critical infrastructure lab

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We would like to cordially invite you to our Global Digital Cultures Soirée, which will take place on Wednesday, 16 October, 2024, between 18:00 and 22:00, the Brakke Grond Cafe. 

The speakers this time are Fernanda R Rosa (Virginia Tech, USA) and Niels ten Oever (UvA) and Fieke Jansen (UvA) of the Critical Infrastructure Lab. Fernanda’s research, ‘Following code with code ethnography’, asks: is it possible to decolonize infrastructural interdependencies between the global North and the global South? Meanwhile, Niels and Fieke will present early findings from an experiment in co-developing alternative infrastructural futures that center people and planet over profit and capital.

After brief presentations from these scholars, the floor will be open for questions and comments from participants. 

As always, our soirées involve food and drinks; the evening will start with drinks, and dinner will be served around 20:00. Attendance is free of charge.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Date: 16 October, 18:00 – 22:00

Please RSVP here

Location: Brakke Grond Cafe

Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance recently conducted two surveys targeting both IT providers and IT purchasers to examine the current landscape and the role of sustainability and regionality in IT procurement decisions. The event aims to kick-start a broader conversation about the core values that should shape the IT cloud and infrastructure market towards greater sustainability. As global companies continue to dominate the market, it’s becoming increasingly difficult—yet more critical—to find ways to level the playing field. This event will focus on discussing the survey findings and exploring how we can shift the market towards enhanced sustainability and transparency.

Date: 15 October 17:00 – 20:00

Location: Humanities Lab, University of Amsterdam, Bushuis F0.01,

Corinne Cath en Fieke Jansen spreken in een breakout sessie bij Internet in Beeld: Verleden, Heden & Toekomst.

Op donderdag 10 oktober vindt het event ‘Internet in beeld: Verleden, Heden & Toekomst’ plaats bij Felix Meritis in Amsterdam. Internet Society Nederland (ISOC NL), het Platform Internetstandaarden (Internet.nl), het Nederlands Internet Governance Forum (NL IGF), het ministerie van Economische Zaken, SIDN en ECP I Platform voor de InformatieSamenleving nodigen u hiervoor van harte uit. Er is deze dag een inspirerend programma voor u samengesteld met aansluitend een bruisende borrel ‘Bits, Bites & Bubbels’ ter ere van het 25-jarige bestaan van ISOC NL en de uitreiking van de Lifetime Achievement Awards!

Meer informatie en aanmelden vind je hier.

Please join us at the Documentation in Times of Crisis: conversation between Hiba Omari (RIWAQ), UKRAiNATV, Fieke Jansen (critical infrastructure lab), Nermin Elsherif (Utrecht University) and Alexandra Barancova & Eric Kluitenberg on the 29 of September at Framer Framed, Amsterdam.

The conversation is part of the full-day symposium “Really? Art and Knowledge in Time of Crisis”.

Numerous commentators and critics have observed a profound crisis in what it means to know and not know – an epistemological crisis, a crisis of knowledge. While this issue is old, there has been an intense debate for over four decades about what constitutes ‘valid’ knowledge and what does not. However, this problem has been greatly exacerbated by the spread of massive misinformation tactics. These tactics, employed by a new breed of malign state and corporate actors, are designed to create strategic doubt using sophisticated internet-based media forms.

Date & time: September 29th, 14:30

Location: Framer Framed, Amsterdam

More info & sign up here

In 2023, six out of nine planetary boundaries have been breached. We are facing multiple ecological and environmental crises while we continuously ignore planetary boundaries. Digitalisation and the use of Information and  Communication Technologies (ICTs) are proposed as ways to face these crises. But is this techno-solutionism, i.e. the hope that more technology can solve the problems of earlier technology, not just an utopia? ICT can provide some benefits, such as reducing the need for travel or improving energy management. However, their ubiquitous deployment and use, and their constant renewal cause severe socio-environmental damage and fall short of equity throughout their life cycle. We question the relevance of continuously introducing new digital systems, and the relevance of propositions solely focused on improving efficiency without addressing the socio-environmental damage these systems cause. As is, these systems and their optimizations are “band-aid” solutions that fall short of developing broader perspectives and focusing on systemic change – revising our current models and considering alternative systems.

The aim of SICT 2024 is to provide participants with a comprehensive insight into the multifaceted landscape of socio-economic harms along the supply chain and life-cycle of products, as well as the efforts being made to promote sustainability issues, and to foster a systemic understanding of the collective action required to shape a more sustainable future in the ICT sector. Throughout the week, voices from academia, politics, artists, activists and organisations will come together to discuss and analyse the sustainability challenges facing the ICT sector. The summer school will aim to move away from neo-colonialist and extractivist debates on how much pollution is acceptable for progress, to an approach that is making room for the most impacted to be heard.

We invite people from diverse communities, academic fields, the industry and arts to come together for a five-day summer school in early September 2024, in Brussels, Belgium. The event will be held in English. Places are available to master/PhD students, researchers, senior academics and people working in the industry and arts. We may have a limited number of scholarships available, details on this will be announced in the coming months.

Dates: September 9-13 2024

If you’d like to register, please follow this link.