As part of the RED project, we developed a tool called InfraReveal. It tracks and visualizes the digital infrastructure that powers educational technology. By analyzing the metadata attached to data packets—those tiny bits of data that zip across the internet—we can see which companies are involved and how these services are interconnected. In the article, Epistemologies of data visualisations: on producing certainties, geographies and digitalities in critical educational research, we critically examine our own development and use of InfraReveal in relation to three themes:

The Illusion of Certainty

Data visualizations like those in InfraReveal can give a sense of certainty. But this clarity can sometimes mask the messiness of the underlying data. We need to remember that visualizations are simplifications, and they can hide the complexities and uncertainties of the real world. In our work, we’ve chosen to reflect on these uncertainties, reminding users that what they see is a representation, not the full picture

Mapping Our World

Maps are a common feature in data visualizations, but they come with their own set of stories and biases. They can emphasize certain geographies and reinscribe power hierarchies, shaping our understanding of the world. With InfraReveal, we’ve had to balance the familiar with the critical, using traditional maps while trying to highlight global data inequalities.

The Challenge of Participation

Creating tools like InfraReveal is a collaborative effort. However, participation varies across different contexts. What works in one place may not in another, as local norms and infrastructures influence the use and understanding of these technologies. We’ve tried to navigate these differences, ensuring our visualizations resonate with diverse audiences.

In the end, data visualizations are not just about presenting information; they’re about engaging with the world. By understanding the stories they tell, we can foster a more nuanced and inclusive approach to interpreting the digital landscape of education. With InfraReveal, we’re striving to reveal the underlying data practices in education and question the inequalities they may perpetuate. It’s a balancing act of being critical and reflexive, using these tools to uncover new insights while acknowledging their limitations. Read more about our journey here…

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In many ways the digital infrastructure of schooling is no different. If we want to understand how it works, we need to shine a light on what is going on under the surface. This might start with getting the keys to locked rooms to look at the physical networking equipment in a school, but the globally distributed nature of many digital services means that such local investigations may fall short. Luckily, the verbose record keeping nature of the digital world means that we can go a long way to revealing the digital infrastructure of schooling from the nearest computer.

The world of digital networks is largely governed by the Internet Protocol (IP). This is a set of rules that defines how files can be broken up into thousands of tiny data packets and exchanged between machines anywhere in the world. Complex systems of switches and routers send each packet to its destination where it is joined with others to reconstitute the original file. For this to work, each packet must be clearly labeled with its source and destination addresses along with a description of what kind of data it is and how it should be interpreted by the receiving machine. Along the way, each piece of networking equipment that a packet meets can be identified and its physical location along with who owns it can be uncovered. It is this kind of verbose record keeping that means that the layers under the surface of the digital infrastructure immediately visible in schools can be revealed.

To reveal the characteristics of the infrastructure that supports digital technologies in schools, researchers can make use of the concepts and tools of fields like network architecture, management, and security. These fields have well established ways of revealing and understanding the innerworkings of digital infrastructure that can be repurposed. In our work to understand the different actors and technologies underlying popular cloud-based services used in schools, we have been using a tool called packet analysis to reveal the records or meta-data attached to data packets when school services are used.

Making use of packet analysis techniques, we have been able to gain insights into the large number of companies providing solutions such as data storage, computation, identification control, and security while remaining largely unknown to the users of a digital service. To reveal these infrastructures in an understandable way, we have been using a range of visualization techniques such as frequency charts and alluvial diagrams but have found heat maps to be particularly useful. Using a world map, we can plot the location with which data is exchanged, visualize the amount, and identify the company and type of solution provided. This makes it relatively easy to see the number of companies and solutions involved in providing a seemingly cohesive digital service for schools such as Canvas or ClassDojo. In this way, we can shine a light behind the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) that teachers and students use and reveal the digital infrastructures at work.

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By contrast, at the senior high school level, instruction for all students has been delivered online. For this level, learning management systems were already commonplace before the crisis with these platforms acting as centres of coordination for classroom activities. Moving to distance education, these platforms and the content on them continue to take a key role, but in many ways, it is video-conferencing platforms that have become substitutes for the classroom. In this sense, the model for senior high school instruction centered around face-to-face lessons complimented by self-study with textbooks and other material resources has not dramatically changed for most subject areas without practical moments.

2 – Has the Covid-19 crisis changed the data policies in education in your country?
As a European Union member, Sweden has a relatively strong data privacy protection regime nationally that follows the General Data Protection Regulation. However, the school system can be characterised as highly decentralized and as such, responsibility for data policy specific for schooling is largely decided at the level of municipalities, not-for profit schools and commercial school companies. Before the crisis, several influential voices called for better national oversight of the relationship between schools and commercial internet platform providers, but this discussion has been somewhat quieted. As is the case in many countries, the crisis in Sweden engendered what can be described as ‘fast policy’ making with examples of local schooling providers rapidly setting rules and guidelines for the use of new digital platforms while signing new contracts with commercial providers to increase the capacity of their infrastructure.

3 – How have remote emergency education provisions (e.g. emergency technological infrastructures, hardware, software, home visits, other new practices) affected teachers and students from marginalized populations in your country? Which technological infrastructure do they have access to?
Even in Sweden with over 90% of the population with broadband internet access, issues of marginalization exist. At the level of technical access, many students have access to school provided laptops or tablets, but not all do and not all have access to a fast internet connection. Issues of hardware access and connection have been present in northern rural areas of the country, but the lack of school closures for younger children has limited the effects.

Beyond technical access, other issues of marginalization have been reported in the media. In particular, the issue of students lacking a study space despite internet access has been raised in relation to some communities in the inner suburbs of the large cities. Contrary to the general norm in Sweden, some students in these areas live in multi-generation family arrangements and often in relatively small apartments. In response, some senior high schools have opened spaces for those students who lack a place to do their schoolwork.

4 – Would you speak of a “pandemics pedagogy” (Williamson et al, 2020) in your country? If there is one, which features does it have?
If there is such a thing as a “pandemics pedagogy” in Sweden it would be distinctly different in primary and junior schools to senior high schools. While schools for younger children have maintained some degree of normalcy by staying open, they have adapted to having large numbers of children kept home for showing symptoms of illness. At the same time, teachers have been able to assume that parents can create accounts on the many instructional content platforms that have been offering free access during the crisis. This may have produced a kind of parallel semi-formal pedagogy.

By contrast, a “pandemics pedagogy” of senior high school in Sweden would likely imply a rather traditional instructional approach, perhaps more traditional than that before the crisis. Synchronous video-based sessions have become a dominant mode of instruction as they allow traditional teaching to be digitized with relatively little adaptation. This is an understandable choice given the available infrastructure in Sweden and the time constraints associated with the rapid switch to distance education. However, synchronous video can be rather limiting in terms of the types of instructional activities it supports, potentially leading to more traditional lecture style teaching.

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