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Annalisa was defined a “quantic” scholar by one of the colleagues who promoted her to full professorship. Whatever this was supposed to mean, Annalisa has always thought at herself as a craftwoman. Hence the title of this blog.

In quantum physics,  indeterminacy refers to the fact that the more precisely the position of a particle is measured, the less precisely its momentum can be predicted, and vice versa. Indeterminacy thus points to a fundamental limit in the way we can know. On the other hand, crafts(wo)manship is the ability to create something by assembling heterogeneous elements in not fully predictable ways. It points to possibilities in the way we can act.

Annalisa has learned from many persons and fields of activity, from academia to media art, from community empowerment to government. Analytical curiosity and fun in reshuffling categories have been the gifts that made undertaking such heterogeneous enterprises possible.

Currently, Annalisa is professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Bologna, Department of Philosophy and Communication. Before joining Bologna, she was associate professor at the Science, Technology and Policy Studies (STePS) department of the University of Twente, where she is now visiting professor.

Annalisa’s research articulates a dialogue between social studies of science and technology (STS), studies of information systems and data infrastructures, and political studies. In particular, over the years she has conducted research on:

• Governance of and by technology;
• Sociotechnical aspects of data infrastructures and information systems, including ontologies and interoperability;
• Science and Technology Studies, also in their dialogue with international security studies;
• Ethnographic, digital and mixed methods for the study of the production and use of artifacts and infrastructures;
• Transformation of institutions inherited from Modernity by information infrastructures (see the concept of “Vectorial Glance”);
• Social impact of data infrastructures on populations, society and institutions, also in historical perspective (see the concept of “Alterity Processing”);
• Studies on online sociality, including network cultures and digital communities.

Annalisa has been the recipient of international and European Commission excellence science grants and currently leads the Processing Citizenship research group, funded by the European Research Council. The team is composed of three PhD candidates, two postdocs and a few research associates. It investigates transnational data infrastructures for migration management as activities of European governance transformation.

In her early years, Annalisa worked with governmental agencies and engineering companies, developing large-scale data infrastructures. While being involved in the Italian community of neighborhood TV-broadcaster Telestreet, she designed and produced media art events at different venues Europe-wide (e.g. Transmediale in Berlin, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Ars Electronica in Linz).

Full CV (updated 29/05/2020)