I am a sociologist working in the UK who is particularly interested material interaction - the social and cultural relations between us and the material world we live in. The material world increasingly mediates our social and cultural relations with the rest of society. I can buy clothes or music made by someone I've never met on the other side of the world or I can communicate ideas and values with people with whom I will never share the same physical space. Yet the intimacy of using the DIY tools I inherited from my father retains a contact with him that continues our relationship.