A New Nordic Agenda for Digital Infrastructure Studies and the case of Arctic infrastructure vulnerabilities – Flash 06 2023
20 June 2023 | 17:00 - 17:45 EEST | Auditorium A3
Consolidated programme 2023 overview / Flash 6
canceled on request by session organisers
Session description
This project investigates the political economies of Nordic internet infrastructures by shedding light on the underlying technologies and systems that make the Internet what it essentially is – a network of networks. Zooming in on optic fibre highways, monumental data centres, and orbiting satellites, the project asks how these critical communication infrastructures are organised and controlled at the intersection between Nordic welfare state logics, commercial interests, and global geopolitics.
In this regard the Arctic areas of the Nordic region is an interesting case. Here, it becomes very apparent that modern communication and all parts of daily life are dependent on fragile physical infrastructure: optical fiber highways deep beneath sea ice, satellites orbiting in the sky, and radio chain stations high on snow-covered mountain peaks are essential for communication between scattered Arctic communities.
Format
The sessions will consist of presentations and discussions. First the overall framework will be laid out then we will go into depth with the case of the Arctic.
The session will be hybrid with some of the presenters on site some online.
People
Key participants:
- Sofie Flensburg, University of Copenhagen
- Signe Ravn-Højgaard, University of Greenland
- Marko Ala-Fossi, University of Tampere