Overview
Background
Dr. Allison Fish is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research lies at the intersections of law, socio-cultural anthropology, and science and technology studies. She has completed higher degree studies in law (JD), public administration (MPA), and anthropology (PhD). Prior to joining UQ Dr. Fish was an assistant professor in the School of Informatics & Computing at Indiana University.
The three questions that have directed much of her recent work are: What are the legal forms, technological infrastructures, and cultural logics that shape information/knowledge management practices? How do law and technology function together to mediate access? And How is accessibility increasingly framed as a fundamental human right and critical pathway to social enfranchisement?
To date, the bulk of her research has addressed the application of intellectual property law to the regulation of various domains including; international markets for South Asian classical health systems, the development of digital archives and databases designed to function as defensive publications against future patents, the impact of open access on scholarly communication practices, and licensing and attribution practices in open source software communities.
Availability
- Dr Allison Fish is:
- Available for supervision
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of California-Irvine
Works
Search Professor Allison Fish’s works on UQ eSpace
Featured
2016
Conference Publication
Understanding the knowledge gap experienced by U.S. safety net patients in teleretinal screening
George, Sheba M., Hayes, Erin Moran, Fish, Allison, Daskovich, Lauren Patty and Ogunyemi, Omolola I. (2016). Understanding the knowledge gap experienced by U.S. safety net patients in teleretinal screening. AMIA 2016 Annual Symposium, Chicago, IL, 12-16 Nov 2016. Bethesda, MD United States: American Medical Informatics Association.
Featured
2014
Journal Article
The place of ‘culture’ in the Access to Knowledge movement: comparing Creative Commons and yogic theories of knowledge transfer
Fish, Allison (2014). The place of ‘culture’ in the Access to Knowledge movement: comparing Creative Commons and yogic theories of knowledge transfer. Anthropology Today, 30 (5), 7-10. doi: 10.1111/1467-8322.12130
Featured
2014
Journal Article
Authorizing yoga: the pragmatics of cultural stewardship in the digital era
Fish, Allison (2014). Authorizing yoga: the pragmatics of cultural stewardship in the digital era. East Asian Science, Technology, and Society, 8 (4), 439-460. doi: 10.1215/18752160-2800143
2023
Book Chapter
Conceptualizing nature as information: rendering South Asian genetic resources and associated knowledge searchable and legible
Fish, Allison (2023). Conceptualizing nature as information: rendering South Asian genetic resources and associated knowledge searchable and legible. Intellectual property and the design of nature. (pp. 330-350) edited by Jose Bellido and Brad Sherman. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
2023
Book Chapter
Conceptualizing nature as information: rendering South Asian genetic resources and associated knowledge searchable and legible
Fish, Allison (2023). Conceptualizing nature as information: rendering South Asian genetic resources and associated knowledge searchable and legible. Intellectual property and the design of nature. (pp. 330-349) edited by Jose Bellido and Brad Sherman. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864406.003.0013
2023
Journal Article
The Emergence of Yoga-as-Property in American Law: The Haunting Presence of Commercial Logics from Swami Vivekananda to Bikram’s Hot Yoga
Fish, Allison (2023). The Emergence of Yoga-as-Property in American Law: The Haunting Presence of Commercial Logics from Swami Vivekananda to Bikram’s Hot Yoga. Pólemos, 17 (2), 273-292. doi: 10.1515/pol-2023-2021
2023
Journal Article
Introduction to the ‘The Spectral Nature of Intellectual Property’ <i>Pólemos</i>
Fish, Allison, Jefferson, David J. and Ventimiglia, Andrew (2023). Introduction to the ‘The Spectral Nature of Intellectual Property’ Pólemos. Pólemos, 17 (2), 213-216. doi: 10.1515/pol-2023-2017
2023
Book Chapter
Monitoring compliance with Nagoya: lessons from India on building a techno-legal infrastructure to track bioprospecting activities
Fish, Allison (2023). Monitoring compliance with Nagoya: lessons from India on building a techno-legal infrastructure to track bioprospecting activities. Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources, information and traditional knowledge. (pp. 288-304) edited by Charles Lawson, Michelle Rourke and Fran Humphries. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003301998-22
2022
Book Chapter
Using ‘Technology to Fill the Gaps in the Law': The Use of Machine Learning to Monitor Bioprospecting and Biopiracy in India
Fish, Allison and Sherman, Brad (2022). Using ‘Technology to Fill the Gaps in the Law': The Use of Machine Learning to Monitor Bioprospecting and Biopiracy in India. The Philosophy and Law of Information Regulation in India. (pp. 1-11) edited by Divij Joshi and Sudhir Krishnaswamy. Bangalore, India: Centre for Law and Policy Research. doi: 10.54999/2c0l1p0r
2022
Book Chapter
Monitoring compliance with Nagoya
Fish, Allison (2022). Monitoring compliance with Nagoya. Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources, information and traditional knowledge. (pp. 288-304) edited by Charles Lawson, Michelle Rourke and Fran Humphries. United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003301998-22
2022
Other Outputs
Systems & design thinking: online module as part of the Internet Society’s Mid-Career Fellowship
Maher, Ray, Fish, Allison and Yarnold, Jennifer (2022). Systems & design thinking: online module as part of the Internet Society’s Mid-Career Fellowship. Geneva, Switzerland: The Internet Society.
