Dr Kirsty Fife
Dr Kirsty Fife
Senior Lecturer in Digital Information and Curatorial Practice
My profile
Biography
I am Senior Lecturer in Digital Information and Curatorial Practice located within MMU’s iSchool team. I came to MMU after teaching across disciplines (Popular Music, Information Studies) at Leeds Conservatoire, University College London and University of Dundee.
Prior to moving into academic research, I worked as an archivist in the UK heritage sector for over a decade. In this capacity I worked for organisations including the National Science and Media Museum, the UK Parliamentary Archives, Hoxton Hall and Screen Archive South East.
Outside of my professional capacity I am active as a community organiser, zine maker and musician in DIY cultures. I also spend a lot of time walking my dog and gardening.
Academic and professional qualifications
PhD (Information Studies), University College London (2022)
MA Archives and Records Management, University College London (2013)
MA Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds (2009)
BA (hons) Photographic Arts, University of Westminster (2008)
Expert reviewer for external funding bodies
Peer reviewer for journals including Archives and Records, ZINES, Research in Education, Archivaria and the International Journal of Diversity, Inclusion and Information, Information Science.
Interests and expertise
My research is located primarily at the intersection of information, DIY culture (zines, music communities, grassroots spaces) and activism.
Specifically I am interested in developing a better understanding about how information, archiving and documentation practices are utilised within grassroots cultural communities, how socioeconomic circumstances affect the production and preservation of archival traces, and in mapping DIY forms of archival practice.
My other research interests including community-led heritage, workforce diversity, workers’ rights in information and heritage, affective models of archiving, representation of fatness in archives and media, queer histories and archives and participatory archival practice.
Teaching
Why do I teach?
I have worked as an educator in heritage organisations and within higher education throughout my career, and teaching is my favourite part of this job. I teach because I believe in the transformative potential of education. I bring creativity, growth and care into my classroom, no matter what I teach.
Teaching
I lead the following modules:
- Digital Rights (Law), BSc Digital Media Communications
- Digital Rights (Ethics), BSc Digital Media Communications
- Digital Rights, MA Library and Information Management
Courses
Supervision
I currently supervise the following PGR projects:
Krista McCraken - “Indigenous Control of Information and Indigenous Community Identity Formation”
Sian Williams - “Rural/Urban Storytelling: Documentary Methodologies for Re-envisioning Regional LGBTQ+ Archive Creation & Intervention”
Natalie Wells - “Best Practices in Academic Libraries for Helping Neurodivergent (ID) Students in the United States of America and the United Kingdom”
I am available to supervise projects relevant to my expertise, specifically PhD projects on:
- DIY culture
- Community-led archives
- Music heritage
- Equity, diversity and inclusion in the archive sector
- Neurodiversity and information work
- Queer heritage
I also supervise students jointly with colleagues from San Jose State University via the Gateway PhD in Library and Information Management.
Research outputs
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Chapters in books
Fife, K. (2024) 'Working with/in: an exploration of queer punk time and space in collaborative archival workshops.' In Way, L., Grimes, M. (ed.) Punk, Ageing and Time. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 201-223.
Fife, K. (2024) 'Working with queer archives through radical empathy.' In Webster, L. (ed.) Sage Research Methods: Diversifying and Decolonizing Research. SAGE Publications,
Fife, K. (2022) 'Distant together: creative community in UK DIY music during Covid-19.' In Bruzzi, S., Biriotti, M., Caleb, S., Wiltshire, H. (ed.) Lockdown Cultures: The arts and humanities in the year of the pandemic, 2020-21. UCL Press, pp. 49-57.
Henthorn, H., Fife, K. (2018) 'Decentring Qualification: A Radical Examination of Archival Employment Possibilities.' In Landes, J., Espley, R. (ed.) Radical Collections Re-examining the Roots of Collections, Practices and Information Professions. Senate House Library,
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Journal articles
Fife, K., Flinn, A., Nyhan, J. (2023) 'Documenting resistance, conflict and violence: a scoping review of the role of participatory digital platforms in the mobilisation of resistance.' Archival Science, 23(3) pp. 471-499.
Fife, K., Henthorn, H. (2021) 'Brick Walls and Tick Boxes.' The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI), 5(1) pp. 6-32.
Chilcott, A., Fife, K., Lowry, J., Moran, J., Oke, A., Sexton, A., Thethi, J. (2021) 'Against Whitewashing.' The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI), 5(1) pp. 33-59.
Fife, K. (2019) 'Not for you? Ethical implications of archiving zines.' Punk & Post Punk, 8(2) pp. 227-242.