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Instead of thinking cable and internet as media infrastructures, labour is a vital element in media infrastructure. Edwards stated that “not only hardware but organization… are required for a system to be an infrastructure” (2003, p. 187). More explicitly, “infrastructure shapes and is shaped by the conventions of a community of practices” (Star, 2012, p. 381). And this is what Parks and Starosielski called “relationality”. And labour, as Parks and Starosielski argued, provides support, repair and maintenance of a systematic infrastructure, which is to say, the operation of media infrastructure depends on the social practices of labour (2015, p. 12). In the case of mobile food delivery network, the daily routine of deliverymen is a kind of social practice that links different groups including staffs working for the platform, food store owners, consumers, and themselves into a community or in another word, social organization. Ruhleder and Star have defined several characteristics of infrastructure and some of them would be used in the analysis.

The first characteristic of infrastructure is embeddedness. The work of deliverymen is definitely in the mobile food delivery network and cannot be distinguished. Within the whole media infrastructure, it is unnecessary to distinguish deliverymen with other groups since they are coordinated to operate in the infrastructure. In fact, if putting it into a larger scale, deliverymen also belong to different social, economic and political relationship. There is an article illustrating the situation of deliverymen in the area of political economy (link is here). There are three kinds of delivery mode: the platforms hire men to deliver food; the platform coordinate with logistics companies and the latter hire deliverymen; the last modes is “crowdsourcing” that free labour picks up the delivery work. The former two fit the labour law and receive the surveillance of government while the latter is in the blank area of Chinese labour law. The complex relationship with larger political economy is represented by the social practices of deliverymen.

Transparency is another feature in the definition of infrastructure. In the case of mobile food delivery network, deliverymen is a special being. It is visible, of course, since all consumers would receive their food from deliverymen, however, they are transparent to use. There is no step for consumers to do for deliverymen, it is automatic in consumers’ eyes. And only the situation of breaking down, being late as an example, would consumers give attention onto them.

The transparency comes from the naturalization of participation. People are members within the system of infrastructure rather than strangers thus they overlook the infrastructure by seeing it as natural. Receiving food from deliverymen is a natural process for delivery app users. There is no consideration and thinking to be needed in terms of deliverymen. People focus on picking restaurants and particular food rather than deliverymen. In fact, the work of deliverymen is hidden by the estimating time for arriving. They become the statistics and lose the recognition from consumers. And the fact that consumers cannot choose deliverymen just promotes the naturalization.

Visual aesthetics has always been one of the most essential components in interior design as spectators often search for the surprising elements that make the space stand out. In recent years, however, the proper functions that aim to make an architecture comfortable to be in, hence improving the physical and mental state for its users, become more and more popular. As Scott Fellows suggests in his article Genuine Comfort, the space within an architecture provides the primary sense of comfort because the people who use it long-term spend greater part of their time inside the building. Even though the definition of comfort varies from person to person, there are universal attributes that we all agree to find in a good architecture. These attributes could be visual like the lightings and colors of the space; they could also be sensual like the scents and sounds. But what matters even more is the proportion of a room. According to Fellows, “Walking into a well-proportioned room, you become more centered and relaxed”. In order to achieve the purpose of being visually pleasing especially in photography as people view designed objects in a two-dimensional platforms like instagram, designers sometimes overlook the actual needs for people who use the space. For example, a spatial and minimalistic room with high ceilings is not always comfortable to live in because one may find him/herself lonely and isolated without reliable support in such vast space. In this case, the photos of the room could look stunning, the in-person experience might suggest otherwise. Moreover, Fellows points out that everything in a room must have a purpose that contributes to the harmony of the entire space. Indeed, a lot of the times designers emphasize the decorative quality over functionality of furniture, wasting space and money that could be used towards a better user experience. With no doubt, giant centerpieces might gain attention at first sight and create the “wow” factors in a room. Imagine how long would it take to grow tired of them because they take up too much space and are simply useless. These large objects break the balance and harmony of the room and generate unwanted clusters that are difficult to get rid of in long run. Architecture, as they were initially built, serves the purpose of a shelter against different environmental conditions where people can rest comfortably, therefore the physical well-being is the priority. Fellows believes that contemporary designs should also consider the emotional needs of people in this day and age. After all, the physical and mental well-being are not mutually exclusive: one can enhance the other greatly. Interior design is one step closer to accomplish such goal. A room filled with easy-to-use and comfortable furnitures could potentially be a container of good memories. While physical experience might be temporary, the emotional response brought by good designs lasts longer as it exists in our minds. In this sense, the connection between physical and mental well-being present an obvious and beneficial dynamics in interior design. Being one of the emerging concepts in architecture and interior, biophilic design illustrates Fellow’s ideas precisely. By introducing plants, water and other natural elements into the living and working space, biophilic designers create places where people could interact with nature without having to travel a long way. Surrounding oneself with plants, as scientific evidence suggest, can make one energetic and healthy, which in turn, improves the efficiency and. That is the reason why more and more workspaces adopted biophilc design in the past few years as it caters to the situation faced by the residents in urban settings. The space bombarded with people and busy works could be as depressing as it sounds and biophilic design takes physical and mental well-beings into account and provides gateways for people to relax and recharge

  In Signal Traffic, it is pointed out that “large scale infrastructure are core to the experience of modernity”, and “to be modern is to live within and by means of infrastructures.” I think this point is very well demonstrated by the ubiquitous application of 4G technology in our daily life. When it first came into being, many people thought that it was not really necessary for thins new thing to become a part of our daily life, few of us could really imagine the huge changes it later on brought to almost every aspect of our life.

