A book is never a solitary accomplishment. Even though a single name appears in the byline, this work is the culmination of countless hours of conversation, debate, and much needed encouragement provided to me by dozens of people. That being said, responsibility for this book’s various flaws and oversights rests solely with me. All the support and helpful comments I received were ultimately interpreted and applied through the filter of my own biases and cognitive limitations.
My mentor and friend Ned Woodhouse has been instrumental to this project’s realization. Without his care and dedication when reviewing drafts and willingness to listen to and help improve half-baked and naïve ideas this book would have been a much more flawed work. I do not know if I turned out to be even half the writer or scholar he hoped I would become when he took me on as his student, but I am grateful to have been under his tutelage. His guidance has left an indelible mark on my thinking concerning matters of technology and society.
I would like to also acknowledge Langdon Winner, Abby Kinchy, Mark Mistur, David Brain, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and incisive criticisms. I am thankful that they took me to task for occasionally shallow analysis, ignorance of important literature, and other lapses. I needed it. I am especially appreciative of Langdon Winner’s constant encouragement and belief in me as a scholar. It has meant a lot to me. I am likewise grateful for my interactions with Linnda Caporael over the years. Talking with her has always been a pleasure and mind expanding. Her influence on this book, though more informal, has been significant. I also want to thank Katie Helke and MIT Press for their belief in the merits of Technically Together and all their hard work in getting it through the publication process.
I am indebted as well to several individuals who studied and researched alongside me in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I am thankful for their assistance in my attempts to maintain some semblance of sanity and work-life balance. I greatly appreciated the social support offered to me by Nate Fisk, Dan Lyles, Karin Patzke, and Michael Bouchey; for the friendship and academic collaboration provided by James Wilcox, Michael Lachney, and Ben Brucato; for Colin Garvey’s meditation sessions, willingness to chat with me about almost anything, and wonderful sense of humor; and for the caring camaraderie over the years of Kate Tyrol, Wynne Hedlesky, Khadija Mitu, Lindsay Poirier, Laura Rabinow, Ellen Foster, Joe Datko, Jess Lyons, Sabrina Weiss, Ross Mitchell, Gareth Edel, Jon Cluck, Guy Schaffer, Erik Bigras, David Banks, Kirk Jalbert, Brian Callahan, Sonia Saheb, and Ali Kenner.
I am grateful for my friends, without whom I would not have had the psychic reserves to finish this book. In no particular order, I thank David Morar, Franz Mathes, Alex Sobolev, Antonio Chavarria, Guilhem Werbelow, Sally and Mike Catlett, Carla Spina and Chris Gillespie, Kristian Isringhaus, Stephen Bradley, Liz Westcott as well as Greg and Alyla Goldman. I also would like to express my appreciation to the good people at both the First United Presbyterian Church in Troy as well as the Albany Curling Club. They provided me with not merely a much needed boost in social belonging but important insights into the practice of community as well.
Even though I have largely fallen out of touch with my former roommate, Matt Finnell, he deserves my gratitude as well. I began to realize and develop my interest in the social world, particularly community, partly as a result of conversations with him in the student union building of New Mexico Tech when we were both undergraduates.
Completing Technically Together would not have been possible without my family. The support of my parents, Richard and Renee, and my in-laws, Tabea and Wayne, was a big help on the days that I felt down. I am grateful for the innumerable small ways that they reminded me that my book’s topic and argument mattered, not only to them but also to the rest of humanity. My brothers, Tom and Stu, have been equally important in this role. I thank them for being there and listening to my complaints, hopes, and worries. I am likewise grateful for the encouragement provided by my sister-in-law, Cris Thomas, and the delightful distraction offered by my nephew, Antony, when I stayed with them for several weeks of intensive writing during the summer of 2014.
Finally, I could not have done any of this without the loving companionship of my wife, Rachel. Her sunny disposition, unwavering belief in me, and firm insistence that I stop working so hard and take a break once in a while made this book possible. I am truly blessed to have a spouse like her.