Data infrastructure studies on an unequal planet

August 2023. Our Centre Member Patrick Brodie has published an article in which he demonstrates that data centers reproduce uneven systems of environmental exploitation via digital capitalism.

“How do algorithmic injustices relate to lithium extraction in the Atacama Plateau? How does a boggy riverside land plot in Leitrim relate to a scenic tourist beach in Mayo? What about an industrial site off the M50 motorway outside of Dublin, with seafloor ecosystems several kms offshore in the Irish Sea?” (…) “Activating and understanding infrastructural footprints of these connections is essential for a planetary anti-extractivism that connects data rights with data infrastructural struggles without resorting to individualized and consumer-centered solutions to digital sustainability.”

Find the full article here