other networks

Other Networks is now available for pre-order

At long last, Lori Emerson’s OTHER NETWORKS: A RADICAL TECHNOLOGY SOURCEBOOK is officially available from Anthology Editions for pre-order! This book is an archival project that catalogs 80+ networks that preceded or existed outside of the internet. It is also an educational project that comes out of Emerson’s 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–all wrapped up in the most beautiful design. Both the cover design and interior design brilliantly both recall the long history of telecommunications networks (exemplified by late 19th century/early 20th century telegraph and telephone manuals) and rewrites that same history to now 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. Emerson has also posted on her blog excerpts from or expanded versions of entries on microbroadcasting, barbed wire fence phones, and imaginary networks.

book rests on a yellow surface. cover is muted, dusty pink fabric with text in gold foil. a rectangle with rounded edges wraps around the inside perimeter of the cover. "Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook" appears diagonally along the top left corner. "Lori Emerson" appears in gold foil on the bottom left corner. the bottom right corner features an image that is of an imaginary network topology. the top of the image is similar to a dandelion in green foil. a gold dotted line emerges from the flower and turns into four gold lines that curve around and terminate in four green foil dots
yellow background. book spread open with two cut-out quotes in black boxes with straight black lines emerging from each quote on the left side of the open book. on the right is the first page of the introduction.
yellow background. book open to a page on the left with a heading in brown type, "OPTICAL NETWORKS" and a sub-section labeled "Flag Signaling". the image on the right side of the page is from Hannah Weiner's Signal Flag Poems.
yellow background. book spread open with a black and white photograph spanning both pages that shows Bill Bartlett and others experimenting with slow scan t equipment. overlaid on the photograph is a diagram showing how the group set up and conected their slow scan equipment.
two-page spread of interior section design for "Hybrid Networks." purple background and white text. the page on the right side has "HYBRID" at the top, an image of two different network topologies intersection with each other, and the word "NETWORKS" at the bottom
yellow background. book spread open to display a black and white photograph spanning both pages of a bookmobile in Charleston County from 1946. a white middle-aged woman sits at a table. she is surrounded by 10 African American girls, boys, and young women, many of whom are holding books and reading.

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

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