Harvard University Politics of Infrastructure Module Overview Discussion

This end of module assignment is an overview of what you have learned. This is a chance for you to go over what you have learned, and it is also useful for you as it means you will produce a document that you can consult when you come to write your final paper. The more time you spend on this now, the easier the final paper will be!

Instructions –

Paragraph One – In your own words, give a brief overview of what the main content of the module was (2-3 sentences).

Paragraph Two – Can you provide a brief example of the problems that can arise if these ideas are not considered by those who create and develop computer technology? (2-3 Sentences)

Paragraph Three – How does this area of research inform the assertion that technology is not ethically or politically neutral? (2-3 Sentences)

Module Content: (Files are in the Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_JKY2t02eg…)

• Slide1.pdf
• star bowker infrastructure.pdf
• Satariano, A. (2019). How the Internet Travels Across Oceans. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/10/tec…
• Blum, A. (2012). What is the Internet, really? Ted Talks.
• Fan, J. (2018). A New Silk Road. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/08/a-ne…
• Appel, H., Anand, N., and Gupta, A. (2015). The infrastructure toolbox. Theorizing the contemporary. Fieldsights. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/series/the-infrast…
• Kelty, C. (2017). Evil infrastructures. Theorizing the contemporary, Fieldsights. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/series/evil-infras…
• Slide2.pdf
• (2019) Schwartz – Untold History of AI: How Amazon’s Mechanical Turkers Got Squeezed Inside the Machine https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/tech-history/d…
• (2018) Semuels – The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/…
• Commercial Content Moderation Digital Laborers Dirty Work.pdf
• (2019) Vincent – AI won’t relieve the misery of Facebook’s human moderators https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/27/18242724/facebo…
• (2019) The Verge – Google and YouTube moderators speak out