Breakdowns, (Un-)Sichtbarkeiten und glitches : kritische Geographien der Resilienz digitaler Infrastrukturen

Abstract

This paper draws on current discussions in digital geography that emphasize the political and theoretical role of glitches. While we sympathize with the basic assumptions of this discussion and also find it helpful to connect these to older discussions around digital infrastructures, we propose an opposing perspective with this text. Using the example of Internet infrastructures, we focus on the continuous and painstaking work of making infrastructures invisible and preventing glitches. We are particularly interested in the production of resilience and focus from a geographical perspective on the rationalities of redundancy and addressing latency.