I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, where I direct the Anthropology & Technology Lab (ATL) research group. As a sociotechnical anthropologist, I use ethnographic methods to explore how communities at the margins collaboratively design and engage with information communication technologies (ICTs) for survival, resistance, and social change. My work investigates issues of power and privilege that are often hidden in most celebratory embraces of grassroots innovation.
My students and I use online and offline ethnographic methods (participant observation, semi-structured interviews, life histories, field notes, artifact analysis) to uncover the creative strategies people use to make up for gaps in sociotechnical infrastructure, labor that is disproportionately borne by people from marginalized communities. My primary field site is Havana, Cuba, where I have been investigating the collaborative creation of internet ecosystems since 2014.
My research has been awarded support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Microsoft Research, The Achievement Awards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation, The Elizabeth Crosby Research Awards, and the Foley Scholar Fellowship Program. My work has been published, presented, and awarded in top venues, such as ACM SIGCHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), ACM CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing), 4S (The Society for the Social Studies of Science) WWW (ACM International World Wide Web Conference), and The Conference on Cuba and Cuban American Studies. Before my professorship, I earned a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan and a Microsoft Research Doctoral Fellowship while pursuing my PhD in Human-Centered Computing at Georgia Tech. I also have an M.A. in sociocultural anthropology from Georgia State University.
I have presented my work widely through invited talks at universities, corporate research centers (e.g. Microsoft Research and Google Headquarters), and think tanks (e.g. Data and Society). My research has been featured in The Atlantic, New Scientist, Motherboard, CNN, Reuters, and Vice, among others.
Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan
Director of the Anthropology & Technology Lab (ATL)
Affiliate faculty
Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC)
Digital Studies Institute
Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Science and Technology Studies Program
Science and Technology Studies (STS) Program
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Education
PhD in Human-Centered Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia
MA in Cultural Anthropology
Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia
BA in Spanish
University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
Michaelanne Thomas, PhD 