Professor Alison Adam

My research and teaching interests lie in the area of Science and Technology Studies (STS). I spent many years researching in information systems and gender issues, but I have now returned to research in STS with a focus on historical topics, particularly the history of forensic science. Major works include: Artificial Knowing: Gender and the Thinking Machine, (Routledge 1998) and Gender, Ethics and Information Technology (Palgrave 2004).

My latest book is A History of Forensic Science: British beginnings in the twentieth century (Routledge, 2016) which charts the influences on the development of forensic sciences in the UK in the first half of the twentieth century, a surprisingly neglected area. In this book, I consider the broad spectrum of factors that went into creating the discipline in Britain in the first part of the twentieth century. These influences were criminological, criminalistic, scientific, technological and even fictional. 

My research shows that a new interest in managing crime scenes arrived on British shores, from the Continent, via British India and Egypt, and was channelled into the ‘scientific aids’ movement of the 1930s - Continental and Colonial criminalistics in British clothing. My book charts the strategies of the new forensic scientists to gain an authoritative voice in the courtroom and to forge a professional identity in the space between forensic medicine, scientific policing, and independent expert witnessing - they enlisted the moral voice of the forensic scientist alongside the cultural authority of the fictional scientific detective. Having completed this book I am continuing to research the history of forensic sciences and have plans to write another book on the topic.

I was a member of RAE 2008 sub-panel UoA 37, Library and Information Management. I was Deputy Chair of REF2014 sub-panel UoA 36, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management.

Science and technology studies, history of forensic science

Business, Technology and Enterprise

EPSRC/ESRC/TSB VOME project (2008-2011) on on-line privacy, at University of Salford jointly with Sunderland City Council, Consult Hyperion, Royal Holloway and Cranfield. £393K.

• Art and Design Research Centre, Communication and Computing Research Centre
• Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute

Journal articles

Bogdanovic, D., Dowd, M., Wattam, E., & Adam, A. (2012). Contesting methodologies: evaluating focus group and privacy diary methods in a study of online privacy. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 10 (4), 208-221. http://doi.org/10.1108/14779961211285854

Adam, A. (2012). IS and its agenda. Journal of Information Technology, 27 (2), 102-103. http://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2012.12

Bull, C., & Adam, A. (2011). Virtue ethics and customer relationship management: towards a more holistic approach for the development of 'best practice'. Business Ethics: A European Review, 20 (2), 121-130. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8608.2011.01613.x

Bull, C., & Adam, A. (2010). Customer relationship management information systems (CRM-IS) and the realisation of moral agency. Journal of information, communication and ethics in society, 8 (2), 164-177. http://doi.org/10.1108/14779961011040578

Adam, A., & Kreps, D. (2009). Disability and discourses of web accessibility. Information, Communication and Society, 12 (7), 1041-1058. http://doi.org/10.1080/13691180802552940

Light, B., Fletcher, G., & Adam, A. (2008). Gay men, gaydar and the commodification of difference. Information Technology and People, 21 (3), 300-314. http://doi.org/10.1108/09593840810896046

Moore, K., Griffiths, M., Richardson, H., & Adam, A. (2008). Gendered futures? Women, the ICT workplace and stories of the future. Gender, work and organisation, 15 (5), 543-542. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2008.00416.x

Adam, A. (2008). Ethics for things. Ethics and Information Technology, 10 (2-3), 149-154. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-008-9169-3

Adam, A., & Spedding, P. (2007). Trusting computers through trusting humans: Software verification in a safety-critical information system. International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, 3 (4), 1-14. http://doi.org/10.4018/jthi.2007100101

Adam, A., & Kreps, D. (2006). Web accessibility: A digital divide for disabled people? IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, 208, 217-228. http://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-34588-4_15

Adam, A., & Kreps, D. (2006). Enabling or disabling technologies? A critical approach to web accessibility. Information Technology and People, 19 (3), 203-218. http://doi.org/10.1108/09593840610689822

Adam, A., Griffiths, M., Keogh, C., Moore, K., Richardson, H., & Tattersall, A. (2006). Being an 'it' in IT: Gendered identities in IT work. European Journal of Information Systems, 15 (4), 368-378. http://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000631

