Infrastructure Intermediaries: A Framework for Digital Infrastructure Research

Abstract

Over the past 2 decades, scholars have turned their attention to digital infrastructures—the data centers, fiber-optic cables, satellites, towers, and interconnection facilities that carry Internet traffic—yet research on these systems remains fragmented across disciplines, institutions, and industries and siloed in specialized domains. This article introduces the concept of the infrastructure intermediary, arguing that media and communication scholars are uniquely positioned to mediate across the epistemic, institutional, and technological boundaries that shape infrastructural systems. Drawing on media and communication studies and adjacent fields, we advance an interdisciplinary framework for researching digital infrastructures in an era of climate disruption, artificial intelligence–related technological change, and regulatory uncertainty. The framework outlines approaches for infrastructure researchers to intervene collaboratively alongside affected communities, policy makers, and industry professionals, positioning scholars as active participants in building more equitable, sustainable, and just infrastructural futures. We close with an inventory of interventions for future research.