Co-sponsored by Film + Digital Media

This talk is a story about the ways that global digital infrastructure, especially the data centers and subsea cable networks that form the backbone of the internet, are produced out of tight-knit relationships that can weather geopolitical transitions, economic competition, and corporate tensions. I describe the process of “socializing” an infrastructure project, an essential part of the ongoing construction of a global digital network. Building a more sustainable internet, I show, is not only a process of technical coordination, of describing metrics, and of setting standards, but working within a globally-distributed and yet intimately connected geography.

Nicole Starosielski, Professor of Film and Media at the University of California-Berkeley, conducts research on global internet and media distribution, communications infrastructures ranging from data centers to undersea cables, and media’s environmental and elemental dimensions. Starosielski is author or co-editor of over thirty articles and five books on media, infrastructure, and environments, including: The Undersea Network (2015), Media Hot and Cold (2021), Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructure (2015), Sustainable Media: Critical Approaches to Media and Environment (2016), Assembly Codes: The Logistics of Media (2021), as well as co-editor of the “Elements” book series at Duke University Press.

The Center for Cultural Studies hosts a weekly Wednesday colloquium featuring work by faculty and visitors. We gather at 12:00 PM, with presentations beginning at 12:15 PM.

Staff assistance is provided by The Humanities Institute.