We welcome students from across campus to join the Summer Minor in Global Digital Infrastructure (GDI) offered by the Berkeley Center for New Media.
The GDI Summer Minor is the first university program anywhere in the world to focus specifically on the Internet‘s backbone. This encompasses both the data centers that make artificial intelligence possible, as well as the network of ocean- and continent-spanning cables that make digital media today truly global.
Although the GDI Summer Minor is located in the College of Engineering, we welcome all majors, from engineers to people interested in law and policy. Our students include historians and social scientists interested in the development of culture around the world, alongside students from business, finance, or architecture who want to build a new generation of sustainable digital infrastructure.
Many fields, from biology to data science, are also being transformed by digital infrastructure. Understanding the places, people, and physical installations that make possible our digital world will be of interest to students across disciplinary divides.
Our curriculum is unique: Three core courses bring together a range of academic expertise and industry insights. These classes are taught by experts in the field with visits by guest lecturers who have been leading the creation, development, and regulation of digital infrastructure worldwide. All lectures have been developed in conversation with an international, cross-sector advisory board dedicated to this program, who have decades of experience. Our specialized electives enable students to focus in areas of digital infrastructure that interest them: sustainability, operations, outer space, architecture, stakeholder engagement, art, and more.
The GDI Summer Minor is designed for flexibility and accessibility for UC Berkeley students. All courses are taught in the summer and are offered in a completely asynchronous format. Synchronous interactions with guest lecturers is also available to students in the minor. For students at home, traveling, or who have to work for the summer, we make the materials and course plan as user-friendly as possible. The program will help to broaden your awareness about the hidden layers of the Internet and help you to identify its many impacts on your everyday lives.
For those of you that wish to enter the digital infrastructure industry, we are developing industry partnerships and internships that will be accessible to GDI students. Taking the minor does not guarantee a job in the industry, but it will give you direct access to people who work here, to awards and opportunities created specifically for GDI students, and to a world class educational program that teaches material that are currently not available in textbooks (and often difficult to find, even using AI).
While the core classes and some electives have short quizzes, GDI courses are almost entirely project and discussion based. Most of your grade will be determined by work on course projects where you have some latitude in choosing your site or approach. Assignments have been developed with real-world input to prepare you to research digital infrastructure sites, to pitch your own projects, design your own networks, and create policy and regulation.
The GDI minor does cover infrastructure in the United States, given that it has historically been a major center for global internet infrastructure. However, the course includes a wide range of case studies from around the world. One of the major challenges facing the digital infrastructure industry is the need to create ecologically sustainable and yet globally equitable infrastructures. This involves thinking with people around the world about how, where, why, and if they should build out internet infrastructure in their communities. The GDI minor will equip you to be able to engage in this complex decision-making process, which can be beneficial to individuals that will need to navigate a changing political and technological landscape in their career.
Although hundreds of students take GDI courses every year, the GDI Certificate program and the GDI Summer Minor is also defined by a growing alumni network that continues to work in this field. Some GDI students have acquired jobs in the industry upon completion and others move into parallel occupations. We invite students to keep in touch through events such as our Spring GDI symposium and ongoing research projects.
Criteria for Completion
Students will complete five courses, including three required core courses and two topical courses of their choosing. Courses will be offered through Summer Sessions, allowing completion within a single summer beginning in 2027. Up to six units of NW MEDIA 139 Special Topics in Global Digital Infrastructure can count toward the minor.
Core Courses (three required):
Core courses NW MEDIA 131, 132, and 133 can be taken in any order. There are no prerequisites for these courses and students from any major may apply. All courses are three units each.
- NW MEDIA 131: Digital Infrastructure 101: The Hidden Foundations of the Internet
- NW MEDIA 132: How to Build a Global Internet: Digital Infrastructure Projects from Subsea Cables to Data Centers
- NW MEDIA 133: Tech Wars: Security, Geopolitics, and Resilience of Digital Infrastructures
Focus Courses (choose two):
Focus courses NW MEDIA 134, 135, 136, 138AC, and 139 can be taken in any order. There are no prerequisites for these courses and students from any major may apply. All courses are three units each. Up to six units of NW MEDIA 139 Special Topics in Global Digital Infrastructure can count toward the minor.
- NW MEDIA 134: Keeping the Internet Alive: The World of Digital Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance
- NW MEDIA 135: From Code to Carbon: Leading a Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Revolution
- NW MEDIA 136: Digital Infrastructure for Space
- NW MEDIA 138AC: Speculative Infrastructures: Creative Practices for Imagining Networks
- NW MEDIA 139: Special Topics in Global Digital Infrastructure