Digitization of Ecology and Ecologization of Media. Going Beyond ICT Environmental Impact

Abstract

Digital media and the environment pose some of the most urgent social issues of our time. Nonetheless, the relationship between them is often neglected and merely addressed in terms of impact. This scenario frames these topics in a chiastic relation, thus enquiring two processes: the digitization of ecology (both as a science and as a socio-political practice) and the ecologization of digital media (both in the sense of their greening and of their evolution into mediascapes). On one hand, by drawing on the Ecology of Information Infrastructures and the Actor-Network Theory approaches, environmental issues will be considered as a matter of digital communication and participation. On the other hand, the troubles of digital societies will be addressed from an environmental perspective, adopting the SCOT approach, and embracing the Media Ecology tradition to outline and call for digital sustainability strategies.