Adam, A. (2005). Delegating and distributing morality: Can we inscribe privacy protection in a machine? Ethics and Information Technology, 7 (4), 233-242. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-0013-3

Adam, A., Howcroft, D., & Richardson, H. (2004). A decade of neglect: Reflecting on gender and IS. New Technology, Work and Employment, 19 (3), 222-240. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2004.00139.x

Adam, A. (2002). Exploring the gender question in critical information systems. Journal of Information Technology, 17 (2), 59-67. http://doi.org/10.1080/02683960210145959

Adam, A. (2002). Gender/body/machine. Ratio, 15 (4), 354-375. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9329.00197

Adam, A. (2002). Cyberstalking and internet pornography: Gender and the gaze. Ethics and Information Technology, 4 (2), 133-142. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019967504762

Adam, A., & Richardson, H. (2001). Feminist Philosophy and Information Systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 3 (2), 143-154. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011487221497

Adam, A. (2001). Heroes or sibyls? Gender and engineering ethics. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 20 (3), 39-46. http://doi.org/10.1109/44.952764

Adam, A. (2001). Computer ethics in a different voice. Information and Organization, 11 (4), 235-261. http://doi.org/10.1016/S1471-7727(01)00006-9

Adam, A. (2000). Deleting the subject: a feminist reading of epistemology in artificial intelligence. Minds and Machines, 10 (2), 231-253. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008306015799

Adam, A., & Ofori-Amanfo, J. (2000). Does gender matter in computer ethics? Ethics and Information Technology, 2 (1), 37-47. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010012313068

Bryant, C.H., Adam, A.E., Taylor, D.R., & Rowe, R.C. (1997). Using inductive logic programming to discover knowledge hidden in chemical data. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 36 (2), 111-123. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-7439(97)00023-3

Ali Montazeri, M., Bench-Capon, T.J.M., & Adam, A.E. (1997). Laser: A system to retrieve uk employment law cases. Information and Communications Technology Law, 6 (1), 41-54. http://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.1997.9965753

Adam, A. (1996). Constructions of gender in the history of artificial intelligence. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 18 (3), 47-53. http://doi.org/10.1109/85.511944

Adam, A. (1996). Constructions of gender in the history of artificial intelligence. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 18 (3), 47-53. http://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.1996.511944

Bryant, C.H., Adam, A.E., Taylor, D.R., & Rowe, R.C. (1996). Toward an expert system for enantioseparation: Induction of rules using machine learning. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 34 (1), 21-40. http://doi.org/10.1016/0169-7439(96)00016-0

Adam, A. (1995). Woman and Computing in the UK. Communications of the ACM, 38 (1), 43. http://doi.org/10.1145/204865.1023606

Adam, A. (1995). A Feminist Critique of Artificial Intelligence. European Journal of Women's Studies, 2 (3), 355-377. http://doi.org/10.1177/135050689500200305

Adam, A. (1995). Designing intersections—designing subjectivity: Feminist theory and praxis in a sex discrimination legislation system. Information & Communications Technology Law, 4 (2), 161-173. http://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.1995.9965716

Adam, A. (1995). Artificial intelligence and women's knowledge. What can feminist epistemologies tell us? Women's Studies International Forum, 18 (4), 407-415. http://doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(95)80032-K

Adam, A. (1994). Who knows how? who knows that? feminist epistemology and artificial intelligence. IFIP Transactions A: Computer Science and Technology, (A-57), 143-156.

Bryant, C.H., Adam, A., Tayior, D.R., & Rowe, R.C. (1994). A review of expert systems for chromatography. Analytica Chimica Acta, 297 (3), 317-347. http://doi.org/10.1016/0003-2670(94)00209-6

Adam, A. (1993). Gendered knowledge - Epistemology and artificial intelligence. AI & Society, 7 (4), 311-322. http://doi.org/10.1007/BF01891414

Adam, A.E. (1990). What can the history of AI learn from the history of science? AI & Society, 4 (3), 232-241. http://doi.org/10.1007/BF01889942

Bruce, M., & Adam, A. (1989). Expert systems and women's lives: A technology assessment. Futures, 21 (5), 480-497. http://doi.org/10.1016/0016-3287(89)90087-6

Conference papers

Bull, C.M., & Adam, A.E. (2010). Ethics in the design and use of "best practice" incorporated in enterprise information systems. Information Systems: People, Organizations, Institutions, and Technologies - ItAIS: The Italian Association for Information Systems, 327-334. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2148-2_38

Adam, A., & Bull, C. (2008). Exploring macintyre's virtue ethics in relation to information systems. 16th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2008.

