Postdigital privilege: Notes from the rig

This chapter explores postdigital privilege through the metaphor of the rig, a mining platform or set of machinery used for extractive purposes. Postdigital privilege is positioned as an advantage bestowed on individuals or groups with significant career or life experience with computational systems and involves three phases: first, the opportunity to uncritically engage without significant constraint; the second phase is marked by a critical reconsideration of the relationships between technology and society; and the third phase is one where those with privilege mobilise their privilege to influence the means of discursive or material production. Postdigital privilege means that one isn’t harmed in the process of acting or expressing that liberty; rather, they are lauded, and privilege is compounded as a result. To explore this postdigital privilege, the authors present autoethnographic accounts between digital practitioners working within and outside higher education, in the spaces of digital development, and, more broadly, in the digital contexts of South Africa. The authors note their movements through these three phases of postdigital privilege and discuss the implications for postdigital research and our broader understandings of geopolitical tensions, educational technologies, data sovereignty and security.