  All those changes brought by 4G technology can be generalized into one thing: things that I could not do on my cell phone can now be done very conveniently on my phone. For example, 4G enables me to watch any videos that I see on social media anytime when I want, as long as I am at somewhere where the signal is good enough. If I want to call someone, I can choose to use the voice call function WeChat, or I can facetime with someone and all I need is my iPhone, while in the past, video chat is better done on computers because the network speed is faster to ensure that the image on screen would not freeze a lot. Many things that we need to do are no longer confined by the place we are in. No more “save it for later” or “wait till I get to somewhere with network”. The technology makes people’s life much more convenient and provides people a more modern way of life that has fewer limits and confines.

  In China, the widespread use of online payment methods like WeChat pay and Alipay also are the products of 4G technology. I remember when I was in senior high school about 6 years ago, online payment was not that ubiquitous in China but beginning from the time when I was in college, I gradually saw the QR code for online payment literally everywhere, even at wet markets or from street vendors who I suppose were not familiar with this newly-appeared technology. The development of online payment is so wild that today, it is very possible that people may find that they have not been using paper money or swiping a credit card for a very long time. They just suddenly disappeared in our life one day without us noticing their leaving because we have become so used to the convenience brought by online payment methods. The maturely-developed 4G technology in China as a kind of infrastructure makes online payment a universal phenomenon. Going out without taking one’s wallet releases some worries or burdens one may have and it also represents a more modern way of life : one can go anywhere as long as a cell phone is with him or her.

  We are now deeply connected with various kinds of infrastructures in our life in a way that perhaps we may not notice enough, but if one day those infrastructures fail or break down, they become all too “visible” when they take away all the conveniences in our present modern life.

Beidou Satellite Navigation System (BDS) is a satellite navigation system independently developed by China. After three generations of research and construction, the Beidou program has launched about 60 satellites, of which 30 satellites serve as the Beidou-3 global navigation system to provide global users with all-weather, all-time high-precision positioning, navigation, and timing services.

BDS can be regarded as China’s masterpiece in the field of information infrastructure. At the 2020 China International Telecommunications Exhibition Main Forum, Cheng Jie, an expert from China Mobile’s Shanghai Industrial Research Institute, said that Beidou system infrastructure will become an important foothold for new infrastructure. Beidou system is like a pair of invisible big hands in China’s information infrastructure, constructing China’s tiandi network society.

BDS complies with the standard definition of modern infrastructure. It is a kind of “underlying base or foundation, especially for a system”. At the same time, it is also a highly integrated basic facilities needed for the functioning of a community or society. The use of BDS in various information fields makes it perfectly in line with what Edwards said about infrastructure in Infrastructure and Modernity.

So, can its use-value be analyzed in multi-scales? Below I try to find out the role of bds on the macro, meso, and micro levels and make some prospects for its future development.

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BDS on the mesoscale: large technological system

BDS like ARPA and other systems is used as a large-scale technological system in the military field. The military purpose of Beidou at the beginning of its birth was even more obvious. At the same time, Beidou is also widely used in agriculture, forestry, and fishery, such as the precision operation of drones to spread pesticides, the positioning of offshore fishing boats, and the real-time information of buses. BDS is advancing China’s modernization, and modernization, in turn, also promotes the development of science and technology in the direction people hope.

Because of the existence of the Beidou system that people’s requirements for information speed continue to increase. At the same time, human society has become increasingly dependent on technology. During this year’s epidemic, the use of BDS in the health code system further improved the detection accuracy and laid the foundation for its further development in the field of social surveillance. This interweaving of social determinism and technological determinism constitutes the powerful role of Beidou in the field of middle view.

BDS on the microscale: convenience of people

Since the China National Space Administration is a national institution, we cannot say that its interest or purpose orientation is very different. But we can also analyze it from the perspective of “user heuristic”. The general public’s use of BDS is concentrated in the navigation field; from a macro perspective, the construction of the Beidou system has fully considered people’s requirements for “positioning”.

First of all, due to the development of globalization, people are more concerned about their position and hope to record their lives through their position. For example, the location function of WeChat Pengyouquan, as well as the address information that is automatically compiled by mobile phones when taking photos, are all manifestations of people’s greater concern for locations. At the same time, the fast-paced modern life makes people hope to achieve high efficiency in transportation, so navigation software has become a piece of indispensable mobile phone equipment, and the real-time location of the delivery staff in the food delivery field also reflects this demand. Besides, there are a large number of positioning devices used for safety protection and conveniences, such as anti-lost positioning watches for children and the elderly. BDS in the civilian field has been continuously developed based on these aspects.