2019
Book Chapter
A border seeping in all directions: technologies of separation along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ambos Nogales
Fish, Allison (2019). A border seeping in all directions: technologies of separation along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ambos Nogales. Information, technology and control in a changing world: understanding power structures in the 21st century. (pp. 247-272) edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne and Natasha Tusikov. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-14540-8_12
2018
Other Outputs
Intellectual property and related legal issues facing the Australian Native Food Industry
Adhikari, Kamalesh, Bosse, Jocelyn, Fish, Allison and Sherman, Brad (2018). Intellectual property and related legal issues facing the Australian Native Food Industry. AgriFutures Australia Publication Wagga Wagga NSW Australia: AgriFutures Australia.
2017
Journal Article
Software and the Scientist: Coding and Citation Practices in Geodynamics
Hwang, Lorraine, Fish, Allison, Soito, Laura, Smith, MacKenzie and Kellogg, Louise H. (2017). Software and the Scientist: Coding and Citation Practices in Geodynamics. Earth and Space Science, 4 (11), 670-680. doi: 10.1002/2016EA000225
2017
Journal Article
Imagining a gold open access future: attitudes, behaviors, and funding scenarios among authors of academic scholarship
Tenopir, Carol, Dalton, Elizabeth D., Christian, Lisa, Jones, Misty K., McCabe, Mark, Smith, McCabe and Fish, Allison (2017). Imagining a gold open access future: attitudes, behaviors, and funding scenarios among authors of academic scholarship. College and Research Libraries, 78 (6), 824-843. doi: 10.5860/crl.78.6.824
2016
Journal Article
What motivates authors of scholarly articles? The importance of journal attributes and potential audience on publication choice
Tenopir, Carol, Dalton, Elizabeth, Fish, Allison, Christian, Lisa, Jones, Misty and Smith, MacKenzie (2016). What motivates authors of scholarly articles? The importance of journal attributes and potential audience on publication choice. Publications, 4 (3) 22, 22. doi: 10.3390/publications4030022
2016
Book Chapter
Ethnographic explorations of intellectual property claims to yoga: a series of unexpected events
Fish, Allison E. (2016). Ethnographic explorations of intellectual property claims to yoga: a series of unexpected events. Applied anthropology: unexpected spaces, topics, and methods. (pp. 136-150) edited by Sheena Nahm and Cortney Hughes Rinker. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315690742-10
2016
Journal Article
Understanding the knowledge gap experienced by U.S. safety net patients in teleretinal screening
George, Sheba M., Hayes, Erin Moran, Fish, Allison, Daskivich, Lauren Patty and Ogunyemi, Omolola I. (2016). Understanding the knowledge gap experienced by U.S. safety net patients in teleretinal screening. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings Archive, 2016, 590-599.
2014
Conference Publication
Cultural and technological issues and solutions for geodynamics software citation
Heien, E. M., Hwang, L., Fish, A., Smith, M., Dumit, J. and Kellogg, L. (2014). Cultural and technological issues and solutions for geodynamics software citation. American Geosciences Union Fall Meeting, United States, Dec 2014.
