| Infrastructure Type | Descriptiona |
Control point for access to or useb For example, identify the owner, regulator, manager, etc. as appropriate |
Open Source, Open Access, or Public Resource/Utilityc | Proprietaryc | How heavily used?d | Reliabilityd | Satisfaction for Userd | Ethical concerns (known or possible) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Land infrastructure For example, properties ceded, unceded, public, private, etc. Include only principal land infrastructures. |
|
The Centre for Internet and Society is a not-for-profit research organisation, and its registered office is rented from a private owner. The land that the office is situated on is within the ambit of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). One of the workshop venues is a non-profit Institution registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, another is owned and managed by a private entity. The private residential apartment is owned by the author’s family, and situated in an apartment complex owned by a private entity and managed by the residents welfare association. Oversight of the land the building is situated on is by the BDA. | Not Applicable | Yes | 10 | 9 | 10 | The office was closed during the pandemic-related lockdowns in 2020–2021, and we moved to a remote and later hybrid working model from 2022 onwards. | |
|
Materials infrastructure For example, notable common or rare extracted or other materials used in research, production, and communication. Break down by notable materials used in devices or tools if appropriate. |
|
The laptop is issued by the office, but immediate point of control/access is with the author. The personal phone belongs to the author. | Not Applicable | Yes | 10 | 8 | 9 |
|
|
|
Energy infrastructure For example, principal energy sources and infrastructure used in research, production, and communication |
|
|
Yes | Yes | 10 | 9 | 10 | Fuel and electricity consumption has long term effects on the environment, climate and health. Where possible I try to mitigate this by using public transport and wearing masks for my own protection against pollution. | |
|
Transportation infrastructure For example, private or public transportation needed for daily or research trips |
Commute to the office, workshops and meetings via public transport (cabs and autorickshaw) and personal car. |
|
Yes | Yes | 10 | 8 | 8 | There are environmental concerns related to air pollution and noise pollution due to growth in private vehicles on the roads in Bengaluru city, and limited use of electric vehicles as private/public transport, https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/bengaluru-news/air-pollution-caused-12-000-deaths-rs-12-000-crore-loss-in-bengaluru-report-101613712811275.html. | |
|
Architectural infrastructure For example, buildings, labs, rooms |
This includes a study at the author’s residence, and meeting rooms and workstations at the CIS office. | The study is part of the author’s family owned residential apartment, and the meeting rooms and workstations belong to the Centre for Internet and Society. | Not Applicable | Yes | 9 | 9 | 9 | ||
|
Civic, community, national, or regional infrastructure For example, provided by cities, communities, governments, etc. |
Roads, energy and labour as community infrastructure used during commute to office and meetings. | The Government of Karnataka, and its administrative body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, which is reponsible for maintenance of civic amenities and public infrastructural assets. | Yes | Not Applicable | 9 | 7 | 8 | ||
|
Institutional infrastructure For example, equipment, services, and “overhead” or “indirect cost recovery” items for grants to universities |
Institutional workstation, wifi network, printer, stationery, power supply, utilities, and pantry that were availed of during time spent at the office working on this book chapter. | Centre for Internet and Society | Not Applicable | Yes | 8 | 8 | 8 | ||
|
Labor infrastructure For example, type and amount of labor from collaborators, staff, research assistants; include any attributes that seem important, such as unrecognized, unpaid, low-paid, outsourced, or other attributes of labor |
In addition to the intellectual, research, and design labour of the co-author in this chapter, the writing has benefitted greatly from the support of an intern in the early stages of the research, and review and feedback shared by the peers/authors and editors of this volume. Work on this chapter has also been facilitated by the labour undertaken by staff members at the CIS office, especially support and administrative staff managing the office and utilities. A large part of the author’s professional work is also made possible by the unpaid and often invisible domestic labour and care work undertaken by her family at home. | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | 10 | 10 | 10 | Ethical concerns here are largely around unequal division of labour often seen in traditional households, with domestic chores and carework often becoming unpaid, invisible and feminised labour. The author however has made efforts to address this by working on division of domestic and care work in various capacities. | ||
|
Research-content infrastructure For example, physical libraries and archives, online research materials, shadow libraries, etc. |
This included academic databases, search engines and aggegators of multidisciplinary and primarily open access content. These include platforms like
Content behind paywalls was accessed through shadow libraries. |
Points of control include
|
Yes | Yes | 10 | 9 | 9 | ||
|
Tools infrastructure For example, principal analog tools and digital tools, scripts, or protocols used for research, writing, communication, production (excluding high-performance computing, for which see below) |
Analog Tools
Digital Tools
Operating System
Software tools
Email Client
Messaging Applications
Reference Management Tools
|
Not Applicable | Yes | ||||||
|
Networked Platforms infrastructure For example, major networked or cloud platforms used for research, storage, analysis, sharing, communication, publication—Google Drive, Dropbox, AWS, etc. (excluding high-performance computing, for which see below) |
Storage
Analysis
Sharing and Communication
|
Not Applicable | Yes | ||||||
|
High-performance computing infrastructure Here defined expansively to include the use not just of supercomputers and computer clusters or grids but any high-performance computing infrastructure or special GPU and other processors exceeding the capabilities of an individual workstation, laptop, or server. |
Not Applicable | Not Applicable | |||||||
| Other infrastructure | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
This infrastructure manifest was completed by Puthiya Purayil Sneha and reports on Chapter 16, “Online Feminist Publishing and Content Creation as Feminist Infrastructure in India.”