Tech.Culture.Matters. is a research collective at the University of Michigan focused on the study of the social, technological, political, and material processes of contemporary technology. We share a commitment to critically examine dominant notions of what counts as technological production, innovation, design and use. Our research is multi-sited in nature, rooted in deep ethnographic engagements in diverse regions such as the American Midwest, China, Indonesia, Africa, and Europe. Our methodological toolkit includes ethnography, critical inquiry, research through design, discourse analysis, electronic arts, and critical making.
Our work is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from and contributing to the following fields: Science and Technology Studies (STS), Human-computer interaction (HCI) & Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Cultural Anthropology, Digital Media & Communication Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, China Studies, African Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Central to our research is the partnership with makers, designers, artists, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and industrial producers in order to create alternative spaces and understandings of technology and its relation to identity, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, work, and labor.
Read more about us here.