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Nicole Starosielski

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Nicole Starosielski
TitleProfessor of Media Studies
Academic background
Education
University of Southern California (BA), University of California, Santa Barbara (MA, PhD)
Doctoral advisorLisa Parks
Academic work
DisciplineScience and Technology Studies, Media Studies, Environmental Studies, Cultural Studies, Geography
Institutions
Main interestsDigital infrastructures, sustainability, globalization, media and technology industries
Notable worksThe Undersea Network (2015), Media Hot and Cold (2021).

Nicole Starosielski is an American author, researcher, and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She conducts research on global internet and media distribution, communications infrastructures ranging from data centers to undersea cables, and media’s environmental and elemental dimensions.[1]

She is a Principal Investigator for the Sustainable Subsea Networks research project, an academic-industry partnership by the SubOptic Foundation and funded by the Internet Society Foundation.[2] As part of this engagement, Starosielski and her team of doctoral students and collaborators developed a catalog of best practices for sustainability in the subsea cable industry.[3][4] This includes the first comprehensive study on the carbon footprint of subsea cable networks and the main factors influencing cable sustainability.[5] In December 2023, the project was featured at the COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, becoming the first time sustainability surrounding submarine cables was addressed in the history of the conference.[6][7]

Her first book, The Undersea Network(2015), and her online project Surfacing are widely cited by journalists around the world covering issues of internet infrastructures, especially in relation to geopolitics, including Russia-US relations, US-China Relations, and growing debates over cybersecurity.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

Academic career

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In 2005, Starosielski graduated from the University of Southern California with Bachelor's degrees in Cinema Television and English. She continued her education at University of California, Santa Barbara, earning both a Master's degree and PhD in Film and Media Studies. After completing her degrees, Starosielski became an Assistant Professor of Communication at Miami University for one year. Following this, she began a career as an Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University Steinhardt where she taught between 2012 and 2023.[16] In the summer of 2023, she joined the faculty of the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, as a full professor.[17] She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Berkeley Center for New Media as a faculty member.[18]

Starosielski is author or co-editor of over thirty articles and five books on media, infrastructure, and environments, including: The Undersea Network (2015), Media Hot and Cold (2021), Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructure (2015), Sustainable Media: Critical Approaches to Media and Environment (2016), Assembly Codes: The Logistics of Media (2021), as well as co-editor of the “Elements” book series at Duke University Press.

The Undersea Network and Surfacing

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In her book The Undersea Network, Starosielski examines the underwater telecommunications cable infrastructure that allows the internet to operate. The book covers the history of the cables, as well as the geography of the underwater network. In addition, the book discusses the cultural, political, and environmental implications of underwater cable infrastructure.[19] The Undersea Network includes an analysis of the contingencies of the internet as well as information network myths and challenges.[20] Starosielski argues that the environments the cables occupy are historical and political realms, where the network and the connections it enables are made possible through deliberate negotiation and manipulation of technology, culture, politics and geography. She traces the cable systems from the ocean depths to their landing zones on beaches in the South Pacific, bringing visibility to the materiality of the wired network that is often taken for granted in our "wireless" world.[19]

Surfacing is a website designed as a companion to Starosielski's book. The project was developed by Nicole Starosielski, Erik Loyer, and Shane Brennan, with additional writing from Jessica Feldman and Anne Pasek.[21] The website shows non-lineal archival photographs along with text and information about various areas and countries that are connected through the Pacific's underwater cable network. Surfacing also discusses the history of the underwater cable network and some of the modern day challenges of the system.[22]

Works

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  • "Things & Movies: DVD Store Culture in Fiji.” (2010) [23]
  • "‘Movements that are Drawn’: A History of Environmental Animation from The Lorax to FernGully to Avatar." (2011)[24]
  • "Beaches, Fields, and other Network Environments." (2011)[16]
  • "Critical Nodes, Cultural Networks: Re-mapping Guam’s Cable Infrastructure.” (2012) [16]
  • "Warning: Do Not Dig’: Negotiating the Visibility of Critical Infrastructures." (2012) [25]
  • "Beyond Fluidity: A Cultural History of Cinema under Water.” (2012) [16]
  • "Network Archaeology" with Braxton Soderman and Cris Cheek. (2013)[26]
  • "Signal Tracks." (2014)[16]
  • "The Materiality of Media Heat." (2014)[27]
  • Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures (2015) [16]
  • The Undersea Network (2015) OCLC 891123817
  • "In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables." (2019) [28]

