[New Module]

Unboxing Internet Infrastructures

The environmental costs of the internet and what you can do about it

About the Project

Around 45% of the world’s internet users are below the age of 25. Young people are increasingly living their lives in the digital domain, a trend which was exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic. As education, entertainment, social life and commerce has moved to the digital domain, youth are spending more than 6 hours online. According to UNICEF, an estimated 73% of individuals aged 15-24 years in the Asia-Pacific region used the internet in 2022. Digital adoption and internet penetration also increased rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region.

As young individuals are becoming the biggest group in the infosphere, it becomes imperative to empower them with the knowledge and skills to understand how internet infrastructures work and the environmental costs of the internet to enable the next generation of volunteers to engage in internet governance mechanisms. This module aims to unbox the complexity of the knowledge around internet infrastructures and energy consumption and make it accessible to young non-technical audiences with the aim to build knowledge and capacity, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region.

Unboxing internet infrastructures and their environmental costs

The project tackles the critical but often overlooked issue of the environmental costs of diverse layers of internet infrastructures. The final goal of this project is to unbox the complexity of the knowledge around internet infrastructures and energy consumption and make it accessible to young non- technical audiences to enable their participation in internet governance mechanisms.

Active youth engagement for greener internet solutions

The project seeks to bring in youth actively engaged in environmental questions to participate in and contribute their expertise to internet governance mechanisms. By creating awareness, facilitating engagement, and capacity building among youth, this project enables them to actively participate in internet governance, advocating for sustainability and also innovate greener internet solutions.

Open- source interactive educational resources for youth

Creating an open-source educational resource that caters to young audiences aged between 13-21. An interactive multimedia toolkit, consisting of quizzes, activities, and reflective exercises, will be the key output of this project, supplemented by blogs and additional resources hosted in this space.

Project Activities

01.

Research

Scoping and Research involving a thorough literature review of internet infrastructures and their ecological costs.

02.

Build

Building interactive worksheets with reflective exercise, self-explanatory activities, call to action and practical steps for youth to become conscious users of the internet.

03.

Collaborate

Collaborating with youth organisations and educator networks in the APAC region to disseminate the project to relevant audiences by translating the toolkit in regional languages and conducting workshops for youth and educators.

04.

Presenting key insights at global conferences and international platforms to popularise the content among academics, educators, community facilitators and other stakeholders.

05.

Create

Creating a virtual repository which houses the toolkit, facilitator guide, learning materials, blogs, and other resources including articles, books, videos and multimedia resources.