Infrastructure Manifest (v. 1.0)—Javier Cha—Chapter 7—“Digital Humanities and the Energetics of Big Data”
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.

Most of the research and writing took place at Seoul National University’s Gwanak Campus and the University of Hong Kong’s Centennial Campus. Both are public universities. Yes Not Applicable 10 10 10 I have not encountered any ethical concerns.

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.

MacBook Pro (M1 Max 16 inch) and multiple LG 4k monitors. They use rare-earth elements that may produce radioactive pollutants similar to the materials identified in Alan Liu’s manifest for the introductory chapter. In my case, I don’t use neodymium and dysprosium, as I have stopped using HDDs regularly since 2009. Not Applicable Yes 10 10 10 Rare-earth minerals used in my laptop battery and monitors creating radioactive pollutants during the extraction process.

Energy infrastructure

For example, principal energy sources and infrastructure used in research, production, and communication

Electricity and internet access provided by Seoul National University and Honk Kong University IT Services. Available to all university staff members Yes Not Applicable 10 10 10

Transportation infrastructure

For example, private or public transportation needed for daily or research trips

Cathay Pacific international return flight between Hong Kong and Frankfurt, as well as intra-European SAS connecting flights to and from Oslo and Longyearbyen. Not Applicable Yes 9 9 Environmental damage due to jet fuel burned during flights.

Architectural infrastructure

For example, buildings, labs, rooms

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Civic, community, national, or regional infrastructure

For example, provided by cities, communities, governments, etc.

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Institutional infrastructure

For example, equipment, services, and “overhead” or “indirect cost recovery” items for grants to universities

Not Applicable Not Applicable

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

Not Applicable Not Applicable

Research-content infrastructure

For example, physical libraries and archives, online research materials, shadow libraries, etc.

Not Applicable Not Applicable

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)

Microsoft Word to create and edit the manuscripts at various stages. Microsoft Excel to organize the HDD and SSD benchmark data and generate charts. Not Applicable Yes 10 10 10

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)

Collaboration with co-author Ian M. Miller using Google Docs and Zoom. Not Applicable Yes 6 9 10

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 Martin Javier Cha and reports on Chapter 7, “Digital Humanities and the Energetics of Big Data.”