Digital Rubbish: A Natural History of Electronics

Index

Access Space, 154

Acland, Charles, 9

actor-network theory, 164n45, 189n44

Adkins, Lisa, 174n4

Adobe, 39

Agarwal, Ravi, and Kishore Wankhade, 134

Akrich, Madeline, 163n29

Alexander, Judd H., 196n10

Alexandrian Library, 107

Amdahl, Gene, 101, 104

Appadurai, Arjun, 190n61

appliances, 80–81, 83, 86

Architectural Record, 52

archives, electronic, 13, 15, 36–37, 98, 105, 107–13, 118–25, 130, 154, 186n1

automation, 12, 14, 47, 49, 60, 62, 63–65, 69, 80–83, 93, 182n18, 189n43

 

Babbage, Charles, 63, 114

Barney, Darin, 171n50, 178n52

Barthes, Roland, 86

Basel Action Network, 69, 94, 129, 139, 141–42, 184n49, 193n17, 194nn38–39

Baudelaire, Charles, 192n7

Baudrillard, Jean, 41, 181n15

Bauman, Zygmunt, 95, 183n39, 185n68

Bell, Daniel, 169n21

Beniger, James, 33, 170nn38–39

Benjamin, Walter, 106, 131–32, 151, 155–56, 161n17, 161n19, 162n21, 162n26, 163n31, 187n14, 192n82, 192n7, 193n24, 196n56; The Arcades Project, 1, 5–9, 11–13, 17, 104–5, 161n19, 165n57, 174n11, 176n35, 182n16, 186nn3–4

Bennett, Jane, 200n40

Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette, and Isabelle Stengers, 85

black box, vi, 62, 70, 154, 159n1

Bolter, J. David, 74, 187n10

Boyle, James, 199n36

Brown, Bill, 161n13, 192n6

bubbles, financial, 49, 55, 68, 174n5, 175n22

Buchli, Victor, 121, 142, 155, 166n68, 191n72

bullets, 104–5

Bush, Vannevar, 36–37, 108–9

Butler, Judith, 8, 9, 161n12, 161n17

 

calculation, 33–36, 38, 49–50, 171nn50–51, 172n57, 175n22

Callon, Michel, 176n25, 190n57

Calvino, Italo, 74, 77–78, 89, 97–98, 180–81n1

cathode-ray tubes, 70, 91, 137, 140, 180n88

Ceruzzi, Paul, 113, 116, 189nn51–53

chemical industry, 25–27, 39

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong, 188n38

circulation, 13, 66–69, 77–78, 86, 136, 139, 166n60, 179n70

Clark, Gordon, and Nigel Thrift, 56

Clarke, Arthur C., 108

CNBC, 55

CNN, 55

Colloredo-Mansfeld, Rudi, 79, 97

commodities, 8, 9, 11, 12, 47, 66, 68, 78–79, 93, 114, 136, 190n61. See also things

compression, 36–37, 108, 172n53

Computer History Museum, 101

computers, 20, 33, 51, 64, 70, 87, 101, 108, 110, 113–17, 124, 133, 171n50, 177n44, 189n53

conservation, 121

consumption, 4–5, 12, 16, 17, 28, 33, 59, 68, 77, 78, 81–83, 96–98, 129, 155, 182n17, 185n65

copper, 3–4, 13, 70, 75, 87, 91, 131, 134–35, 137, 180n88

Cornucopia City. See Packard, Vance

Corzo, Miguel Angel, 110, 187n22

 

Darwin, Charles, 6, 162n24

dead/failed media, v–vii, 2, 5, 6–7, 15, 98, 101–25

Deleuze, Gilles, 166n60

dematerialization, 4, 7, 14, 42, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53–54, 57–61, 69–70, 86, 88, 132, 139, 142, 172n58, 175n15, 180n84, 191n74

Dick, Philip K., 127

Diebold, John, 63–64, 118, 182n18

digital media, vii, 2, 10, 16, 36, 86, 110–11, 140

digitization, 24, 32, 87, 110, 121, 170n38, 178n59

dirt, 17, 89, 96, 143, 155, 183n40, 185n72

discourse, defined, 161n12

disposability, 74, 77–98, 125

dot-com crash, 48–49, 55, 68, 167n5

Douglas, Mary, 183n43

dumps, 127–46; in Africa, 15, 61, 91, 94, 129, 161n11; in China, x, 15, 61, 75, 90, 91, 94, 98, 128, 144–45, 185n61; in India, 15, 90, 94, 134, 185n61; in southeast Asia, 69–70, 91. See also landfills

