Siphonophorae, an Intervention on (In)Visible Infrastructure

Abstract

This alternative event uses siphonophorae as a metaphor for examining infrastructure in information work. Infrastructure studies are deeply rooted in the field of information science: Susan Leigh Star's work forms a cornerstone of infrastructure studies and the ways in which information science views how people operate within the systems around them (Star, 1999; Larkin, 2013). Representing a broad meta‐discipline, the ASIS&T community has decades of research and publications on infrastructure, and because the topic is so complicated and rhizomatic, we still lack clear perspectives on key questions like: Why this infrastructure, and why now? Attendees will work together to construct a physical and a digital siphonophore that constitute connections between infrastructure; those who design them; those who use them; and how they function in relation to information sciences and spaces. We seek to render infrastructure visible by asking: why this infrastructure? Doing so enables us to further interrogate: what infrastructure could be better?