as underexamined cultural artifacts and behaviors with significant technical attributes and, second, as playful and toylike dimensions of technology at large. Seth Giddings sets out a “toy theory” of technology that emphasizes the speculative, experimental, and nonin...