Communication’s Seyram Avle Receives NSF Grant to Study the Socio-Technical Practices of Digital Technology and Innovation

Seyram Avle, assistant professor of global digital media in the Department of Communication, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study how digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, facial recognition and the Internet of Things become embedded into everyday life in the global south through consumer electronics and specialized technologies used in agriculture and finance.

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The award, totaling $246,455, will support Avle’s research team as they use a mix of methods to answer key questions about the socio-technical practices in the design, manufacture and distribution of AI, computing hardware and data flows between China and Africa, particularly outside of state and state-sponsored activities.

Avle’s research, which focuses on digital technology cultures and innovation across parts of Africa, China, and the United States, takes a critical approach towards understanding how digital technologies are made and used, as well as their implications for issues of labor, identity, and futures.

The abstract of Avle’s research, titled Socio-Technical Practices of Digital Technology and Innovation, is available on the NSF website.