To enroll, visit Berkeley Summer Sessions! To find out more about Digital Infrastructures, watch Nicole Starosielski describe Digital Infrastructure 101 in 101 seconds here, and check out the full video here!
This summer, we are offering the following classes:
Digital Infrastructure 101 | Session A
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the foundational elements of digital infrastructure. It examines the critical role of these physical infrastructures in emergent internet technologies such as cloud computing and edge computing. Students will investigate how data centers and cables underpin modern digital services such as video streaming, online gaming, and e-commerce. The course will cover the historical development of data centers and cables, their impact on the evolving landscape of internet technology, and the core components of these facilities and networks. By understanding these critical components, students will gain a comprehensive view of how digital infrastructure supports and transforms the modern world.
NWMEDIA 131-001: Digital Infrastructure - asynchronous
NWMEDIA 131-002: Digital Infrastructure - synchronous
Approved for: Historical Studies L&S Breadth; History of the Built Environment Minor, Geography major & minor (non-Geography requirement), STS Minor in Human Contexts of Data and Computing and Environmental Change and Society.
Taught by: Nicole Starosielski
Nicole Starosielski, Professor of Film and Media at the University of California-Berkeley and the Berkeley Center for New Media, conducts research on global internet infrastructure, with a focus on the subsea cables that carry almost 100% of transoceanic internet traffic. Starosielski is author or co-editor of over thirty articles and five books on media, infrastructure, and environments, including: The Undersea Network (2015), which chronicled the history and present of the subsea telecommunications cable network from the 1800s to today.
How to Build a Global Internet: Digital Infrastructure Projects from Subsea Cables to Data Centers | Session D
You are tasked with constructing subsea cables that stretch across oceans and data centers that store and compute digital content. Without these foundational infrastructures, a global internet could not exist. Yet these mega-projects can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to execute. What is required to build such massive systems and facilities? What kinds of political, environmental, and technological challenges will you face? In this class, as you consider developing the internet’s backbone in different parts of the world, you will learn to answer these questions.
NWMEDIA 132-001: How to Build a Global Internet - asynchronous
NWMEDIA 132-002: How to Build a Global Internet - synchronous
Approved for: Philosophy and Values L&S Breadth, Political Economy minor in the Science, Technology, and Economic Development, History of the Built Environment minor, Certificate in New Media electives, Sustainable Design minor, Media Studies Digital Studies
Taught by: Erick Contag
Erick Contag (President – Board of Trustees | SubOptic Foundation; Founder – CEO | StratWorks, Inc; Independent Board Member | Padtec; Co-Founder & Board Advisor | Seafields Solutions, Ltd; Former CEO and Executive Chairman | GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos) is a seasoned strategist driven by his passion for building and managing sustainable digital infrastructures. With over twenty-five years of executive management, entrepreneurship, marketing & sales, and business development experience, he specializes in building high-performance teams, fostering growth, and scalability.
Tech Wars: Security, Geopolitics, and Resilience of Digital Infrastructures | Session D
The internet is not only a place for sharing and interconnection, it is also a site of conflict, competition, and geopolitics. This course takes the students deep into the importance of security and protection to the digital infrastructures that support all internet traffic, especially the subsea cables and data centers that form the network’s backbone.
NWMEDIA 133-001: Tech Wars - asynchronous
NWMEDIA 133-002: Tech Wars - synchronous
Approved for: Political Economy minor in Science, Technology, and Economic Development, Certificate in New Media, Public Policy Minor, Media Studies Media, Law, and Policy, STS Minor in Human Contexts of Data and Computing and Environmental Change and Society
Taught by: Jospeh B. Keller
Joseph B. Keller is a neuroscientist-turned global technology policy researcher and lecturer. His research interests explore emerging technologies and their governance implications for security, geopolitics, and the environment, including a focus on subsea cable security challenges and the environmental impacts of AI research and development.