Dunne, Anthony, 199n30

Dupuy, Jean-Pierre, 180n86

Dyer-Witheford, Nick, 175n14

 

ecologies, 2, 11, 16, 70, 137, 154, 159n3, 199n35

electronic trading, 48–58, 61–64, 69, 175n12, 175–76nn22–23, 178n55

emulation systems, 111, 123–24, 188n26

Engler, Mira, 141

ENIAC, 63

entropy, 33, 171n42

environmentalism, 154, 199n36, 200n38

environmental overload, 38–41

Environmental Protection Agency, 1, 39, 194n28

ephemerality. See disposability; obsolescence

Ernst, Wolfgang, 119, 124, 190n64, 190n69, 191n74, 192n86

exchange, 45, 47–51, 54–58, 63–71, 95–97, 164n45, 178n55, 179n69, 190n61

expenditure, 54–56, 60, 79

“extended producer responsibility,” 91

 

fabs (fabrication facilities), 22, 27, 39, 168nn14–15

failure, 104, 106, 111, 114, 124–25, 162n25, 190n58. See also Museum of E-Failure; obsolescence

Fairchild Semiconductor, 25, 30–31, 39

feral robotic dogs, 199n30

Fisher, Jim, 167n1

Fisher, Melissa, and Greg Downey, 174n5

Fladager, Vernon, 81

Forty, Adrian, 182n27, 191n73

“fossils.” See “natural history” methodology

Foucault, Michel, 6, 166n60

Franklin, Sarah, Celia Lury, and Jackie Stacey, 163n36

Frow, John, 68, 136

Fry's Electronics Superstore, 19, 29

Fuller, Matt, 159n3

Furtherfield, 154

 

Gandy, Matthew, 194n28

Gaonkar, Dilip Parameshwar, and Elizabeth A. Povinelli, 166n60

garbage imaginary, 155–56

Garbage Project, 16

garbology, 16, 17, 127, 131, 140. See also rubbish theory

General Electric, 63

Gitelman, Lisa, 188n38

gold, 91, 129, 131, 134, 137

Google, 48, 172n53, 177n48

Gould, Stephen Jay, 162n24

green electronics, 151–54, 198n23

Greenpeace, 91, 151, 193n17

Greenspan, Alan, 55

Guattari, Felix, 199n35

 

Haggerty, Patrick, 31

Hansen, Karen Tranberg, 193n21

Hansen, Mark, 187n14

Hanssen, Beatrice, 162n21

Haraway, Donna, 1, 8, 12, 20, 45, 50, 57, 70, 164nn45–46, 167

hardware, discarded, vi, 2, 3, 5, 13, 38, 70–71, 74–98, 135, 140, 154

Harvey, David, 173n63, 174n7

Harwood, Graham, and Matsuko Yokokoji, 154

Hawkins, Gay, 82, 150–51, 194n28

Hayles, N. Katherine, 123, 161n16, 170n36, 172n58, 177n41

hazardous waste, vii, 1, 3, 4, 11, 15, 27, 70, 95, 129, 136, 139, 142, 151, 160n9, 183n37, 184n54, 195n47, 197n13. See also pollution

Hetherington, Kevin, 89, 182n17, 185n72, 186n7

Hinte, Ed van, 152

“How Much Information,” 34–36, 66

 

IBM, 25, 104

ICL, 103, 105, 126, 157

information overload, 4, 11, 14, 32–38

information theory, 10, 29, 32–33, 66, 170n36, 171n42

“informed materials,” 85

Intel, 25, 26, 30–31, 39, 48, 84, 117, 169n31, 173n65, 181n10

International Association of Electronics Recyclers, 133, 160n5, 160n8

Internet, 35, 61, 67, 114, 122–23, 154, 177n48

Internet Archive, 122–23

 

Jeremijenko, Natalie, 199n30

 

Keenan, Thomas, 188n38

Kelly, Kevin, 59–61, 65, 67

Kilby, Jack, 169n24

Kittler, Friedrich, 10, 62, 110, 124, 178n59, 187n19, 188n26

Knorr-Cetina, Karin, and Urs Bruegger, 177n38

Koolhaas, Rem, 143

Krauss, Rosalind, 186n4

Krishna, Gopal, 2

 

landfills, 2, 13, 15–16, 88, 89, 90–91, 127, 130–31, 140–42, 151, 154, 194–95n39

Lécuyer, Christophe, and David C. Brock, 167n3

Leonia. See Calvino, Italo

Leslie, Esther, 28, 168n18

London, Bernard, 189n42

Long Now Foundation, 140, 189n43

Loon, Joost Van, and Ida Sabelis, 138, 150–51, 193n9, 195n50, 196nn5–6, 197nn11–12

Lucas, Gavin, 97

Lynch, Kevin, 141, 147, 155

Lyotard, Jean François, 33–34, 185n72

 

