Kieran Hegarty

Book Launch - Platform Power and Libraries - Litwin Books & Library Juice Press Free Event August 12, 6pm Eastern Register Here   About the Event Join us as we celebrate the launch of Platform Power and Libraries. Book editor Christine F. Smith will … Read more Book Launch – Plat...

And we've got this great book launch scheduled!!!

litwinbooks.com/book-launch-...

Lovely to see this little @libraryjuicepress.bsky.social book I contributed to in print! ✨

Commercial platforms are increasingly shaping library operations - my chapter focuses on how crackdowns on crawling & API access limit what is preserved by deposit libraries 🚫

litwinbooks.com/books/platfo...

I have a chapter in "Platform Power & Libraries" which has just been published by Library Juice Press✨

As in many other sectors, commercial intermediaries are increasingly shaping how libraries fulfil their functions & serve their users - but there is resistance!✊

litwinbooks.com/books/platfo...

Photos:

1A. Flying near Kowanyama, "The place of many waters"
1B. Welcome to Wujal Wujal, "many falls"
2A. Doing a survey with Paul Michael Senior
2B. Research team with Traditional Owner Uncle Bill Harrigan
3. With co-researcher team at Kowanyama Rangers
5. The road in and out of Kowanyama

(5/5)

Thanks to all the amazing co-researchers, agencies we partnered with, and community members who generously shared their time and insights. And thank you to colleagues Leah Hawkins and Daniel Featherstone for your leadership, energy and long-standing commitment to this work.

(4/5)

This include community Wi-Fi mesh networks, plans for digital-first Indigenous Knowledge Centres and digitisation projects, and the use of emerging technologies by Land & Sea Rangers in Kowanyama to support connection to and care for Country.

(3/5)

It was a privilege to spend time with residents, Traditional Owners, rangers, and local organisations, and to hear about the ways people are working to build digital infrastructure that reflects the values and priorities of their communities.

(2/5)

Just returned from 2 inspiring weeks of fieldwork in Cape York, visiting the remote First Nations communities of Wujal Wujal and Kowanyama for the Mapping the Digital Gap project, which tracks media & communications across 10 remote First Nations communities over several years ✨

(1/5)

Looking forward to chairing the next Critical Archives Reading Group on 28 May at 1pm (AEST)📜✨

We'll be discussing "The cloud, the public square, and digital public archival infrastructure" by Tom Nesmith (Archival Science, 2023).

Please join us!

www.criticalarchivesreading.com/2025/05/meet...

ADM+S Research Fellow Dr Kieran Hegarty presented his research on how public libraries are navigating systems developed by and for private platforms, and what this means for their role in securing access to information of long-term public interest.

🔗 More: admscentre.org/4isplhe
#AI #libraries

Had an inspiring time at #AlgoSoc2025 in Amsterdam! 💛💙

I presented a paper with @admscentre.org.au colleagues on how public libraries are (re)negotiating their roles in the algorithmic society & learned a lot from the wonderful ideas shared throughout the conference.

Congratulations Marije!✨

In Amsterdam to present with ADM+S colleagues at @algosoc.org !✨

Our paper is about how libraries navigate competing values as they engage new technologies and what's at stake as market actors increasingly shape cultural access and preservation.

Program looks lekker: algosoc.org/uploads/Algo...

Web archives after platformization: reading social media collections along the archival grain This article draws on ethnographic and historical research at two Australian libraries to explore how the platformization of the web has altered the content, character, and potential future utility...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article by Kieran Hegarty interrogates the methods for social media data for archiving by libraries and suggests it is possible to read it along the grain of platformisation to bring attention to their power dynamics.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

🥳

Born-Digital Collections, Archives and Memory Born-Digital Collections, Archives and Memory is a conference that seeks to further an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral discussion on how the born-digital transforms research.

I'll be in London next week for Born-Digital Collections, Archives & Memory at @dh-researchhub.bsky.social ✨

I'll be presenting on how public libraries are navigating & resisting the increasing dominance of commercial platforms 📖✊

Looking forward to seeing friends & colleagues, new & old :)

The Synthetic Knowledge Crisis How AI is Reshaping Knowledge, and Not for the Better

Nice piece by @jeppestricker.bsky.social on the structural causes & epistemic consquences of use of GenAI in knowledge production…

“AI is not the disease; it is the symptom of a system that already prioritized measurable output over thoughtful inquiry”

jeppestricker.substack.com/p/the-synthe...

Had the pleasure of visiting the National Communications Museum in Melbourne for a tour today ☎️ 📡 🖥️

Such an inspiring, fun and hopeful look at the histories and possible futures of communications technologies in Australia ✨

Especially loved the CyberCafe 🩵⚡️

Available here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DWX9Q... (message me if you can't access)

Thanks so much to @emae.bsky.social for facilitating this & especially to @ianmilligan1.bsky.social for writing this wonderful book!

My review of @ianmilligan1.bsky.social's Averting the Digital Dark Age is out in Internet Histories! 📖✨

It shows how the imaginary of the "digital dark age" saw a bizarre array of actors mobilise to create what are now known as web archives that are shaped by their anxieties & hopes for the future.

😭I know! Hopefully soon 💫

☺️

So good Kat!

We sum this as a shift from standardising *cultural data* to coordinating *data cultures*🏛

We draw on STS & infrastructure studies (particularly @avastmachine.bsky.social - ty!) to argue that aggregating cultural collections is not just a matter of standardising metadata but coordinating different capacities & priorities, particularly the divides between major museums & community museums.

A screen shot of the title, author details, and abstract of a 2024 academic journal article called "From standardising cultural data to coordinating data cultures: the history and politics of digital heritage aggregation in Australia" by Kieran Hegarty and Indigo Holcombe-James in the International Journal of Cultural Policy.

New article in IJCP with the wonderful Indigo Holcombe-James from ACMI!✨

We explore the long history & lively politics of efforts to bring together the holdings of diverse & dispersed museums into a single 'distributed collection' in Australia.

doi.org/10.1080/1028...

LMK if you'd like a copy!📜

Just read this gem about content moderation on Usenet - highly recommended!

A beautifully written reminder that communication networks have always been contested ✨

Turns out ‘rebanalizing’ social media is what the people want

What is a library? • Inside Story Targeted by hackers and sued by publishers, the Internet Archive continues to push boundaries

A small, personal reflection from me in Inside Story on how The Internet Archive (@archive.org) is reshaping the idea of what a library is, could, and should be 📖✨

insidestory.org.au/what-is-a-li...

Just in time for #AoIR2024!🥳

My new paper in Information, Communication & Society explores how platform power is reshaping how libraries collect & share records in the long-term public interest & presents a critical methodology for reading collections after platformization✨

doi.org/10.1080/1369...