Data space
fictions of our relationship with data
Academic - Thesis Research | Prof. John Shnier
Winter 2018
The research for my thesis examined the architecture of data centres and their relationship with public information as well as public space. The question being asked was how these data centres participate in, or shape our relationship with the infrastructure of the internet, and what opportunities these data centres pose to possibly integrate public programming into an otherwise incredibly private protocol.
Fictional explorations were developed to test various relationships between the architecture of data centres, and possible public activities.
Episode 01 | Spyware
Data Centre as Congress
Congress is in session at the data centre. Officials have taken advantage of the data centre to collect data on political trends, economic, social and census data. Proximity to the servers allows for real time surveillance of citizens. As a result, congress has decided that the numbers of servers be increased proportionally to the growing populous. To accommodate for the addition of servers, a/c units have been removed, and members now sweat over their new server commanders. The core of servers is now the central figure, spying on citizens, holding everything in order. Democratic government has been supplanted by a power-hungry android. In an attempt to maintain anthropocentric traditions, meeting rooms have been organized axially, taking over the spaces of redundant energy systems. If the server core crashes however, the remaining redundant systems cannot sustain the data centre for long. Congress risks protection of its new controller, and possible rebellion. The data centre is a megalomaniac.
Episode 02 | Adware Virus
Data Centre as Recreation
The ever hungry society of consumption has developed a taste for the data centre. The systems of the data centre have been altered to provide a recreational space, satisfying the desire for new experiences of unusual or non human spaces. Change rooms are the backdrop for endless selfies, snapchats and Facebook statuses, consuming the bandwidth by increasing network traffic like a malware computer worm. Adding to the devastation of the network, rows of servers have been removed to make way for lane pools which parasitically extract heat form the hot aisles to regulate the temperature of the water. The combination of social media overloads and depletion of physical server racks has rendered the data centre almost useless. The rest of the space has been filled with sweaty machines unsuited for a data centre. Treadmills, weight racks and various exercise equipment have spread throughout the space, while hot baths neighbour backup generators. Consumption killed the data centre.
Episode 03 | Anti-virus
Data Centre as Finance
Fearing another financial crisis, economists have commodified data. Cheques and bills are no longer as valuable as the assets of the online exchange network. A digital crash would be a priceless and irrecoverable crisis in today’s day and age of online banking systems. Protection of the data centre is of the utmost concern. Redundant energy systems have been exaggerated to the point of superfluous surplus, as insurance that the network will never flat line. Server racks have been insulated to provide ideal environmental conditions to the servers. Hot and cold aisles no longer exist, replaced by individualized effervescent pockets for each server. The bank needs the reliability, security and protection of the data centre. The data centre is a commodity.
Research Booklet