Machlup, Fritz, 66–67

MacKenzie, Donald, 116–17, 190n57–59

Manzini, Ezio, 84, 87, 182n21

Marx, Karl, 41, 96–97, 173n65, 174n7, 174–75n11, 176n35

material flows, 26, 79, 94, 175n15, 180n85, 181n6

materiality, vi, 3–4, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 47, 56, 58–59, 79, 88, 117, 131, 132, 139, 150, 151, 153, 165n51, 167n3, 177nn40–41

McLuhan, Marshall, 10, 65, 159n3

media archaeology, 164n41

media studies, 9–10, 17, 171n50

Memex, 37, 108–9

memory, electronic, 101, 105, 107–13, 119, 121, 125, 187n8

metals, vi, 3, 28, 87, 91, 121, 137

microchips, v, vi, 1, 3, 5, 7–8, 12, 20–32, 38–39, 41, 48, 51, 53, 58, 62, 78, 80–81, 86–87, 107, 117, 134–35, 152, 168n12, 169n25

Microsoft, 48, 109

mining, vi, 165n59, 196n10

Miyazaki, Hirokazu, 165n51

mobility, 88–89, 93, 95

Modern Packaging Journal, 85

Molotch, Harvey, 111, 151, 181n10, 194n28

monitors. See screens

Moore, Gordon, 30–31, 117, 169nn29–30

Moore's Law, 27, 30, 116–17, 121, 152, 169n29, 173n65

Moser, Walter, 17, 185n70, 196n7

Mulder, Arjen, 188n26

Museum of E-Failure, 122

museums, 101, 104, 107, 116, 122, 125, 186n1, 186n7

MyLifeBits, 109–10, 120, 188n24, 190n69

 

NASDAQ, 13, 14, 46–56, 59, 61–63, 68, 154, 173n2, 177n48

NASDAQ MarketSite, 46, 52–55, 70

“natural history” methodology, vii, 5–13, 17, 65, 106, 118, 149–50, 153, 161n19, 162n24, 162–63nn27–28

nature, 1, 7, 8–9, 149, 150, 155, 162n21, 163n28, 163n34, 163n36, 194n28, 200n40

Nelson, Ted, 101

Netscape, 39

networks, electronic, 59–62, 64–67, 112, 164n45, 178nn52–53

Neville, Brian, and Johanne Villeneuve, 192n3

“new economy,” defined, 174nn4–5

“new media,” 114, 188n38

New York Stock Exchange, 45, 48, 52, 63–64

Noyce, Robert, 30–31, 169n24

 

O'Brien, Martin, 185n71, 195n44

obsolescence, vii, 2, 4, 7, 10, 15, 17, 78, 82–84, 97, 113–18, 121, 149, 152, 182n15, 186n4, 188n39, 189n42, 189nn44–45

offshoring, 29, 40, 168n14, 169n23, 180n86, 185n61

open source software, 154

Oppenheim, Dennis, 45

Osborne, Peter, 196n56

 

packaging, 77, 80–82, 84–88, 93, 182n24

Packard, Vance, 77, 82, 92, 97–98, 114, 188n39

Parks, Lisa, 70

Pellow, David Naguib, and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, 168n10

performativity, 4, 47–51, 54, 58–59, 63, 69, 84, 161n12, 174n9, 174n11, 175n22, 176n23, 176n35, 177n40

Peters, John Durham, 170n36

Pfeiffer, K. Ludwig, 177n40

Phillips, Bill, 179n74

Pierce, John Robinson, 171n42

plastics, 3, 13, 14, 15, 24, 28, 77, 80–81, 84–88, 93, 94, 121, 151

pollution, v, 1–2, 3, 15, 20, 24, 25, 28, 32, 39, 40, 87, 95, 96, 141, 142

postmodernism, 171n44, 175n11

Proboscis, 199n30

progress, concepts of, 6–7, 9, 12, 104–6, 121, 162n26, 196n56, 197n11

Pryke, Michael, and John Allen, 175n12

Puckett, Jim, 195n47

 

