Paper short abstract:

This paper takes stock of the work presented in track 001 and on the authors’ own fieldwork to provide a reflection on governance *by* information infrastructure: its perimeters, definitions, potential as an analytical tool.

Paper long abstract:

The proliferation of conceptualizations such as "governance by technology", "governance by design", "politics of technology", "de facto governance" - grounded in STS-based studies of infrastructures as loci of distributed and invisible power - reflect a double, and increasingly pressing, need. On one hand, in the era of so-called "algorithmic governance", we ought to keep uncovering the regimes of inclusion and exclusion nested in technology. On the other hand, there is a need for the materiality of information infrastructures to be reaffirmed, made explicit, and untangled at a time in which discourses proliferate on information flows, loci and geographies (e.g., clouds), and on the prominence and mythologies of data.

This paper will take stock of the work presented within the track "Materializing governance by information technology", and of its convenors' respective ongoing fieldworks on the "Vectorial Glance" framework highlighting the performative and identity-building character of information infrastructures (Pelizza), on the imaginaries subtending the development of the internet logical infrastructure as well as data infrastructure (Milan), and privacy protection in decentralized, end-to-end encrypted messaging software (Musiani).

The paper ultimately aims to advance reflection on the relation between the concept of "governance" and digital artefacts: its perimeters, definitions, potential as an analytical tool.