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

该奖项支持圣克鲁斯大学加州博士生阿利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。 信息技术和贸易经常被提议作为许多农村北极社区经济挑战的解决方案。 这项研究有可能使其他北极社区了解信息技术作为北方实现经济自给自足的一种方法所产生的社会影响。 该研究项目审查了私营和公共实体为使冰岛成为“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-而正在进行的一系列努力。通过建立数据中心、创办初创企业和通过“信息友好型”立法，冰岛人希望开拓出一个国家利基市场，并将全球数据吸引到冰岛的基础设施中。该项目将探讨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和主权、身份和地方建设并列，是对北极这些进程的新看法，北极社区将在未来几十年看到更多的进程。

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.