Have you ever wondered why the Paris metro tunnels are so narrow, or why some public benches have armrests? Our physical world is designed by engineers and policy makers and many others, and this has consequences for how we live and find our ways around. Software and tools are also designed by engineers and programmers and researchers. What kinds of consequences could this have for the work of researchers in linguistics and humanities more generally? These questions will be the basis of this keynote by Sally Wyatt, Professor of Digital Cultures in Development, Maastricht University, and member of the eHumanities-NL executive committee.