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Connecting Alaskans
Telecommunications in Alaska from Telegraph to Broadband
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Heather E. Hudson
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2015
About this book
“Alaska is now open to civilization.” With those six words in 1900, the northernmost territory finally had a connection with the rest of the country. The telegraph system put in place by the US Army Signal Corps heralded the start of Alaska’s communication network. Yet, as hopeful as that message was, Alaska faced decades of infrastructure challenges as remote locations, extreme weather, and massive distances all contributed to less-than-ideal conditions for establishing reliable telecommunications.
Connecting Alaskans tells the unique history of providing radio, television, phone, and Internet services to more than six hundred thousand square miles. It is a history of a place where military needs often trumped civilian ones, where ham radios offered better connections than telephone lines, and where television shows aired an entire day later than in the rest of the country.
Heather E. Hudson covers more than a century of successes while clearly explaining the connection problems still faced by remote communities today. Her comprehensive history is perfect for anyone interested in telecommunications technology and history, and she provides an important template for policy makers, rural communities, and developing countries struggling to develop their own twenty-first-century infrastructure.
Connecting Alaskans tells the unique history of providing radio, television, phone, and Internet services to more than six hundred thousand square miles. It is a history of a place where military needs often trumped civilian ones, where ham radios offered better connections than telephone lines, and where television shows aired an entire day later than in the rest of the country.
Heather E. Hudson covers more than a century of successes while clearly explaining the connection problems still faced by remote communities today. Her comprehensive history is perfect for anyone interested in telecommunications technology and history, and she provides an important template for policy makers, rural communities, and developing countries struggling to develop their own twenty-first-century infrastructure.
Author / Editor information
Heather E. Hudson is professor of public policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a Sproul Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.
Reviews
"Connecting Alaskans is a timely contribution to international discussions about the transformational power of broadband. Effective telecommunication links have the power to erase distance as a barrier and in vast geographic areas like the Arctic, that is incredibly important to the safety, health, education and economies of rural residents. Hudson has provided the historical and analytical perspective for readers to better understand what has happened in the 20th Century and what needs to happen in the 21st Century to carry on the tradition of innovation."
— Fran Ulmer, chair of the US Arctic Research Commission; former chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage; and former lieutenant governor of Alaska"It wasn't long ago that Alaskans watched the evening news the next day, and personal messages were delivered to people in remote communities by radio shows called 'Tundra Telegraph" or 'Caribou Clatter.' Alaska's leadership in adopting new telecommunications technologies has helped link the whole world. Hudson's history comes from both a scholar and an expert who helped make giant leaps happen in a single generation."
— Mead Treadwell, lieutenant governor of Alaska, 2010–2014"Connecting Alaskans is a riveting story of how the people of a distant, isolated, and inhospitable land overcame isolation to emerge as leaders in adopting new digital ways of doing things, from telemedicine to distance education and government. It is also a book whose importance goes far beyond one state and one technology. As Hudson shows in masterly fashion, Alaska has been a major success story for public and private sector collaboration in infrastructure, and a model that applies to other regions and platforms around the world. For all concerned with economic development, this book is an essential guide."
— Eli Noam, professor of finance and economics and director of the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information, Columbia University Business School"Hudson has devoted her long and distinguished career to bring telecommunications to the rural areas of the world. She now brings her years of working in Alaska into a powerful policy and historical account. She remains a strong voice of advocacy for all communications, for all people everywhere. A must read!"
— Emile McAnany, emeritus professor of communication, Santa Clara University“An exceedingly well-referenced history of telecommunications in Alaska, from the very first telegraph networks deployed in the 1860s to the broadband networks of the 21st century. The work is notable for the way in which it interweaves the descriptions of the extreme technical challenges faced in deploying a range of different communications technologies in physically extreme environments with the life-changing applications that those infrastructures have brought to rural Alaskans.”
— Telecommunications PolicyTopics
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Front Matter
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Contents
ix -
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Acknowledgments
xi -
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Preface
xiii -
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Chapter One Introduction
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Chapter 2 Alaska’s First Information Highway
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Chapter 3 Expansion of Telecommunications after World War II
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Chapter 4 Early Broadcasting
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Chapter 5 Privatizing the Alaska Communications System
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Chapter 6 The Beginning of the Satellite Era
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Chapter 7 The NASA Satellite Experiments
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Chapter 8 From Satellite Experiments to Commercial Service
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Chapter 9 Telephone Service for Every Village
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Chapter 10 Broadcasting and Teleconferencing for Rural Alaska
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Chapter 11 Rural Television: From RATNET to ARCS
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Chapter 12 Deregulation and Disruption
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Chapter 13 State Planning and Policy
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Chapter 14 Alaska’s Local Telephone Companies
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Chapter 15 The Phone Wars
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Chapter 16 Distance Education and eLearning: From Satellites to the Internet
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Chapter 17 Telemedicine in Alaska
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Chapter 18 The Growth of Mobile and Broadband
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Chapter 19 Past and Future Connections
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
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Notes
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Bibliography
303 -
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Index
325
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 15, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9781602232693
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
333
Other:
20 halftones
eBook ISBN:
9781602232693
Audience(s) for this book
Professional and scholarly;
