Data Centers Have a New PR Plan: Your Kid’s Field Trip
Data center industry groups are using educational materials and school outreach to improve their public image amid growing community pushback. Critics argue this is a form of corporate propaganda similar to tactics used by the tobacco and oil industries.
Why it matters
This illustrates the tension between critical infrastructure expansion and local community concerns, and how corporations attempt to influence public perception through education.
The nonprofit 7x24 Exchange International wants to promote data centers, which they believe are "mission critical” infrastructure. As part of this work, the group recommends a children’s story, “What is a Data Center?,” which follows a honey badger named Honey who gets a guided tour of a data center from a worker named Oliver. Oliver explains that the job of data center employees is to make sure that the “functions supported by the data center” are available to anybody, “no matter what time it is.”
"Like when my mom shops online late at night because my dad is sleeping and won't know about it?" Honey asks.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in