Countering the Cloud: Thinking With and Against Data Infrastructures

This book investigates how information infrastructures enact particular forms of knowledge, juxtaposing the pervasive logics of speed, efficiency, and resilience with more communal and ecological ways of thinking and being. It emphasizes that infrastructures are not just technical but deeply epistemological, privileging some actions and actors while sidelining others.

Format: Hardback
Length: 92 pages
Publication date: 23 November 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This captivating book delves into the intricate workings of information infrastructures, exploring how they shape and disseminate knowledge. By juxtaposing the pervasive logics of speed, efficiency, and resilience with more communal and ecological ways of thinking and being, it challenges the notion of technical "solutions" as fixed entities. Author Munn takes readers on a journey from data centers in Hong Kong to undersea cables in Singapore and server clusters in China, weaving together rich empirical material with insights drawn from media and cultural studies, sociology, and philosophy. Through this critical analysis, Munn emphasizes that infrastructures are not merely technical but profoundly epistemological, privileging certain actions and actors while sidelining others. This innovative exploration of the values and visions at the heart of our technologies will captivate students, scholars, and researchers across a wide range of disciplines, including communication studies, digital media, technology studies, sociology, philosophy of technology, information studies, and geography.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032374154