Synopses & Reviews
In our andquot;wirelessandquot; world it is easy to take the importance of the undersea cable systems for granted, but the stakes of their successful operation are huge, as they are responsible for carrying almost all transoceanic Internet traffic. In The Undersea Network Nicole Starosielski follows these cables from the ocean depths to their landing zones on the sandy beaches of the South Pacific, bringing them to the surface of media scholarship and making visible the materiality of the wired network. In doing so, she charts the cable networkand#39;s cultural, historical, geographic and environmental dimensions. Starosielski argues that the environments the cables occupy are historical and political realms, where the network and the connections it enables are made possible by the deliberate negotiation and manipulation of technology, culture, politics and geography. Accompanying the book is an interactive digital mapping project, where readers can trace cable routes, view photographs and archival materials, and read stories about the island cable hubs.
Review
andquot;The Undersea Network is a thrilling work of cultural analysis. Part critical travel writing, part investigative ethnography, part history of technology, Nicole Starosielskiand#39;s oceanic odyssey takes her readers to out-of-the-way sites like the Honotua cable station on Tahiti, the mega-networked beaches on Guam, and to ATandTand#39;s offices on Keawaand#39;ula Beach in Oand#39;ahu. She reminds us that the undersea telecommunications infrastructure is haunted by histories of maritime colonial connection, Cold War submarine conflict, and the fluctuating fortunes of finance. This superb book will transmute our common sense about the media ecologies in which we live.andquot;
Review
andquot;Nicole Starosielskiand#39;s
The Undersea Network is as expansive as its subject, revealing the networks that make global communication possible as vital worlds unto themselves. In most stories of new media, infrastructure fades into the background.and#160; But Starosielski flips the script, making infrastructure the star, vividly describing the places, the people, the institutions, and the politics that constantly work to make global communication possible. In the process,
The Undersea Network offers new insights into globalization and digitization. It also teaches us how to study large and largely invisible technical and cultural institutions. Coupled with its groundbreaking digital companion (www.surfacing.in),
The Undersea Network will transform our understanding of the networks that make modern media possible.andquot;
Review
andldquo;Starosielski offers a crucial intervention into theoretical conceptualizations of communications infrastructure. . . . This rich text also has profound implications for how citizens in an always-networked society and economy understand our lived realities. The Undersea Network makes us reconsider the andlsquo;wirelessnessandrsquo; of our world by admonishing us consider it in terms of its peculiar and ongoing connectedness to geographies, cultures, and politics.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;[A] fascinating book that is part history, part travelogue and part socio-economic memoir. . . . Starosielskiandrsquo;s account makes for fascinating reading, drawing together the varied threads of history, technical complexity, economic power and political will that have shaped the worldandrsquo;s cable networks. Despite the scale of the infrastructure under discussion, the narrative remains intensely personal, and one to be enjoyed.andquot;
Review
andldquo;The Undersea Network is a fascinating interdisciplinary look at the infrastructure that lets us communicate instantly across oceansandhellip;. [T]his book is a good read for anyone broadly interested in geography or communications.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;A fascinating cultural assessment of global undersea cable networks that carry most of the worldand#39;s trans-ocean Internet traffic. andhellip; Great stuff!andrdquo;
Synopsis
Nicole Starosielski examines undersea communication cable network, bringing it to the surface of media scholarship and making visible the andquot;wirelessandquot; networkand#39;s materiality. She argues that the network is inextricably linked to historical and political factors and that it is precarious, rural, aquatic, territorially entrench and semi-centralized.
About the Author
Nicole Starosielski is Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University.
Table of Contents
Preface. Edges ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction. Against Flow 1
1. Circuitous Routes. From Topology to Topography 26
2. Short-Circuiting Discursive Infrastructure: From Connection to Transmission 64
3. Gateway: From Cable Colony to Network Operations Center 94
4. Pressure Point: Turbulent Ecologies of the Cable Landing 138
5. A Network of Islands: Interconnecting the Pacific 170
6. Cabled Depths: The Aquatic Afterlives of Signal Traffic 198
Conclusion. Surfacing 225
Notes 235
Bibliography 263
Indexand#160; 281