Valuation |
Thinking infrastructures generate value by configuring entities, preferences, and classification - and it can develop new valuing methods (Bowker et al., 2019Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Kornberger, M., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (2019). Introduction to Thinking Infrastructures. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.) Thinking Infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 1-13), Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062001 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
; Mellet & Beauvisage, 2020Mellet, K., & Beauvisage, T. (2020). Cookie monsters. Anatomy of a digital market infrastructure. Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(2), 110-129. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2019.1661246 https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2019.16...
). |
Tracking |
Tracking is generally about measured and packaged virtual clicks and responses, which can make the tracked data valuable (Bowker et al., 2019Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Kornberger, M., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (2019). Introduction to Thinking Infrastructures. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.) Thinking Infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 1-13), Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062001 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
). |
Governance |
Thinking infrastructures structure collective reasoning and distribute ‘power.’ Nevertheless, simultaneously, they can centralize power - creating paradoxes (Bowker et al., 2019Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Kornberger, M., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (2019). Introduction to Thinking Infrastructures. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J.R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.) Thinking Infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 1-13), Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062001 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
; Kjellberg et al., 2019Kjellberg, H., Hagberg, J., & Cochoy, F. (2019). Thinking Market Infrastructure: Barcode Scanning in the US Grocery Retail Sector, 1967-2010. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J. R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.). Thinking infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 207-232). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062013 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
). |
Practices |
An infrastructure operates in a certain way and/or can be recognized from a set of practices (Fuentes & Fuentes, 2022Fuentes, C., & Fuentes, M. (2022). Infrastructuring alternative markets: Enabling local food exchange through patchworking. Journal of Rural Studies, 94, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022....
; Star, 1999Star, S. L. (1999). The ethnography of infrastructure. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(3), 377-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027649921955326 https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764992195532...
). |
Materially heterogeneous arrangements |
A thinking infrastructure comprises numerous interconnected material elements, forming an arrangement (Chakrabarti et al., 2016Chakrabarti, R., Finch, J., Kjellberg, H., Lernborg, C. M., & Pollock, N. (2016, June). From market devices to market infrastructures. Proceedings of the 4th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop, St. Andrews, Scotland. https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/82912 https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/82...
; Kjellberg et al., 2019Kjellberg, H., Hagberg, J., & Cochoy, F. (2019). Thinking Market Infrastructure: Barcode Scanning in the US Grocery Retail Sector, 1967-2010. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J. R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.). Thinking infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 207-232). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062013 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
). |
Interdependent and modular |
It comprises several devices that can be added or removed (Chakrabarti et al., 2016Chakrabarti, R., Finch, J., Kjellberg, H., Lernborg, C. M., & Pollock, N. (2016, June). From market devices to market infrastructures. Proceedings of the 4th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop, St. Andrews, Scotland. https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/82912 https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/82...
; Kjellberg et al., 2019Kjellberg, H., Hagberg, J., & Cochoy, F. (2019). Thinking Market Infrastructure: Barcode Scanning in the US Grocery Retail Sector, 1967-2010. In Kornberger, M., Bowker, G. C., Elyachar, J., Mennicken, A., Miller, P., Nucho, J. R., & Pollock, N. (Eds.). Thinking infrastructures (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 62, pp. 207-232). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000062013 https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X201900...
), and is, therefore, interdependent on them (Kjellberg et al., 2019). |
Poetic |
Poetics refers to the exaltation of the symbol (infrastructure) in the face of its function (Larkin, 2013Larkin, B. (2013). The politics and poetics of infrastructure. Annual Review of Anthropology, 42, 327-343. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092412-155522 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-0...
). In this sense, infrastructure standards incorporate social and political arrangements and commitments (Mellet & Beauvisage, 2020Mellet, K., & Beauvisage, T. (2020). Cookie monsters. Anatomy of a digital market infrastructure. Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(2), 110-129. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2019.1661246 https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2019.16...
), which may be associated with the symbolic nature of the infrastructure. |