2013
Journal Article
Factors shaping effective utilization of health information technology in the safety-net setting
George, Sheba, Garth, Belinda, Fish, Allison and Baker, Richard (2013). Factors shaping effective utilization of health information technology in the safety-net setting. Health Informatics Journal, 19 (3), 183-197. doi: 10.1177/1460458212464584
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Allison Fish is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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The Impact of Computational Technologies on the Practice of Law and the Legal Profession
This project explores the impact of computational technologies on the practice of law and the legal profession in the United States and Australia. Compared to other fields, such as finance, the legal profession is a relatively late adopter of new technologies, however, this is beginning to rapidly change. This project focuses on understanding the larger socio-technical environment that legal actors are facing and does so by taking a holistic approach that investigates how computational systems, composed of numerous technologies, are arranged and coordinated, as well as which tools become embedded into everyday legal work. The project is based on the idea that incorporating new technologies into social settings, including legal work spaces, is not a seamless or straightforward process and often requires significant changes and these changes must be understood in context.
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Laying Claim to Yoga: Intellectual Property, Cultural Rights, and the Digital Archive in India
This project explores recent developments surrounding a key legal mechanism impacting access to and circulation of valuable knowledge – namely, intellectual and cultural property rights (IPRs). The project addresses the use of IPRs in the globalization and commodification of South Asian traditional health/spiritual systems conjoined in yoga and the ramifications this has for local and international markets, as well as global perceptions for South Asia as a site of creativity and innovation. The project also looks at the role that digital technologies play in protecting traditional knowledge and the impact that this defensive publication and anti-patenting strategy has on local and cultural practices. A key part of the project is a critical discussion of the way that people think about how law and technology interact with one another and how law changes over time to accommodate new objects and shifting attitudes. Specifically, this work challenges the commonly held idea that techno-scientific innovations constantly outpace legal change. I argue that this deterministic account is flawed and problematically frames law as merely a reflective and reactive mechanism that is constantly struggling behind in the wake of socio-technical change. The project is based on ethnographic fieldwork that took place over 24 months in India, California, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.
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Between Production and Consumption: Tracing the Techno-Legal Lives of Commodities Moving Through International Commerce
Since 2001 there has been an increasing concern with national security in many countries throughout the world, including both Australia and the United States. This concern has led to significant legal changes supporting an intensified monitoring of both land and sea borders in an attempt to ensure that the legitimate international flows of goods and people take place at geographically constrained border ports-of-entry. In this sense, the border port-of-entry has become an increasingly narrow choke-point through which commodities and people must pass if they are to move between nation-states. During this same time period, however, the actual means of surveillance at border ports-of-entry has undergone a rapid transformation; expanding from face-to-face and paper-based mediums to include a complex assemblage of new and old technologies (e.g., x-rays, mirrors, biometric scans, chemical trace screenings, and internet-based tracking platforms). The purpose of this expansion is to eventually create no-stop border ports-of-entry that seamlessly identifies, tracks, and ensures only legitimate commodities and people enter into the nation-state at these points. In international commerce, accelerated passage through border ports is highly desirable as a cost saving mechanism that is of particular benefit for perishable commodities subject to spoilage (e.g., agricultural products, seafood, etc.). This project employs a comparative ethnographic approach aimed at elucidating how this tension, between national security and market interests, is navigated in the design and adoption of the new technologies that are being selected and tested at three specific ports-of-entry (Long Beach, Ambos Nogales, and Brisbane). A comparative ethnographic project of these sites will enhance understanding regarding how two nation-states, similarly situated in terms of socioeconomic and political standing, are using law and technology to strike a balance vis-a-vis competing interests.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Using marks and designations to build and sustain local food and agriculture
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa, Professor Brad Sherman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Managing the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes of India
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Dylan Lino
-
Doctor Philosophy
The repatriation of plant products: what should be repatriated and how?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Brad Sherman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Molecular optomechanics for single molecule fingerprinting
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Mr Igor Marinkovic, Professor Warwick Bowen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Informal and formal justice for rape: Digital "court" and court trials in Australia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ryan Ko, Dr Jonah Rimer
-
Doctor Philosophy
SEPs in Biotechnology Spectrum
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Brad Sherman
-
Doctor Philosophy
The Rise of Brand Name Fruit: Apples and Signification in Australia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Babidge
-
Doctor Philosophy
Protection, access, and benefit sharing of Australian Indigenous Knowledge: Proposing a dynamic framework model
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Brad Sherman
Completed supervision
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Accommodating Artificial Intelligence-generated Works in Indonesian Copyright Law: Challenges and Possibilities
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Brad Sherman
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
The Role of the law in the circulation of the Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana)
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Brad Sherman
Media
Enquiries
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