Dr Kieran Hegarty researches how the expansion of the web, the rise of commercial platforms & the spread of automation are reshaping public collecting institutions.


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I research how expansion of the web, the rise of commercial platforms, and the spread of automation are reshaping the social and cultural functions of libraries, archives, and museums.

I received my PhD, an ethnographic study of how Australia’s web and social media archives are constructed, from RMIT University in 2024.

From 2023–2026, I was a Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society at RMIT, where I worked on nationally significant research projects about the social geography of internet access and use.
From 2026–2029, I am a Deakin University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, where I lead the Connecting Australians with their digital heritage project. I’ll be working with diverse communities to collectively interpret born-digital cultural collections and exhibitons on digital history.

My 2022 Internet Histories article, “The invention of the archived web” was awarded the journal's Early Career Researcher Award. I’ve also published in Information, Communication & Society, International Journal of Cultural Policy and New Media & Society and my first book will be published in Routledge’s Studies in Archives series.

I CONDUCT MY RESEARCH ON THE UNCEDED LAND OF THE WURUNDJERI PEOPLE OF THE EASTERN KULIN NATION. I PAY MY RESPECTS TO THEIR ELDERS PAST AND PRESENT.