Information Fantasies
An alternate history of information technology and cultural imagination in postsocialist China, exploring technological possibility through literature, cinema, and social change.
Explore the book ↗ Researcher / Strategist / Writer
Technologynever arrivesalone.
Making sense of technology in a changing world.
New technologies emerge amid broader social, cultural, and institutional transformations. They open up new possibilities, but also bring uncertainty and challenge familiar ways of working, learning, and living.
Yet the future of technology is not simply given. It is shaped by how people and institutions imagine, negotiate, adopt, and sometimes resist change.
I'm Xiao Liu, a researcher, strategist, and writer. My work brings together historical and cultural perspectives with human centered and organizational research to understand these processes, navigate uncertainty, and explore new possibilities for meaningful action.
Change is relationalFig. 01 / A field of forces
Research across disciplines and institutionsScroll to explore ↓
Current explorations
Understanding change.Finding ways forward.
Three connected ways of studying how change is experienced, negotiated, and translated into new possibilities for people and organizations.
01 / UNDERSTAND
Technology, History & Culture
How do history, cultural expectations, and institutions shape the ways we imagine technological futures?
02 / NAVIGATE
AI Adoption & Organizational Change
Why does technological adoption unfold unevenly, and how do people respond to uncertainty?
03 / SHAPE
Knowledge & Collective Learning
How can experience, stories, and shared knowledge help us develop new ways of working?
Selected work
Research across
different worlds.
Books, policy research, and applied research into the relationship between emerging technologies and social life.
Shaping the Future of the Internet of Bodies
A briefing paper on emerging digital health technologies and the questions they raise for governance, privacy, and institutional responsibility.
Read the original paper ↗Applied research
Understanding AI Products & Adoption
Product and organizational research with global software companies and startups, connecting people's needs and experiences with strategy and technological adoption.
Connect about this work ↗The idea behind
my work / 01
my work / 01
The challenge is not simply to keep up with change, but to understand it well enough to shape how we respond.
Understanding creates room for choice and action.
Writing & ideas
Time Travel
Fieldnotes.
Notes on technology, culture, and the changing ways we work and learn. An ongoing space for bringing historical inquiry into conversation with contemporary questions about AI, education, and organizational life.
Read and subscribe on Substack ↗Featured essay / Fieldnotes
The Personalization Trap: Can AI Really Transform Learning?
Behind the work
A little
about me.
My work has taken me across academia, international policy organizations, global software companies, startups, and the public sector.
Across these different settings, I have returned to a similar set of questions: how people make sense of emerging technologies, how institutions shape their adoption, and how the possibilities of change become part of everyday practice.
Start a conversation ↗Conversation & collaboration
Let's think
together.
I'm interested in thoughtful conversations and collaborations around technology, AI adoption, research, and collective learning. New questions are always welcome.