Rabinow, Paul, 188n38

Raley, Rita, 50, 178n53

Rathje, William, 16, 155, 182n24

Raytheon, 25

recycling, viii, 2–3, 15, 16, 41, 61, 69–70, 77, 87, 89–97, 100, 129, 132–42, 150–51, 183n36, 184nn49–50, 185n70, 194n28, 194–95nn38–39

rematerialization, 70, 87, 132, 165n52

repair, 82, 133, 193n12

resonance, defined, 164n46

Reyes, Paul, 180n80

Rogers, Heather, 92–93

RoHS, 160n8, 184n52, 198n22

RSA WEEE Man, 76, 80

rubbish theory, 16–17, 49, 68, 133. See also garbology

Rudwick, Martin, 164n36

Rugemer, Werner, 168n17

 

salvaging, 70, 87, 95, 129–37, 139–40, 143, 183n36, 192–93nn7–8, 193n21

Sans Soleil, 188n25

Scanlan, John, 183n39, 195n52

scatter, 8, 151, 163n31

Schiller, Don, 60, 178n51

Schröter, Jens, 123, 191n78–79

screens, 5, 13, 14, 42, 45–48, 52–59, 62, 68, 70, 73, 78, 177n38

sedimentation, defined, 161n17

Sekula, Alan, 93–94

Serres, Michel, 17, 45, 47, 65, 84, 147, 179n69, 185n72, 189n45

Shanks, Michael, 131; with David Platt and William L. Rathje, 155

Shannon, Claude, and Warren Weaver, 32–33, 167n2

Shiller, Robert, 55, 176n34

shipping, 90–94, 129, 135, 183n47, 184n54, 185n61, 185n64

Siemens, 25

silicon, 3, 20–21, 24, 26–28, 38, 41–42, 84–85

Silicon Fen, 40

Silicon Mountain, 40

Silicon Valley, xii, 1–2, 13, 16, 18–20, 25, 27–28, 29, 38–41, 44, 49, 61, 154, 160n9, 167n6, 172–73n62, 173n65

Simmel, Georg, 172n51, 172n59

Slade, Giles, 183n47, 189n42

Slater, Don, 58; and Andrew Barry, 172n51

“social death,” 79

software, v–vi, 3, 62–63, 154

solvents, 3, 25

spam, 67–68, 179nn78–79

speed, 25–31, 48–50, 55–58, 64, 69, 81, 105, 114, 176n35, 178n55, 187n10, 189n43

St. Mungo's, 154

Steedman, Carolyn, 139

Sterling, Bruce, v, 5, 111–12, 113, 115, 199n28

Sterne, Jonathan, 188n38

Stevens, Brooke, 189n42

Stewart, Kathleen, 166n58

Stiegler, Bernard, 101, 175n22, 188n33

storage, electronic. See archives, electronic; memory, electronic

Strasser, Susan, 183n43

Strathern, Marilyn, 142

Straw, Will, 104, 166n64, 189n48

Superfund sites, 1, 13, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 39, 41, 61, 159n1, 167n6, 172nn61–62

sustainable computing, 151–54, 198nn23–26, 199nn32–33

 

Taussig, Michael, 136–37

temporality, 6–7, 10, 49–51, 57, 81, 93, 101–25, 130–31, 138–39, 155–56, 195n50, 197n11

Texas Instruments, 31, 84

things, 8, 47–49, 58–59, 68, 78–79, 83, 96–98, 106, 111, 127, 131, 136, 139, 142–43, 147–49, 153, 155, 165n58, 166n60, 177n40, 179n70, 185n72, 192n6. See also commodities

Thompson, Michael, 16–17, 68, 133, 174n6

Thrift, Nigel, 56, 176n25

“throwaway society,” 80, 82–84

Toffler, Alvin, 88, 114–15, 118, 190n62

Tomlinson, Bill, 198n23

Toxics Link, 134, 193n17

toxic waste. See hazardous waste; pollution

Turing machine, 63

2007–8 financial crash, 50, 68, 194n29

 

users, 10, 62, 70, 78, 109, 165n47; using up, 74, 78–79, 96–98, 165n47

 

value, 2, 16–17, 47–51, 56–59, 65–69, 89–91, 95–96, 133–36, 174n6, 179n70, 185n70, 195n44

Variable Media Network, 191n80

virtuality, vi, 4, 54, 57, 61, 68, 69, 86, 175n20

 

waste, 2–4, 14, 16–17, 28–32, 47, 49, 51, 61, 67, 68–70, 77, 79, 82, 89, 96, 107, 119, 124–25, 129, 132, 138, 143, 147–50, 155, 183–84n47, 192n3, 194n28, 196n7, 197n13

waste export, 15, 69–70, 78, 91–94, 129, 134–36, 139, 151, 154, 180n86, 184n54

Watkins, Evan, 115

Weaver, Warren, 171n42

Web 2.0, 114, 152

WEEE, 160n8, 184n52, 198n22

Wham-O, 190n62

Wiener, Norbert, 170n36

Willis, Anne-Marie, 180n84

Wired, 59

WISC, 101–2, 104–5

World Resources Institute, 79, 180n85, 181n6

 

Yahoo!, 39

 

Zaloom, Caitlin, 57

Zehle, Soenke, 154, 199–200n36

Zero Dollar Laptop, 154

zero waste, 149–50

Zielinksi, Siegfried, 9–10