Computing Kinship: How Genealogy and Religion Shaped Our Digital Infrastructure

Accounts of digital infrastructure have privileged corporate, military, and countercultural origins, but this article identifies genealogy and religion as central-if overlooked-sites of infrastructural innovation. Focusing on twentieth-century developments among microcomputer hobbyists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the article draws on archival analysis of hobbyist newsletters and Church publications. It shows how genealogists built nationwide networks, negotiated technical constraints, and helped shape durable data standards and systems for networked information sharing. By demonstrating how Mormon theology materially informed system design and implementation, the article reframes digital infrastructure as an outcome of domestic, religious, and kinship practices rather than Silicon Valley alone.