References

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  1. ^ "Nicole Starosielski - Department of Film & Media UC Berkeley". filmmedia.berkeley.edu. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "About". Sustainable Subsea Networks. Sustainable Subsea Networks. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "Report on Best Practices in Subsea Telecommunications Cable Sustainability". CRASSH. Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  4. ^ "SubOptic Foundation publishes Sustainable Subsea Networks Report". Total Telecom. Total Telecom. January 23, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  5. ^ "How to Build Sustainable Subsea Cable Networks". Interconnections - The Equinix Blog. Equinix. January 18, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. ^ "The Next Generation of Internet Sustainability—and the URAP Students Making it Happen". Letters & Science. University of California, Berkeley. March 8, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  7. ^ "Research" (PDF). Internet Society Foundation. Internet Society Foundation. March 1, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  8. ^ "Undersea Cables, China and Espionage: Fiber Optic Battles Beneath the Ocean". WBUR. WBUR. May 22, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  9. ^ "What Happens If Russia Attacks Undersea Internet Cables". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Loney, Dan; Meyer, Robert; Starosielski, Nicole. "Managing Risks for the World's Undersea Cable Network". Knowledge@Wharton. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  11. ^ Schreck, Carl (June 12, 2018). "Explainer: How Vulnerable Are Undersea Cables That U.S. Says Russia Is Tracking?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  12. ^ Main, Douglas (April 2, 2015). "Undersea Cables Transport 99 Percent of International Data". Newsweek. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  13. ^ Collins, Keith (October 27, 2015). "Underwater internet cables could be the next target in tech warfare". Quartz. Archived from the original on October 28, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  14. ^ "Google and Facebook turn their backs on undersea cable to China". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. February 6, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  15. ^ "Cyber defense across the ocean floor: The geopolitics of submarine cable security". Atlantic Council. Atlantic Council. September 13, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Nicole Starosielski – Faculty Bio". research.steinhardt.nyu.edu. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  17. ^ "Nicole Starosielski joins the Department of Film & Media as Full Professor". Arts & Humanities. University of California, Berkeley. August 2, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  18. ^ "Nicole Starosielski Joins BCNM". Berkeley Center for New Media. University of California, Berkeley. July 6, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  19. ^ a b "The Undersea Network". Duke University Press. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  20. ^ "The Undersea Network review". cconlinejournal.org. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  21. ^ "Surfacing". www.surfacing.in. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  22. ^ Maréchal, Nathalie. "Nicole Starosielski, The Undersea Network Book Review". International Journal of Communication. Archived from the original on February 21, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  23. ^ Starosielski, Nicole (2010). "Things & Movies: DVD Store Culture in Fiji". Media Fields Journal. 1 (1).
  24. ^ Starosielski, Nicole (February 1, 2011). "'Movements that are drawn': A history of environmental animation from The Lorax to FernGully to Avatar". International Communication Gazette. 73 (1–2): 145–163. doi:10.1177/1748048510386746. ISSN 1748-0485. S2CID 144108423.
  25. ^ Starosielski, Nicole (April 1, 2012). "Warning: Do Not Dig': Negotiating the Visibility of Critical Infrastructures". Journal of Visual Culture. 11 (1): 38–57. doi:10.1177/1470412911430465. ISSN 1470-4129.
  26. ^ "AMODERN 2: NETWORK ARCHAEOLOGY". Amodern. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  27. ^ Starosielski, Nicole (2014). "The Materiality of Media Heat". International Journal of Communication. 8: 5. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  28. ^ Starosielski, Nicole. "In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables". The Conversation. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
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