Radical Infrastructures: Obstacles and Opportunities for People-Centered Infrastructure

Abstract:

In this talk Britt Paris discusses her recent book Radical Infrastructures that examines the hidden material, environmental, and political–economic foundations of contemporary technological systems and asks what it would mean to reorganize them around people rather than profit. Drawing attention away from interfaces and innovation myths, this talk foregrounds deeper concerns around Internet infrastructures as extractive, energy-intensive, and labor-dependent assemblages—built from minerals, logistics networks, land, and lives. From data centers and cloud platforms to AI pipelines and “smart" systems, these technologies are embedded in global regimes of resource extraction, environmental degradation, and racialized and gendered labor practices that are often rendered invisible, and proselytized as "neutral" "innovation."

Paris argues that these infrastructures are not inevitable or neutral. Instead, they reflect specific political and economic choices that prioritize scale, efficiency, and capital accumulation over sustainability, care, and people-centered governance. At the same time, Radical Infrastructures highlights existing examples, practices, and movements that grapple towards people-centered alternatives: cooperative and community-owned networks, repair and maintenance cultures, and solidarity-based approaches to Internet infrastructure, data, and technology. By treating Internet infrastructure as a site of collective struggle, the talk invites us to imagine—and organize for—technological futures grounded in resistance and refusal of dominant systems in favor of environmental responsibility, care, and justice.

Bio:

Britt S. Paris studies the political economy of information infrastructure as it relates to evidentiary standards and political action. She has published work on Internet infrastructure projects, AI-generated information objects, digital labor, and civic data, analyzed through the lenses of science and technology studies, political economy, cultural studies, and social epistemology.

Paris’ research, teaching, and service are interconnected and emphasize critically investigating discourse and practice around using data-intensive technology to solve social, political, and environmental problems; uncovering political, ethical, and aesthetic assumptions built into Internet infrastructure; understanding the labor, economics, and systems of power that undergird the information landscape; and organizing alternatives to market-driven information systems design. These streams of research focus on developing a broader understanding of the political and economic forces that have shaped our information and communication environment to reimagine, refine, or refuse these systems as we build a future worth fighting for.

Paris is an alumna of the Data & Society Research Institute. She joined the Rutgers Department of Library and Information Science in fall 2019 and was promoted to associate professor in spring 2025. As of spring 2026, she is a fellow with AI Now and her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up comes out with University of California Press. She chairs the national American Association of University Professors (AAUP) ad hoc committee on AI, and for her local Rutgers AAUP-AFT, she serves on the Faculty Executive Council, co-chairs the Media and Communications Committee, and acts as department representative.

Questions? Contact Madelyn Sanfilippo