“Products and Product Innovations”

Product innovations have attracted hardly any attention in the history of technology. Yet products and product refinements provide an interesting angle of approach from which to focus on the aspects of demand and consumption. During the past decade, historical consumer research has developed into a discipline capable of combining the study of cultural, economic and technological issues through time. The concept of the product line, which grew out of ecological considerations, that is to say, the evaluation of products and their life cycle, is yet another angle of approach. The museum sector provides the concept of “boundary objects”, objects that represent entire product epochs and product cycles and symbolize changes in the way of life. The list of approaches to this open-ended topic can and should be explored from a variety of historical, social scientific and related disciplines.