At the end of the course students are able to:
- understand and identify the various components of infrastructures (incl. hardware, software, labor, policy, waste etc.);
- develop an understanding of the complexity of infrastructures as social-technical networks (incl. technologies, ownership, regulations, maintenance), their environmental impact and the labor, maintenance and care needed to support them;
- specify the uneven availability and accessibility of infrastructures;
- write reading reports of academic literature about infrastructures;
- define key concepts and evaluate and combine relevant theories about infrastructures in a theoretical framework.
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Priority rules apply to this course. Make sure you register for this course before June 13, 12.00 noon to be considered for enrollment.
The following students are guaranteed a place:
- BA Media en cultuur/Media and Culture;
- BA TCS or LAS;
- pre-master’s students.
Other students will be placed by means of random selection.
Despite metaphors such as “the cloud” that suggest that data and content distribution is immaterial, we are in fact dealing with physical networks of cables, computer servers and data centers. As infrastructures, these networks often fade into the background and escape critical engagement. The study of infrastructures constitutes a concern for the material assemblages (objects, labour, and relations) that are part and parcel to the operations of digital cultures.
This course examines the socio-technical networks that support digital cultures and addresses how they reframe traditional questions of media production, circulation, access, consumption, and policy and regulation. More specifically, it raises questions about the uneven distribution and conditions that characterise digital media, their environmental impact, and the labor, maintenance, and care needed to support them.
This is the first course in the specialization Critical Data Studies.
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