How to debate a border: supporting infrastructure publics through communication system design

Abstract

While crucial infrastructures in the United States and similar countries are increasingly in conditions of crisis and decay, people living in these countries often lack a shared understanding of these systems from which to imagine the kind of radical change that theorists such as Lauren Berlant have argued is needed. As recent political controversies make clear, this lack of shared understanding extends to national infrastructures such as borders and points of entry. However, like all infrastructures, these are complex sociotechnical objects that challenge simple understanding. Collectively debating future infrastructure is complex and feels, in the present moment, insurmountable. At the same time, reimagining these systems for more equitable futures is crucial. Drawing on theories from a range of fields including anthropology and design, this paper considers the communication systems that might support broad groups with the shared understandings needed to debate the futures of infrastructures. It first describes a series of events in early 2017 related to the increased search and seizure of personal electronic devices at United States airports. It then analyzes the online comments left in response to articles about these events, arguing that the comments demonstrate both the tracing of existing infrastructures and the imagining of new infrastructures. Implications from this analysis include the potential of including speculation as a value that could be formally recognized by evaluation systems and the need to carefully consider how expert knowledge about present infrastructures is communicated alongside more future-oriented commentary.