Webinar - The Data Revolution is Now: How Communications Contributes to Cyberinfrastructure Organizing ft. Cassandra Hayes

This webinar was originally presented on April 18, 2022.

CI Compass Senior Personnel and Texas Tech University Associate Professor of Media and Communication Kerk Kee introduced Cassandra Hayes in her presentation "The Data Revolution is Now: How Communications Contributes to Cyberinfrastructure Organizing."

Abstract: The community of cyberinfrastructure (CI) offers a revolutionary vision of the future of technology, research, and knowledge in the United States. CI involves the use of networked supercomputers to enable increased and faster access to computational tools to carry out big data driven research projects, such as climate change visualizations and developments of the COVID-19 vaccine. In this mixed-methods study, I examine the communicative forces that bring together a community of professionals dedicated to supporting and promoting CI in the US. First, through rhetorical analysis of foundational CI documents including expert reports and budget justifications, I examine the rhetorical myth at the heart of the CI community, which carries technocratic ideologies and nationalistic symbols to grant the community its sense of unique identity and sacred purpose. Secondly, through analysis of 40 interviews with CI professionals carried out between 2016-2022, I identify the ritual and riot communicative practices that sustain the CI community. The study sheds light on the essential communicative dimension of infrastructure organizing, with aims of showcasing the importance of the distinct CI community as well as offering insight into the understudied importance of organizational communication to infrastructure development and resilience.

Bio (as of April 18, 2022): Cassie Hayes currently attends Texas Tech University, where she recently defended her dissertation in March 2022 to earn a PhD in Media & Communication. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Arkansas. Her research centers on the communication surrounding institutions, infrastructure, and imperilment, with a focus on supporting communities.

Link to the event: Webinar Event Page

Learn more about Cassandra Hayes.