ADM+S researcher Dang Nguyen investigates digital transformation across Vietnam
Author ADM+S Centre
Date 25 November 2025
ADM+S Research Fellow Dang Nguyen recently visited Vietnam for a fieldwork trip to investigate how digital transformation is reshaping media practice, civic participation and technology infrastructure. Travelling through Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City, Dang conducted interviews, site visits and field observations with journalists, policy specialists and more.
In Hanoi, Dang joined local journalist Lam Le to visit recycling villages in Bac Ninh, where large-scale repair and reuse of discarded electronics takes place. This trip continues ongoing collaboration with ADM+S PI Professor Melissa Gregg and UC Berkeley’s School of Information on what the ‘afterlives’ of hardware look like and how reuse, repair, and carbon reduction reshape the ecologies of digital infrastructure, consumer electronics, and AI.
Dang documented seeing discarded circuit boards, hard drives, wiring and components all awaiting processing: “A whole ecosystem of discarded hardware waiting to be reborn,” states Dang.
Dang also met with Khang Nguyen, Regulatory Reforms Attaché at the British Embassy in Hanoi, following Khang’s contributions to the recent Hanoi Convention against Cybercrime. Their discussion explored Vietnam’s digital governance direction, the UK’s decision to sign the convention, and the wider geopolitical implications of emerging regulatory frameworks.
Finally, Dang attended a meeting with Phuong Nguyen, Communications Manager at Oxfam Vietnam, focused on civic participation and digital rights. Phuong noted increasing concern within civil society over how artificial intelligence may restrict civic space. Dang raised the question of how civic actors might instead mobilise AI for public interest outcomes.
Insights from this trip will support ongoing ADM+S research into digital ecologies, technology governance and civic futures in Southeast Asia on the Language and Cultural Diversity in ADM: Australia in the Asia Pacific project.
