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Poroi
http://ir.uiowa.edu/poroi/
Volume 8, Issue 1 2012 Article 10
Information Infrastructure as Rhetoric: Tools
for Analysis
Nathan R. Johnson∗
∗Purdue University
Copyright c
2012 by the authors. This paper is posted at Iowa Research Online.
http://ir.uiowa.edu/poroi/vol8/iss1/10
Communication: Inquiry, Energy, and Risk
ARST Reports
Information
as Rhetoric:
Analysis
Nathan R. Johnson
Department of English, Purdue University
Lafayette, IN USA
Poroi
8, 1 (April 2012)
Our lived world
s are
systematized technologies that organize the information that
to inform themselves about subjects as diverse as politics or energy
consumption
(Bowker & Star, 1999)
scaffolding for discovery, dissemination, and access t
information is concomitant
the form of infrastructure has real consequences
communication,
knowledge, and political life that are already being
studied by rhetoricians.
A notable example of infrastructural significance
own knowledge
technologies
to the scholarship of our peers
benefit
from their ability to organize academic
access to
the work of scholars. The intellectual work of creating these
databases builds in
should be organize
d. For instance, many database vendors provide access
to their content through subject heading lists that were originally
constructed at the turn of the 20
Infrastructure materializes
uses it to organize the present and future. The work of building
infrastructure builds tec
public information
The construction of these technological monsters
rhetorical intervention.
infrastructure can
outwardly seem
when discussing
infrastructure, we begin by listing the numerous
expressions of technology that hang together as
(Bowker et al., 2010)
the numerous computer systems, classifications, wiring, software, and
interfaces that provide access to scholarly work.
condenses at
only a handful
monster to work as
Information infrastructure consists of the classifications, standards,
protocols, and algorithms that
Communication: Inquiry, Energy, and Risk
-
Information
Infrastructure
as Rhetoric:
Tools for
Nathan R. Johnson
Department of English, Purdue University
8, 1 (April 2012)
s are
saturated in information infrastructure, the
systematized technologies that organize the information that
publics use
to inform themselves about subjects as diverse as politics or energy
(Bowker & Star, 1999)
. Infrastructure provides
the invisible
scaffolding for discovery, dissemination, and access t
o information. Since
information is concomitant
with
knowledge, criticality, and awareness,
the form of infrastructure has real consequences
for the forms of
public
knowledge, and political life that are already being
studied by rhetoricians.
A notable example of infrastructural significance
lives
in one of our
technologies
: the academic databases that
provide
to the scholarship of our peers
(Borgman, 2007). Database
vendors
from their ability to organize academic
journals that
provide
the work of scholars. The intellectual work of creating these
assumptions about how the world of
scholarship
d. For instance, many database vendors provide access
to their content through subject heading lists that were originally
constructed at the turn of the 20
th
century by Librarians of C
ongress
Infrastructure materializes
the situated knowledge work of the
past and
uses it to organize the present and future. The work of building
infrastructure builds tec
hnological momentum that constructs
regime
(Hughes, 1994).
The construction of these technological monsters
should be a site of
rhetorical intervention.
Because of its apparent vastness, though,
outwardly seem
to be a daunting object
for study. Often
infrastructure, we begin by listing the numerous
expressions of technology that hang together as
a working system
(Bowker et al., 2010)
. A vendor’s database infrastructure could include
the numerous computer systems, classifications, wiring, software, and
interfaces that provide access to scholarly work.
Yet infrastructure
only a handful
of technological points that enable
the entire
monster to work as
a whole. These technological points aid
analysis.
Information infrastructure consists of the classifications, standards,
protocols, and algorithms that
organize information and communication
publics use
to inform themselves about subjects as diverse as politics or energy
the invisible
o information. Since
knowledge, criticality, and awareness,
public
knowledge, and political life that are already being
in one of our
provide
access
vendors
provide
the work of scholars. The intellectual work of creating these
scholarship
d. For instance, many database vendors provide access
ongress
.
past and
regime
s of
should be a site of
for study. Often
. A vendor’s database infrastructure could include
the numerous computer systems, classifications, wiring, software, and
Yet infrastructure
the entire
analysis.
Information infrastructure consists of the classifications, standards,
organize information and communication
Johnson Poroi 8, 1 (April 2012) 2
practices. Subject heading lists organize content areas in fairly
straightforward ways. They mediate the discovery of journal articles and
books. But as digital systems have become more complex, so have the
forms of infrastructural control. Search algorithms designed by Google
limit the intellectual world of novice searchers. Metadata standards
devised for information sharing via Twitter refract the information
sharing messages of its users, and while growing bodies of research are
investigating the potentials of using Twitter as a communication tool,
much less work is being done to look at information infrastructures like
Twitter as an object of study.
Communication scholars need to start looking at infrastructure
instead of through it. Investigating the rhetoric of classifications,
standards, protocols, and algorithms is an important part of
understanding modern rhetorics.
I offer three different approaches to rhetorically intervening in
information infrastructure. The first is through genealogies (Foucault,
1980; Johnson, 2009). By conducting detailed historical investigations
into the construction of infrastructure, scholars can gain an
understanding of the situated rhetorics that become embodied
technologies. This type of work would chronicle the work of
infrastructural developers who build infrastructure. For instance, one
might chart the trajectories involved in the user studies that inform the
algorithms of Google’s search.
The second approach involves rhetorical ethnography. By self-
reflectively becoming a part of the lifeworld of an infrastructure, scholars
can better understand what it means to live within infrastructure. This
type of investigation involves entering into perhaps familiar territory with
new eyes. This type of study would combine the rich analytic tools of the
rhetorical tradition with the ethnographic tools popular in anthropology.
A study might consist of using infrastructure like Twitter while
interrogating how its organizing mechanisms alter interactions that may
have been shared through other means.
The third approach involves protocological hacking (Galloway, 2004).
By becoming builders of infrastructure, rhetoricians productively take the
affirmative position of understanding the classificatory, standardizing,
protocological, and algorithmic concepts built into information
infrastructuring. We build our own infrastructural rhetorics to better
understand infrastructure. For instance, consider the value of
reimagining the scholarship of rhetorical studies through infrastructure
adapted to understanding the contemporary state of the discipline instead
of serving the needs of academic database vendors. Consider the value of
search and discovery technologies built from the disciplinary vantage
point of a rhetorician rather than an information scientist.
Work within the rhetoric of science and technology currently exists
that comes close to an investigation of infrastructure. Foundational
studies of citation, statistics, and mathematics are already investigating
the components of infrastructure (Bazerman, 1988; R. Connors, 1998; R.
J. Connors, 1999; McCloskey, 1998; Reyes M., 2004). The related
discipline of Science Studies also teems with similar studies. The rich
Johnson Poroi 8, 1 (April 2012) 3
amalgam of these previous studies can serve as the foundations for a
rhetorical study of information infrastructure. In the “age of information”
when “cyberinfrastructure” has become a significant source of power for
modern institutions, rhetoricians can do important work to describe the
tropes of infrastructure. This essay is a call for rhetorical intervention into
that information infrastructure.
References
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