Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Economic and Socialcultural Effects of Developing Cyber-Infrastructure for Global information Storage in Iceland

该奖项支持加州大学圣克鲁斯分校博士生阿里克斯·约翰逊的论文研究项目。约翰逊女士的研究调查了冰岛对全球信息基础设施的私人和公共投资的增加如何影响社会文化、经济和治理体系以及国家认同感。信息技术和贸易经常被提议作为解决许多北极农村社区的经济挑战的办法。这项研究有可能让其他北极社区了解信息技术作为北方经济自给自足途径的社会影响。这一研究项目考察了私营和公共实体正在进行的一系列努力，以使冰岛成为“信息天堂”--一个存储来自世界各地的数据的有吸引力的地点。冰岛人希望通过建立数据中心、创办初创企业和通过“信息友好型”立法，开辟一个全国性的利基市场，并吸引全球数据进入冰岛的基础设施。该项目将探索这一新基础设施的发展如何改变冰岛当地的生计和民族认同感。将信息全球化与民族主义、主权、身份认同和造地并列在一起，是对北极这些过程的新审视，北极社区在未来几十年将更多地看到这些过程。

This award supports the dissertation research project of Alix Johnson, PhD candidate at the University of California Santa Cruz. Ms. Johnson's research investigates how the increase in private and public investment in global information infrastructure in Iceland affects social-cultural, economic, and governance systems, as well as national identity. Information technology and trade is often proposed as a solution to the economic challenges of many rural Artic communities. This research has the potential to inform other Arctic communities about the societal impacts of information technology as an approach to economic self-sufficiency in the north. This research project examines a range of ongoing efforts by private and public entities to make Iceland an "information haven" - an attractive location for storing data from around the world. By building data centers, founding start-ups, and passing "information-friendly" legislation, Icelanders hope to carve out a national niche and attract global data to Icelandic infrastructure. The project will explore how the development of this new infrastructure is changing local Icelandic livelihoods and senses of national identity. Juxtaposing the globalization of information with nationalism and sovereignty, identity and place-making is a new look at these processes in the Arctic, processes that Arctic communities will see more of in the coming decades.