Burns, B., Light, B., & Adam, A. (2006). Users as professionals: A study of IT deployment and its relationship to professional autonomy. Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2006.

Bell, F., & Adam, A. (2004). Whatever happened to information systems ethics? Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 143, 159-174.

Adam, A. (2002). Knowledge transfer: What are we transferring and where are we transferring it? Proceedings - IEEE Computer Society's International Computer Software and Applications Conference, 526-527. http://doi.org/10.1109/CMPSAC.2002.1045058

Adam, A., Howcroft, D., & Richardson, H. (2001). Absent Friends? The gender dimension in information systems research. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 66, 333-352. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35489-7

Adam, A. (1997). Information technology cultures and women's lives. International Symposium on Technology and Society, 75-81.

Bryant, C.H., Adam, A.E., Conroy, G.V., Taylor, D.R., & Rowe, R.C. (1995). Discovering knowledge hidden in a chemical database using a commercially available data mining tool. IEE Colloquium (Digest), (21).

Adam, A. (2015). Technoscience, crime and Crippen in early 20th century Britain. In British Society for the History of Science annual conference, Swansea, 2015.

Adam, A. (2014). Autobiography and the history of forensic science in the twentieth century. In British Society for the History of Science annual conference, St. Andrews, 2014.

Adam, A. (2013). Romantic moments for bacteriologists: life, death and bacteriology in Tutankhamun’s tomb. In International Conference on the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Manchester, 2013.

Adam, A. (2013). Crime does pay: Autobiography and the history of forensic science. In British Society for Literature and Science annual conference, Cardiff, 2013.

Adam, A., Bogdanovic, D., Dowd, M., & Wattam, E. (2012). Performing Privacy. In IR13, Salford MediaCity, 2012.

Adam, A. (2012). Looking for Life in the Mummy's Tomb: Vitalism, Mummy Wheat and. Bacteriology. In Science in Public Conference, University College London, 2012.

Adam, A. (2011). The Development of Forensic Chemistry in the UK 1900-1950. In British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, Universit of Exeter, 2011.

Adam, A., Bogdanovic, D., Dowd, M., & Wattam, E. (2010). Privacy On-Line Something must be done/ Must something be done? In The Social Life of Methods, CRESC Annual Conference, Oxford, 2010.

Adam, A. (2010). Scientific Aids to Criminal Investigation : The Achievement of Administrative Objectivity in Forensic Sciences. In British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, University of Aberdeen, 2010.

Adam, A. (2010). Junking science: managing the science/not science boundary. In Managing Knowledge in the Techno-Sciences 1850-2000, AHRC Owning and Disowning Invention project Conference, University of Leeds, 2010.

Adam, A. (2010). Scientists Behaving Badly: Media and Scientific Morals. In Science and the Public Annual Conference, Imperial College London, 2010.

Adam, A. (2010). Alfred Lucas and the Development of Forensic Chemistry. In Forensic Cultures in Interdisciplinary Perspective Workshop, University of Manchester, 2010.

Adam, A. (2009). The Social Construction of ‘Junk’ Science. In Science and the Public Annual Conference, University of Brighton, 2009.

Dowd, M., Bogdanovic, D., & Adam, A. (2010). Private Lives: Researching On-line Privacy. In British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Glasgow, 2010.

Adam, A. (2009). Objectivity and the sciences of identification. In British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, University of Leicester, 2009.

Adam, A. (2009). Certainty and Authority: The Case of Forensic Science. In British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Cardiff, 2009.

