Alina Kontareva

Alina joined the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) as a Postdoctoral Researcher. She examines the evolution of platform corporate governance and platform organizational form at the INCA project (E.U. Horizon 2020). Her research interests are digital platforms, strategy, internet policy, digital technology, and innovation.

Alina is a Ph.D. Candidate at TIK – Centre for Technology, Innovation, and Culture at the University of Oslo. In the doctoral dissertation, Alina examined the uneven geographical distribution of digital platforms. She analyzed how platforms outside China and the U.S. can emerge and successfully compete with global giants like Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

Before focusing on platforms, Alina researched the internet industry in Russia and was affiliated with the Center for Science and Technology Studies at the European University in St.Petersburg. As part of the “Russian Computer Scientist At Home and Abroad” project, Alina researched the migration of tech specialists, technology transfer from academia to industry, and the role of innovation narratives for policy and politics in Russia.

Alina’s several projects explore digital media and emerging technologies. Alina led the #Museum research project that analyzes how visitors perceive a museum visit, using 82,000 Instagram images and large-scale visualizations . As a Fulbright fellow at UC Davis, Alina collaborated with ModLab, the Digital Humanities Laboratory, on a project to code audio and visual data from short films made by users of “Play the Knave,” a 3D motion-sensing game based on Shakespeare pieces.

Alina’s recent co-edited book New Era, New Fieldwork: The Changing Landscape of Qualitative Research and New Technologies (in Russian), offers insights into new epistemologies and research tools to study science, technology, and innovation.