Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?

Abstract The word “artifact” comes from two Latin words. The first, “arte”, means “by skill”, from “ars”, skill. The second, “factum”, is the past participle of “facere”, to do or to make.The word dates back to the early 1800s, meaning “something created by humans usually for a practical purpose; es...

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Main Author: Ken Friedman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Intellect 2007-03-01
Series:Artifact
Subjects:
Online Access:https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/art.1.1.6_1
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author Ken Friedman
author_facet Ken Friedman
author_sort Ken Friedman
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description Abstract The word “artifact” comes from two Latin words. The first, “arte”, means “by skill”, from “ars”, skill. The second, “factum”, is the past participle of “facere”, to do or to make.The word dates back to the early 1800s, meaning “something created by humans usually for a practical purpose; especially: an object remaining from a particular period” and “something characteristic of or resulting from a particular human institution, period, trend, or individual” (Merriam-Webster, 1990, p. 105). Most definitions focus on the quality of artifacts as things, speaking of objects and remains rather than process or production. Typical definitions are “anything made by human art and workmanship; an artificial product. In archeology, applied to the rude products of aboriginal workmanship as distinguished from natural remains”, “a product of human art or workmanship”, “any object made by human beings” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2006, n.p.; Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993, p. 120; Wordsmyth, 2006, n.p.).I am as interested in the artifacts of doing as in the artifacts of making. Many artifacts exist only in human behavior, individual and social. These are the focus of this essay.
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spelling doaj.art-67873ffb080242e8be032f3fca35906a2023-06-26T10:01:53ZengIntellectArtifact1749-34631749-34712007-03-011161010.1386/art.1.1.6_1http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/ajdp/1/1Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?Ken Friedman0Swinburne University of TechnologyAbstract The word “artifact” comes from two Latin words. The first, “arte”, means “by skill”, from “ars”, skill. The second, “factum”, is the past participle of “facere”, to do or to make.The word dates back to the early 1800s, meaning “something created by humans usually for a practical purpose; especially: an object remaining from a particular period” and “something characteristic of or resulting from a particular human institution, period, trend, or individual” (Merriam-Webster, 1990, p. 105). Most definitions focus on the quality of artifacts as things, speaking of objects and remains rather than process or production. Typical definitions are “anything made by human art and workmanship; an artificial product. In archeology, applied to the rude products of aboriginal workmanship as distinguished from natural remains”, “a product of human art or workmanship”, “any object made by human beings” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2006, n.p.; Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993, p. 120; Wordsmyth, 2006, n.p.).I am as interested in the artifacts of doing as in the artifacts of making. Many artifacts exist only in human behavior, individual and social. These are the focus of this essay.https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/art.1.1.6_1Cognitive ScienceNew mediaLanguageAnthropologyMediationArt
spellingShingle Ken Friedman
Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
Artifact
Cognitive Science
New media
Language
Anthropology
Mediation
Art
title Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
title_full Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
title_fullStr Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
title_full_unstemmed Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
title_short Behavioral Artifacts: What is an Artifact? Or Who Does it?
title_sort behavioral artifacts what is an artifact or who does it
topic Cognitive Science
New media
Language
Anthropology
Mediation
Art
url https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/art.1.1.6_1
work_keys_str_mv AT kenfriedman behavioralartifactswhatisanartifactorwhodoesit