When I departed on United Airlines' Island Hopper (UA133) from Guam to Honolulu (with stops in Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kwajalein, and Majuro) for field research on digital infrastructure in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), we were forced to return to Guam due to malfunctioning landing gear.

Instead of being scared, concerned, or outraged, most just rolled their eyes with a telling 'not again' look on their faces. I was told that the aircraft on that route are the last ones to be replaced in the United fleet and slamming aircraft onto very short runways does the rest - making the Island Hopper a shaky lifeline for communities in the region.

There is so much to tell that it could fill hundreds of pages already, and perhaps someday it will, but this terrifying experience led to incredible events that highlight a perspective that is frequently overlooked in expert discourses on digital infrastructure.

Disembarking the aircraft in a rush, I forgot my notebook with approximately two months of field notes in the seat pocket. I only realised this two islands further and 1,600 km later, in Pohnpei. I immediately approached one of the flight attendants, who wrote a phone number for Guam United Baggage Services on a napkin and added an email address that might or might not work. Once I arrived on the Majuro Atoll, after about 24 hours between airports and aircraft, I called the number using a VoIP service. The connection was terrible, but they confirmed they had found my notebook.

Now, it was only a matter of obtaining it along my route. The solution the woman in Guam came up with was putting it on the next Island Hopper with a stop in Majuro, where I could retrieve it. At the airport the next day, I witnessed cooler after cooler of fresh fish for family members in the US being wrapped in dedicated United bags by passengers boarding UA133. The sheer amazement at that scene distracted me from the fact that the electronic tag number for my notebook did not get me very far.

After four hours of waiting, only one box addressed to the United supervisor in Majuro remained. Once opened, it revealed my notebook with months of work inside. If it hadn't been for the cabin crew (who stayed at the same hotel in Majuro), the woman working at United Baggage Services in Guam, the ground staff in Majuro, and the fact that they knew each other, I would never have been able to retrieve my notebook. The online form I filled in with United still states that my item could not be found.

This made me realise that states like the RMI can invest billions of dollars into telecom towers only for them to be eaten away by the salt in the air; airlines can rotate new aircraft in to be slammed on short runways; and visitors can spend big on VoIP credits, but the network of people is what makes these conventional infrastructures work.

In this sense, the Western perspective on (digital) infrastructure misses the point: outside of its limited regional context, the idea of substituting interpersonal networks with impersonal data networks through the development of infrastructures does not work. Instead, it is the relational infrastructure that is the bedrock, which digital infrastructures must accommodate, build upon, and learn from.

As the current President of the RMI, Hilda C. Heine, wrote in 2001 regarding education:

"To critically evaluate Pacific education systems, we have to decide on criteria to judge them by. That is, let us develop our own and create some regional standards, and integrate Western standards where appropriate. Western standards are based on vastly different lives and expectations and resource levels; let us define our own" (Heine, 2021, p. 127).

When I departed on United Airlines' Island Hopper (UA133) from Guam to Honolulu (with stops in Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kwajalein, and Majuro) for field research on digital infrastructure in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), we were forced to return to Guam due to malfunctioning landing gear.

Instead of being scared, concerned, or outraged, most just rolled their eyes with a telling 'not again' look on their faces. I was told that the aircraft on that route are the last ones to be replaced in the United fleet and slamming aircraft onto very short runways does the rest - making the Island Hopper a shaky lifeline for communities in the region.

There is so much to tell that it could fill hundreds of pages already, and perhaps someday it will, but this terrifying experience led to incredible events that highlight a perspective that is frequently overlooked in expert discourses on digital infrastructure.

Disembarking the aircraft in a rush, I forgot my notebook with approximately two months of field notes in the seat pocket. I only realised this two islands further and 1,600 km later, in Pohnpei. I immediately approached one of the flight attendants, who wrote a phone number for Guam United Baggage Services on a napkin and added an email address that might or might not work. Once I arrived on the Majuro Atoll, after about 24 hours between airports and aircraft, I called the number using a VoIP service. The connection was terrible, but they confirmed they had found my notebook.

Now, it was only a matter of obtaining it along my route. The solution the woman in Guam came up with was putting it on the next Island Hopper with a stop in Majuro, where I could retrieve it. At the airport the next day, I witnessed cooler after cooler of fresh fish for family members in the US being wrapped in dedicated United bags by passengers boarding UA133. The sheer amazement at that scene distracted me from the fact that the electronic tag number for my notebook did not get me very far.

After four hours of waiting, only one box addressed to the United supervisor in Majuro remained. Once opened, it revealed my notebook with months of work inside. If it hadn't been for the cabin crew (who stayed at the same hotel in Majuro), the woman working at United Baggage Services in Guam, the ground staff in Majuro, and the fact that they knew each other, I would never have been able to retrieve my notebook. The online form I filled in with United still states that my item could not be found.

This made me realise that states like the RMI can invest billions of dollars into telecom towers only for them to be eaten away by the salt in the air; airlines can rotate new aircraft in to be slammed on short runways; and visitors can spend big on VoIP credits, but the network of people is what makes these conventional infrastructures work.

In this sense, the Western perspective on (digital) infrastructure misses the point: outside of its limited regional context, the idea of substituting interpersonal networks with impersonal data networks through the development of infrastructures does not work. Instead, it is the relational infrastructure that is the bedrock, which digital infrastructures must accommodate, build upon, and learn from.

As the current President of the RMI, Hilda C. Heine, wrote in 2001 regarding education:

"To critically evaluate Pacific education systems, we have to decide on criteria to judge them by. That is, let us develop our own and create some regional standards, and integrate Western standards where appropriate. Western standards are based on vastly different lives and expectations and resource levels; let us define our own" (Heine, 2021, p. 127).