Annika Richterich

I am an Associate Professor, working at the intersection of media studies and science and technology studies (STS). In my research, I combine qualitative and digital methods, with a topical focus on:

• digital inequalities, e.g. in relation to spaces, data, and learning
• innovation communities and infrastructures

• the political economy of both big and small tech, notably exploring sociotechnical assemblages of artificial intelligence (AI). 

   

   

   

As a member of the Trustworthy AI for Media Lab, I am engaged in multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers from Maastricht University and the University of Amsterdam, within the Dutch ROBUST initiative. My work calls attention to civic engagement with AI and digital technology more broadly, while critically addressing the power of large technology companies and emerging interdependencies. 

My educational background is multi- and interdisciplinary: I studied sociology at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and media economics at the University of Siegen (Germany), where I also completed my PhD in digital media studies in 2012. With an educational background in sociology, media studies and economics, I am passionate about empirically engaged and interdisciplinary research. My work has been published in international, refereed journals such as New Media & Society and the International Journal for Cultural Studies, and edited volumes like the Elgar Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Studies.

From 2019-2021, I was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the University of Sussex, supervised by Professor Tim Jordan (em., UCL). Based at the Sussex Humanities Lab, I conducted qualitative, notably ethnographic research on experiential learning, digital innovation, and tech-political practices in hacker and maker communities. My research highlights the opportunities associated with hacker- and makerspaces (HMS), especially by showing how communally embedded ‘learning-by-making’ can facilitate digital expertise and DIY creativity. At the same time, I examine factors of in- and exclusion in HMS, highlighting for example who is likely to benefit from the learning opportunities potentially afforded by different types of communities. Building on my research in HMS – notably inspired by debates on communities’ common lack of diversity, I conduct research on spaces/settings that minoritised groups have found(ed) for their engagement with digital technology. Parts of this research are presented in my papers on women-only groups for developers and feminist hackerspaces. Most recently, I am examining AI infrastructures, with a focus on tech economics and (geo)political issues. 

You can find a list of my publications here.