I was pleased to be asked to present this year’s keynote address at the annual Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society workshop. The theme this year was on infrastructures and so was a perfect fit for my new project on the global environmental history of computing.

The goal of this project is to explore the physical infrastructure that makes our online interactions possible, and to suggest that “computer power” is more than just a metaphor. From Bitcoin “mines” to server “farms” to data “warehouses,” computing requires the input of a range of materials and resources, from lithium and rare earth elements to coal, oil, gas, and uranium. Just as with more traditional forms of technological and industrial development, the information economy can be resource-intensive, pollution-producing, and potentially damaging to the environment, to humans, and to social and political relationships. In the SIGCIS presentation of this material, I outlined several approaches to integrating the methods and insights of environmental history into the history of computing.

For more information about this project and its future research agenda, see the Dirty Bits project site.