One reason is that, due to their location and big tech’s sleight of hand magic trick to convince us all that digital culture is immaterial, most people don’t even know they exist. The project lead, Nicole Starosielski (NYU), came out with an excellent and groundbreaking book (The Undersea Network, 2015) drawing attention to its history, architecture and impacts on social groups and the environment

Simply put, a digital footprint is the record or trail left by the things you do online. Your social media activity, the info on your personal website, your browsing history, your online subscriptions, any photo galleries and videos you’ve uploaded — essentially, anything on the Internet with your name on it.