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Understanding the Environmental Impact of Data Centers Study Guide

This guide explores the complex interplay between journalism, geopolitics, and the spread of disinformation, using the Philippines as a case study. It delves into the historical context of colonial rule and dynastic politics, the rise of social media as a tool for manipulation, and the challenges faced by independent journalists in combating misinformation. Key topics include the impact of disinformation on national memory, the justification of controversial policies, and the broader implication

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Geography and Materiality of the Digital World

Geography of the Digital World

An examination of how the digital world is materialized in specific places through material infrastructure, environmental footprints, and spatial divisions of labour.

  • Material infrastructure
  • Data centres
  • Fibre-optic cables
  • Environmental footprint
  • AI energy use
  • Spatial divisions of labour
  • Territorial regulation
  • Corporate control
  • E-waste

Environmental Footprint of Data Centres

The environmental footprint of data centres involves electricity demand, water needs for cooling, and land footprint impacts across local, regional, and global scales.

  • Electricity demand
  • Water-based cooling
  • Land footprint
  • Energy mix
  • Local water supplies
  • Aquifers and surface water systems
  • Hydro-electric generation
  • Carbon footprint
  • Scales of assessment

Environmental Cost of AI's Energy Use

This report examines the environmental consequences of AI's substantial energy use, including its related carbon, water, and land footprints.

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Generative AI
  • Fourth Industrial Revolution
  • Carbon footprint
  • Water footprint
  • Land footprint
  • Data centers
  • Deep learning
  • Energy intensity
  • AI training
  • Inference phase
  • Rebound effect (Jevons Paradox)
  • Critical minerals
  • E-waste
  • Digital divide
  • Text-to-video diffusion models
  • High-performance accelerators

Spatial Scales and Controversies of Data Centers

Spatial Scales of Data Center Controversy

The controversy surrounding data center land use is assessed through local, regional, national, and global spatial scales.

  • local scale
  • regional and national scale
  • global issues
  • digital sovereignty
  • indigenous land rights
  • resource extraction
  • negativity bias
  • existential concern over AI
  • tax revenue
  • energy draw

Global Migration Flows and Human Rights

Global Migration Flows and Human Rights

This lecture examines migration flows from various regions, focusing on the political situations, human rights abuses, and the agency of migrants.

  • Mediterranean sea route
  • Human rights abuses
  • Migrant agency
  • Political and military situations in source countries

Experiences of Syrian People and Sea Journeys

Syrian Refugee Experiences and Journeys

The sources document personal accounts and experiences regarding the Syrian people, the sea, and journeys through borders.

  • Syrian refugee crisis
  • Psychological trauma
  • Journey through borders
  • Maritime migration
  • Terrestrial obstacles
  • Physical hardships
  • Resilience

Cartography, Power, and National Identity

Cartographies of Egyptian Nation Building

This text examines how official state maps and atlases construct the Egyptian geo-body and Arab identity, while exploring counter-cartographies used by Nubian and Coptic minority groups.

  • Egyptian geo-body
  • Arab nationalist movement
  • United Arab Republic
  • state cartographies
  • national atlases
  • counter-cartographies
  • Nubian identity
  • Coptic identity
  • territorial disputes
  • supranational geographical entities

Egyptian Cartographic Projects and National Identity

A critical reading of official and unofficial cartographic projects in post-independence Egypt highlighting normative state cartographic discourses and counter-cartographic narratives.

  • state cartographic discourses
  • Egyptian-Arab geo-body
  • counter-mapping
  • Arab Homeland
  • Coptic and Nubian alternative mappings
  • Egyptian national identity
  • post-colonial states

Counter-Mapping and Geographies

Exploring the history of the Philippines, its information ecosystems, and the use of counter-mapping as a tool for resistance and representing marginalized geographies.

  • Counter-mapping
  • Counter-cartography
  • Social justice
  • Pedagogy
  • Participatory methods
  • Spatial narratives
  • Dispossession
  • Neo-colonialism
  • Indigenous land claims
  • Community-oriented art
  • Geospatial technologies
  • Ancestral domain

Maps, Power, and the Nation-State

Maps are value-laden images that produce space, create the legitimacy of nation-states, and serve as tools of imperial expansion and capitalism.

  • nation-state
  • geo-body
  • cartographic education
  • imperialism
  • colonialism
  • territoriality
  • private property
  • resource extraction
  • mapping and power
  • capitalism

Misleading Maps and Counter-Cartographies

Maps can be misleading through distorted projections, symbolism, and silences, but can also serve as tools of resistance and counter-cartographies to assert different conceptions of space.

  • distorted projections
  • Mercator projection
  • social hierarchy
  • counter-cartographies
  • resistance
  • activism
  • geo-body
  • colonialism
  • scale
  • production of space

Spatial Divisions of Labour in the Digital World

Spatial Divisions and Digital World Inequalities

The digital world relies on a spatial division of labour involving human workers performing data work to support automated processes and algorithms.

  • Spatial divisions of labour
  • Data work
  • Content moderation
  • Data annotation
  • Digital inequality
  • Territorial regulation

Spatial Scales and Geographies of the Digital World

Spatial Scales of Digital Infrastructure

An analysis of the spatial division of labor, uneven internet access, and territorial jurisdictions within the global digital world.

  • spatial division of labor
  • global income inequalities
  • uneven access to the digital world
  • territorial jurisdictions
  • supranational regulation
  • geopolitical alliances
  • geographical concentration of ownership

Migration Crises, Displacement, and European Responses

Mediterranean Migration Crisis and EU Response

Analysis of the Mediterranean crisis, EU migration policies, border dynamics, and the impact of various factors on displacement.

  • unaccompanied children
  • Mediterranean migration crisis
  • European Union migration policy
  • European Agenda on Migration
  • humanitarian crises
  • international protection
  • irregular migration
  • Frontex

Global Forced Displacement and Migrant Agency

Examination of global displacement routes and the agency of refugees.

  • global forced displacement
  • Mediterranean migration crisis
  • migrant agency

Global AI Infrastructure and Environmental Impacts

Environmental and Geopolitical Impacts of AI

The digital world is material and depends on infrastructures and places characterized by concentrated corporate control and uneven geographical distribution.

  • Concentrated Corporate Control
  • AI Supply Chain
  • Upstream Environmental Impacts
  • E-waste Generation
  • Spatial Division of Labour
  • Existential Threat of AI

Environmental and Geopolitical Impacts of AI Infrastructure

AI Supply Chain and Environmental Impacts

The increasing geographical concentration of the AI universe in the US and China involves upstream environmental impacts of digital hardware and downstream e-waste.

  • Upstream environmental impacts
  • Critical minerals
  • Chip manufacturing supply chain
  • Geographical concentration of AI investment
  • Downstream e-waste

Materiality and Environmental Impacts of AI

The digital world is material and depends on infrastructures and places, creating uneven distributions of environmental impacts and labor.

  • e-waste displacement
  • AI infrastructure environmental footprint
  • lifecycle governance
  • spatial division of labor
  • environmental injustice
  • digital materiality

Journalism, Geopolitics, and Disinformation Challenges

Journalism, Geopolitics, and Disinformation

The role of journalism in preserving democracy amidst geopolitical flashpoints like the South China Sea, the Marawi siege, and social-media driven disinformation.

  • Martial Law
  • EDSA People Power Revolution
  • Disinformation campaign
  • Social media machine
  • Keyboard warriors
  • Populist appeal
  • War on drugs
  • Red-tagging
  • Spiral of silence
  • Information ecosystem
  • Dynastic rule
  • Independent journalism

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