Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The Internet has radically changed every mode of production, distribution, and consumption in modern life, granting global access to information transcending time and space. However, due to the online and intangible nature of Internet connections, what’s often overlooked is the physical infrastructure that enables the Internet. This disconnect between the digital and the physical is captured by the popular buzzword “the cloud” - a metaphor that abstracts the vast, energy-guzzling tracts of data server farms kept hidden in corporate secrecy. This paper seeks to make “the cloud” visible and concrete, zooming in from the “global” back to the physical realities of Internet infrastructure embedded within local communities. Through an analysis and synthesis of technical papers, corporate marketing, policy reports, and maps, it situates the “global” nature of the cloud within national and local politics. In addition, through a case study of Google’s first data center in The Dalles, Oregon, and its intimate relationship with a community-piloted municipal fiber network - QLife Network - this paper brings local community needs and negotiations in conversation with the global corporate order of digital technologies. The discussion concludes with a proposed framework for a community-oriented approach to accessing the global Internet, urging for visibility through new media art, cyber-activism contextualized in local politics, and community-based Internet infrastructure investment.