ABSTRACT

The supply chain is not just a metaphor for the production of the modern world, it is the very means through which that world is made material. Through the careful coordination of bodies and materials, it delivers the glut of goods necessary for daily life – even as it ties that life to human rights abuses, violent regimes of extraction, and environmental devastation at unprecedented scales. But while software has long been part of every supply chain, the supply chain is, itself, part of every bit of software. Developers speak of digital production in the language of logistics. They write about algorithms as frequently as distribution networks, worry about just-in-time production as much as engineering, and decorate their tools with illustrations copied from shipping companies or factories. The design of data is thought of the same way as the objects that will access it. This article interrogates the emergence of the supply chain, and the logistical modes of operation it entails, as metaphor for managing the digital distribution of data – adapting approaches from the critical study of logistics in order to re-incorporate the political, social, and environmental attachments that ‘digital supply chains’ attempt to obfuscate. To this end, it considers discourses around power and cultural politics that mirror critiques of traditional logistical infrastructures. Instead of conflict minerals, for example, conflict domains; in place of security concerns around cargo containers, data containers; rather than workers on the factory floor, labourers in a digital network of ‘sweatshops.’ These comparisons reveal differences between traditional supply chains and their digital counterparts – the most troubling of which is their infrastructural instability. With components that can be replaced while retaining their essential shape, those who depend on digital platforms can find themselves open to all sorts of redirected entanglements.

摘要

供应链不仅仅是现代世界生产的隐喻，它也是使世界变得物质化的方式。通过身体和材料的精心协调，它提供了日常生活所需的大量商品——即使它将生活与侵犯人权、暴力开采制度和前所未有的规模环境破坏联系起来。但是，虽然软件长期以来一直是每条供应链的一部分，但供应链本身也是软件每一部分的一部分。开发人员用物流语言谈论数字生产。他们像分销网络一样频繁地写算法，像工程一样担心准时生产，并用从运输公司或工厂复制的插图来装饰他们的工具。数据的设计与访问它的对象的考虑方式相同。本文探讨了供应链的出现及其所需要的物流运作模式，作为管理数据数字分布的隐喻——适应物流批判性研究的方法，以重新纳入政治、社会和环境“数字供应链”试图混淆的附件。为此，它考虑了反映对传统物流基础设施的批评的权力和文化政治的话语。例如，冲突领域而不是冲突矿产；代替货物集装箱、数据集装箱周围的安全问题；不是工厂车间的工人，而是“血汗工厂”数字网络中的工人。' 这些比较揭示了传统供应链与其数字供应链之间的差异——其中最令人不安的是它们的基础设施不稳定。由于组件可以在保持其基本形状的同时进行更换，那些依赖数字平台的人会发现自己容易受到各种重定向的纠缠。