We explore the question of how to design technology in an era of constraints. How can we make technology attuned - aware and responsive to its impact?| Branch
In this article, the authors propose to envision technological development guided by social-environmental justice and feminist principles.| Branch
The web holds the promise of connecting people across distance and difference. A browser is a tool designed to make these connections possible by accessing and rendering websites. Yet, reimagining what browsers could or should be is difficult because we are so used to the familiar patterns of tabbed interfaces and ad-driven design that defines […] The post Reimagining the Browser for a Green Web appeared first on Branch.| Branch
The Demonstrator is a publication emerging from the ongoing Designing Regenerative Technologies project run by Dutch public research institute Waag Futurelab. Part of the project’s agenda is dedicated to exploring and amplifying regenerative practices among artists and creative technologists. The Demonstrator shows ways in which computational creativity can meet ecological consciousness, highlighting alternative pathways for […] The post Designing Regenerative Technologies appeared first ...| Branch
Branch launched five years ago, and if you’ve been following along, you may have noticed that issue 9 arrives with a fresh site redesign. This new design builds on valuable feedback we’ve received from you, our community, and some brand-new ideas we’ve been exploring as part of the Green Web Foundation’s Grid-aware Websites project. Digital […] The post Designing a Grid-Aware Branch appeared first on Branch.| Branch
We are at a critical threshold in our computational future. Rapid expansion of data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, and fossil fuel usage are all booming in response to unprecedented private and public investment in digital infrastructure. In 2024, the 1.5°C global warming limit was surpassed across the entire year, and the boundaries of several life-supporting planetary […] The post Letter from the editors appeared first on Branch.| Branch
In early computing, the scribbled cloud icon represented ‘the unknown’ and was used as a placeholder for complexity, somewhere off the page, on someone else’s computer (see A Prehistory of the Cloud). Over time, the metaphor stuck. Today, ‘the cloud’ refers to digital storage and infrastructure, marketed as seamless and weightless. But this metaphor obscures […] The post The Cloud Is Not Above Us appeared first on Branch.| Branch
“Faraway servers conceal the materiality of this electronic brain and depict agility in its responses, whether narrated in scarlet, disembodied voices, or formally prosaic text. The wizardry of computer technology distances users from the environmental costs of each mundane question, humorless pun, silly query, and frivolous command made for self-amusement. Nevertheless, artificiality leaks out of […] The post Sounds of the Grid appeared first on Branch.| Branch
In July 2025, Laís Martins and Francisco Amorim of Intercept Brasil revealed that a single data center planned by TikTok in the Brazilian municipality of Caucaia would consume more electricity each day than 2.2 million Brazilians combined. Behind the euphemisms of ‘innovation ecosystems’ and ‘green infrastructure,’ the report laid bare the anatomy of a new […] The post AI, Climate, and the Global Majority: A Just Transition Toward COP30 and the People’s Summit appeared first on B...| Branch
“One day, when the sky is burdened with tech waste, so we are blind to tell the difference between cosmic bodies, we will look up on a clear night and make a wish upon a burning decommissioned satellite.” Esther Mwema, Cosmology of Internet Infrastructure The cosmos is changing. In 2024, deep in the forests of […] The post Cosmology of Internet Infrastructure: Three Visions to Bridging the Digital Divide appeared first on Branch.| Branch
My concern about the climate crisis – and the hidden cost of our electronics – led me to rethink how I create art. I started teaching myself how to incorporate regenerative energy sources, like solar panels, into my artworks and searched for technologies that support life rather than harm it and that encourage processes which […] The post The Gardening Electricity Handbook appeared first on Branch.| Branch
In this article, Fieke Jansen asks: How can we move from an extractive to a sustainable and equitable model?| Branch