Dr Kiah Hawker

Kiah Hawker studies emerging technologies and how they shape digital culture, with a focus on augmented reality (AR) on the major platforms. Her work examines how these technologies function as testing grounds where platforms experiment with automation, generative AI, machine vision, and spatial media. Her research explores how everyday users and creators engage with these emerging technologies. She's particularly interested in creator economies, digital labour, and how features like AR filters shape practices of self-representation.

She uses creative methods that involve building AR filters and other digital media alongside traditional research approaches like interviews and cultural analysis. This hands-on method allows her to understand how platform tools work from the inside, while positioning everyday users as co-investigators of the technologies they use. Her work sits at the intersection of platform studies, gender studies, and critical making. She's interested in how seemingly playful technologies carry broader implications for labour, automation, and who gets to participate in digital creative economies.