Dear all,
At long last, my beloved book,
Other Networks:A Radical Technology Sourcebook, is officially available from Anthology Editions for pre-order
here! Sadly, despite publishing many beautifully designed art books, the publisher won’t be around for much longer which means there are only 1000 copies available of
Other Networks. If you think you’d like a copy, consider pre-ordering as soon as you can manage it.
With deep gratitude to my editor
Mark Iosifescu, book cover designer
Robert Beatty, and interior book designer Ella Gold,
Other Networks catalogs 80+ networks that preceded or existed outside of the internet. It is also an educational project that comes out of my belief that we are all capable both of understanding networks from the past and of building alternative networks
for the future; a love letter to experimental art and technology; and a liberatory guide for escaping the corporate present. The design brilliantly both recalls the long history of telecommunications networks (exemplified by late 19th century/early 20th century
telegraph and telephone manuals) and rewrites that same history to have a more global perspective and to include more women; Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; and artist experiments with/on these pre-internet networks.
Below is the table of contents. I have also posted on my blog excerpts from or expanded versions of entries on
microbroadcasting,
barbed wire fence phones, and
imaginary networks.
Sincerely, Lori (Emerson)
***
Chronological List
of Networks
Chronological List of Network Experiments
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Wireless Networks:
Sound Networks
[1] Drums
[2] Whistling
Air Networks
[3] Fire or Smoke Signals
[4] Pneumatic Tubes
[5] Skywriting
Water Networks
[6] Hydraulic Semaphore
Optical Networks
[7] Flag Signaling
[8] Optical Telegraph
[9] Infrared Communication
[10] Signal Lamp
[11] Heliograph
[12] Photophone
[13] Ultraviolet Communication
[14] Laser Communication
[15] Visible Light Communication
Radio Networks
[16] Amateur Radio
[16.1] Radiotelegraphy
[16.2] Radioteletype
[16.3] Amateur Television
[16.4] Hellschreiber
[16.5] Earth-Moon-Earth Communication
[16.6] Amateur Radio Satellite
[16.7] Amateur Packet Radio
[17] Radio Broadcast
[18] Pirate Radio
[19] Radiofax
[20] Two-Way Radio
[21] Pager
[22] Meteor Burst Communication
[23] Slow Scan Television
[24] Project West Ford
[25] Pirate Television
[26] Packet Radio Network
[27] Microbroadcast
[28] Software Defined Radio
[29] Wi-Fi
[30] Bluetooth
Microwave Networks
[31] Microwave Radio-Relay
[32] Communications Satellite
Wired Networks:
Electrical Wire Networks
[33] Electrical telegraph
[33.1] Electrical Printing Telegraph
[33.2] Image Telegraph
[33.3] Fire Alarm Telegraph
[33.4] Pantelegraph
[33.5] Telephonic Telegraph
[34] Telephone
[35] Wired Radio
[36] Telautograph
[37] Telefacsimile
[38] Videophone
[39] Telex
Barbed Wire Networks
[40] Barbed Wire Telegraph
[41] Fence Phones
Hybrid Networks:
[42] Library
[43] Book
[44] Postal System
[44.1] Pigeon Post
[44.2] Projectile Post
[44.3] Balloon Mail
[44.4] Pony Express
[44.5] Airgraph and V-Mail
[44.6] Email Letter
[45] Sneakernet
[46] Radio Broadcast Network
[47] Broadcast Television
[48] Cable Television
[48.1] NABU
[49] Cellular Network
[50] Time-Sharing Network
[51] Teletext
[52] Videotex
Imaginary Networks:
[53] Necromancy
[54] Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass
[55] Telephonoscope
[56] Telepathy
[57] Ley Lines
[58] Mundaneum
[59] World Brain
[60] Memex
[61] Faster-Than-Light Communication Networks
[62] Project Xanadu
[63] Metaverse
[64] The Clacks
[65] Pandoran Neural Network
[66] Cosmic Internet
--
“I use technology in order to hate it properly.” — Nam June Paik
Lori Emerson | KF0LCB | she/her/they/them
Associate Professor | Associate Chair Graduate Studies | Director, Media Archaeology Lab
Media Studies Department | University Colorado Boulder
Traditional territories of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations
Mastodon | Bluesky | loriemerson.net | mediaarchaeologylab.com