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Floating Points of Reference. Trust, Enchantment and The Shifting Visibilities of Digital Infrastructures

Willim, Robert LU orcid (2014) Beyond the Frame: The Future of the Visual in an Age of Digital Diversity, NNDV-conference
Abstract
In 2012 Google started a campaign to make parts of its infrastructure visible. Up until that year the company’s data centers had been highly secret facilities hidden from the public eye. The visualization campaign was mainly based on stories and images distributed via the Internet. The images were often suggestive, invoking both enchantment and trust.



The text starts by pointing out and discussing how digital infrastructures have been surprisingly invisible since the 1990’ies. It then positions Google’s campaign in a longer history of infrastructure visualizations. It relates the images of data centers and technology to David E. Nye’s concept technological and industrial sublime, as well as to the author’s earlier... (More)
In 2012 Google started a campaign to make parts of its infrastructure visible. Up until that year the company’s data centers had been highly secret facilities hidden from the public eye. The visualization campaign was mainly based on stories and images distributed via the Internet. The images were often suggestive, invoking both enchantment and trust.



The text starts by pointing out and discussing how digital infrastructures have been surprisingly invisible since the 1990’ies. It then positions Google’s campaign in a longer history of infrastructure visualizations. It relates the images of data centers and technology to David E. Nye’s concept technological and industrial sublime, as well as to the author’s earlier studies of Industrial Cool and aestheticizations of manufacturing industries. At the end of the text notions of trust are discussed in relation to Google’s campaign as well as to some related endeavors to visualize corporate digital infrastructures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
unpublished
subject
keywords
Digital culture, digital infrastructure, cloud services, datacenters, visuality, aesthetics, Internet, Industrial Cool, Industrial Sublime, trust, enchantment, aura, Google, cultural significance
conference name
Beyond the Frame: The Future of the Visual in an Age of Digital Diversity, NNDV-conference
conference dates
2014-04-08
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8cd62a94-600f-4f78-b33b-9f036561718e (old id 5364237)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:00:25
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:11:44
@misc{8cd62a94-600f-4f78-b33b-9f036561718e,
  abstract     = {{In 2012 Google started a campaign to make parts of its infrastructure visible. Up until that year the company’s data centers had been highly secret facilities hidden from the public eye. The visualization campaign was mainly based on stories and images distributed via the Internet. The images were often suggestive, invoking both enchantment and trust.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The text starts by pointing out and discussing how digital infrastructures have been surprisingly invisible since the 1990’ies. It then positions Google’s campaign in a longer history of infrastructure visualizations. It relates the images of data centers and technology to David E. Nye’s concept technological and industrial sublime, as well as to the author’s earlier studies of Industrial Cool and aestheticizations of manufacturing industries. At the end of the text notions of trust are discussed in relation to Google’s campaign as well as to some related endeavors to visualize corporate digital infrastructures.}},
  author       = {{Willim, Robert}},
  keywords     = {{Digital culture; digital infrastructure; cloud services; datacenters; visuality; aesthetics; Internet; Industrial Cool; Industrial Sublime; trust; enchantment; aura; Google; cultural significance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Floating Points of Reference. Trust, Enchantment and The Shifting Visibilities of Digital Infrastructures}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6035587/5364254.pdf}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}