Book chapters

Adam, A. (2020). Crime and the Construction of Objectivity from 1850: Introduction. In Crime and the Construction of Forensic Objectivity from 1850. Palgrave Macmillan

Adam, A. (2020). The Biggar Murder: A Triumph for Forensic Odontology'. In Crime and the Construction of Forensic Objectivity from 1850. Palgrave Macmillan

Adam, A. (2013). Feminist AI projects and cyberfutures. In The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. (pp. 276-290).

Adam, A., Bogdanovich, D., Dowd, M., & Wattam, E. (2011). Mapping the online privacy landscape. In Bissett, A., Bynum, T.W., Light, A., Lauener, A., & Rogerson, S. (Eds.) The social impact of social computing : ETHICOMP 2011 : proceedings of the Twel[f]th International Conference, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK, 14 to 16 September 2011. (pp. 5-7). Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University

Adam, A. (2010). Personal values and computer ethics. In Floridi, L. (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. (pp. 149-162). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: http://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511845239.010

Bull, C.M., & Adam, A. (2010). Ethics in the design and use of “best practice” incorporated in enterprise information systems. In D'Atri, A., & Sacca, D. (Eds.) Information Systems: People, Organizations, Institutions, and Technologies. ItAIS:The Italian Association for Information Systems. (pp. 327-334). Physica-Verlag Heidelberg: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2148-2

Adam, A. (2010). Women as knowledge workers: from the telegraph to the computer. In Howcroft, D., & Richardson, H. (Eds.) Work and life in the global economy. A gendered analysis of service work. (pp. 15-32). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: http://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277977

Adam, A., & Spedding, P. (2009). Trusting computers through trusting humans: Software verification in a safety-critical information system. In Cross-Disciplinary Advances in Human Computer Interaction: User Modeling, Social Computing, and Adaptive Interfaces. (pp. 384-398). http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-813-0.ch024

Adam, A., & Spedding, P. (2008). Trusting computers through trusting humans: Software verification in a safety-critical information society. In Social and Human Elements of Information Security: Emerging Trends and Countermeasures. (pp. 61-75). http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-036-3.ch005

Adam, A. (2008). The gender agenda in computer ethics. In Himma, K.E., & Tavani, H.T. (Eds.) The handbook of infomation and computer ethics. (pp. 589-619). Wiley: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+Handbook+of+Information+and+Computer+Ethics-p-9780470281802

Kreps, D., & Adam, A. (2006). Failing the disabled community: The continuing problem of web accessibility. In Advances in Universal Web Design and Evaluation: Research, Trends and Opportunities. (pp. 25-41). http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-096-7.ch002

Adam, A. (2005). Against rules: The ethical turn in information systems. In Handbook of Critical Information Systems Research: Theory and Application. (pp. 123-131).

Adam, A. (2005). Cyberstalking: Gender and computer ethics. In Virtual Gender: Technology, Consumption and Identity Matters. (pp. 209-224). http://doi.org/10.4324/9780203977019-20

Books

Adam, A. (2015). A history of forensic science : British beginnings in the twentieth century. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203726013

Adam, A. (2009). Foreword. http://doi.org/10.4324/9780080941684

Adam, A. (2006). Artificial knowing: Gender and the thinking machine. http://doi.org/10.4324/9780203005057

Adam, A. (2005). Gender, ethics and information technology. Palgrave Macmillan. http://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000520

Adam, A., & Green, E. (2005). Preface.

Green, E., & Adam, A. (Eds.). (2001). Virtual gender: technology, consumption and identity. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Virtual-Gender-Technology-Consumption-and-Identity-Matters/Adam-Green/p/book/9780415233156

Green, E., & Adam, A. (Eds.). (2001). Virtual gender: technology, consumption and identity. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Virtual-Gender-Technology-Consumption-and-Identity-Matters/Adam-Green/p/book/9780415233156

Adam, A. (n.d.). Crime and the Construction of Forensic Objectivity from 1850. Springer Nature.

Theses / Dissertations

Mayne, A. (2018). Exploring wellbeing in yarn-based amateur craftswomen who make alone and share online. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Adam, A. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00175

Alsolamy, F. (n.d.). Social networking in higher education: academics' attitudes, uses, motivations and concerns. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Deller, R., & Adam, A.

Deputy Chair of REF2014 sub-panel UoA 36, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management.