Abstract
Tributary is an experimental ethnographic film that traces the movement and harnessing of natural resources within the Icelandic landscape to support our digital lives.
Tributary explores covert, 'black-boxed' data centres (remote and highly secure sites) by tracking water and geothermal sources to the infrastructure required to power and house these physical locations of intensive computational processing.
Created from a combination of traditional and experimental field recording techniques made within Iceland and the UK, Tributary aims to problematise the notion of 'green' data centres. It showcases the intensive energy requirements required to prop up the digital infrastructure of contemporary life. These include cryptocurrency mining, cloud storage, digital image production and media streaming.
Tributary explores covert, 'black-boxed' data centres (remote and highly secure sites) by tracking water and geothermal sources to the infrastructure required to power and house these physical locations of intensive computational processing.
Created from a combination of traditional and experimental field recording techniques made within Iceland and the UK, Tributary aims to problematise the notion of 'green' data centres. It showcases the intensive energy requirements required to prop up the digital infrastructure of contemporary life. These include cryptocurrency mining, cloud storage, digital image production and media streaming.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Journal of Anthropological Films |
| Publisher | Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) |
| Edition | Vol. 7 No. 01 (2023) |
| Media of output | Film |
| Size | 12 mins 40 secs |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 May 2023 |
Keywords
- data
- energy
- digital culture
- human infrastructures