Dr Ash Watson is a sociologist of technology and fiction. She works at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney. Her research explores the emergence and social impact of “disruptive” technologies, from AI to counter-archives to zines, using qualitative and arts-based methods. Her writing is published in Nature, American Journal for Cultural Sociology, and Qualitative Research. Find her work here.

Her debut novel Into the Sea (2020) was published in Brill’s award-winning Social Fictions Series. Following a group of young adults through a year of the mundane and extraordinary, the story considers what it means to live “the Australian way of life.” Learn more about the book and buy a copy via the publisher. Her creative writing is published in Overland, SCUM mag, Baby Teeth Journal and Bareknuckle Poet. She makes zines at Frances St Press.

Ash is the inaugural Fiction Editor of The Sociological Review, heading the journal’s short story series. She is also the creator and editor of So Fi Zine, a digital and DIY print publication for fiction, poetry and visual art, which has published nearly 200 pieces over 9 editions since 2017. For updates about these and other sociological fiction projects, subscribe to the newsletter. Contact Ash via email or follow her on Twitter.