BDS on the macroscale: collaboration and control problem

At a larger latitude, we need to move the Beidou system to a larger time and space. In terms of time, Beidou is still in the growth stage, and the high-priced chips make it currently unable to directly compete with GPS. In the military field, China uses BDS to prevent information leakage, but in the civilian field, they pursue cooperation with GPS rather than independence. In terms of space, whether it will form a control problem, it may be more like a solution for China, making the country more manageable The people, improve the overall strategic awareness.

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From the analysis of the BDS, it can be seen that technology and society are closely related to each other and promote each other. Whether technology determines society or society determines technology, it is a fact that is correct in a certain dimension and within a certain period. Today in Beidou, we see more of its role as an infrastructure in shaping China’s smart information city. How society affects his subsequent development depends on time to give us the answer.

What is “infrastructure”, it used to refer to fixed facilities such as air bases, but today it refers to any essential and widely shared human-constructed resource. When talking about infrastructure, we always think about transportation, electrical power or water supply, because they are the basic needs for our daily life.  No matter electrical power or water supply, it connected human with the nature so human today can control time and space. With the development of network, mobile phone become the necessity in our life, especially in China. Mobile phone is not just a tool for communication, but a multi-tool for everyday life. People use mobile phone to pay for everything instead of card or cash. It challenged some old infrastructures such as banks. Besides, people use mobile phones to watch news and TV shows. Therefore, newspapers and magazines are dying, and the printing industry is severely threatened by high technology.

What’s behind the mobile phone is cellular network. Mobile phone receives and makes calls through cell site or transmitting tower. Cellular network is used by the mobile phone operator such as China Telecom and China Mobile. Because each cell site has different range, some transmitting towers build in cities, but others may build in the suburban areas. Receiving messages and calls are basic elements for mobile phone, but for many people, the internet connection is even more important. For example, in some suburban areas or on the plane, there’s no signal, which means no service to call or send messages, but people can connect with wifi to use internet. In China, most people use WeChat to send messages and call, because it’s free and more convenient. When we meet new people, we add them on WeChat instead of add their phone numbers. Mobile internet infrastructure not only connects the space and time, but also expend them. For example, if I only use iPhone to call or message someone, it only creates the connection between me and the person I’m calling. However, the internet gives me more choices to connect with the person. I can start a video call so I can not only hear that person’s voice, but also see him visually. I can also choose group call by speaking to multiply friends virtually. We may live in different countries and have different time zones, but the internet brings people together in the same virtual space and breaks the limitations of space and time. Just as Edwards says “infrastructures possess the power to shape human time, shaping the preconditions under which we experience time’s structure and its passage.”

Although some people may argue that technology or infrastructure changes the society, I believe that  the society, people’s needs drive infrastructures to develop. In China, mobile phone develops better than computers or laptops because many people from suburban areas or low-income workers can’t afford the computer. The society drives those big companies or organizations to build more cell site, and develop more applications for mobile phone instead of for computers.

Speaking of informal street food, they could be considered as the soul of a city, “yanhuoqi(烟火气)” preserved in the fast pace of life. Many people keep coming because of the low prices, while others would search for good food in street food stalls because they would keep some of their local cuisines, which are the secret recipes. 

Nowadays, there are lots of street food stalls that have been transferred into formal food trucks. They sell the food that comes from the companies that signed agreements with the government and their menus are fixed. This would lead to a problem that if the food trucks sell the same things that could be bought at convenience stores, how would they survive in the competition with the ever-increasing convenience stores in the big cities?

Firstly, the food categories of the convenience stores are much more than the food trucks on the street. Baozi, mantou and jianbing could also be found in convenience stores. In the meantime, the food in the convenience stores actually looks more formal and clean than the food sold in the food trucks. The food price of formal food trucks would not be as cheap as the price of informal street food. This would make the competitiveness of the price would loose during the battle between the food trucks and the convenience stores.

Secondly, as convenience stores become more common, there is even a new breed of convenience store aficionados. They don’t just think of convenience stores as little canteens to solve their eating problems, they think of exploring convenience stores as a fun activity. It’s not that different from clocking in hot spots and web celebrity restaurants. On Weibo, there are even a lot of high-quality strategies made by consumers, which are specialized in punching convenience stores and checking the delicious food in convenience stores. However, those formalized street food trucks are not that attractive to the consumers, because the food there is not attractive enough for young people to post photos on their social media.

Moreover, young people who are born after the strict city management would no longer experience the culture of informal street food, they are the loyal consumers of the convenience stores, which means there would not be any nostalgia if the street food is completely formalized or disappear eventually.

In conclusion, if the government considers city management is a one-size-fits-all approach, that would be completely lazy. It is of great significance to protect the diversity of street food and help the urban poor to solve the problems of finding clean food sources and provide them with suitable places to set up a street food stall. So that the urban poor will survive from the trend of the convenience stores.