Towards informational sustainability: Grasping the co-productionist nature of digitalization and sustainability (Weizenbaum Short Project)

The Weizenbaum Short Project Towards informational sustainability: Grasping the co-productionist nature of digitalization and sustainability explored the connections between digitalization and sustainability. By shedding light on the socio-material infrastructures that sustain digital societies, the concept of informational sustainability calls for attention to the long-term public value of automation technologies such as AI by shifting the discussion from questions of intelligence to questions of usefulness. The concept problematizes existing digital information and knowledge infrastructures, advocates for individual and collective informational self-determination, and interrogates the conditions under which certain forms of digital infrastructures do - or do not - become stabilized. This rethinking of how we design, maintain, and repair digital information and knowledge infrastructures aims to encourage discussion in both academic and public spheres. As part of the project, two interdisciplinary workshops and a public event were conducted.