[ih] Nit-picking an origin story

[Joly MacFie]

I feel compelled here to copy the Chapter list from Lori Emerson's '  *Other
Networks:A Radical Technology Sourcebook'
<https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-radical-technology-sourcebook>*

*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



On Sat, Aug 16, 2025 at 11:01 PM Brian E Carpenter via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> Excellent list, Joe. To the pre-electric era, I'd add smoke signals and
> alpenhorns, and I'm sure there were others in various cultures around the
> world.
>
> I'd also insert Baudot and Murray after Morse. They brought in 5-bit
> binary encoding instead of on/off encoding, and Murray invented both
> multiplexing and CR/LF.
>
> Regards/Ngā mihi
>     Brian Carpenter
>
> On 17-Aug-25 12:40, touch--- via Internet-history wrote:
> >
> >> On Aug 16, 2025, at 5:15 PM, Dave Crocker via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> the scope of my original query was meant to be about much closer -- and
> possibly competitive or complementary -- milestones: automated, shared
> (wide-area) digital communications.
> >>
> >> So, for example, telegraph signal/smoke fires, heliography and the like
> play into the larger... picture.
> >
> > I included a history when I taught intro to networking.
> >
> > Couriers                      Spoken/written language (30,000 BC)
> > Pigeons                       2900 BC, Egypt
> > Beacons                       1200 BC, Troy
> > Calling posts         400 BC, Persia
> > Heliographs           400 BC, Greece
> > Flags                 400 BC, Greece
> > Hooke semaphore       1680s (shutters and symbols)
> > Chappe’s telegraph    1790s (arms) with time sync, collision management,
> priority flow control, and error recovery
> > Edelcrantz            1790s (just shutters, inspired by Chappe)
> > Cooke/Wheatstone      1830s magnetic needles
> > Morse                 1830s electromagnetic relays
> > Morse                         1850s teleprinter (like a stock ticker)
> > Bell                          1870s phone
> > Marconi                       1890s RF
> > Tube amps             1900s
> > Transistor            1950s
> > Laser                 1950s
> > Satellite                     1960s
> >
> > As you note, the adjectives are the key, as with most superlatives.
> >
> > For "computer networking", I would say Sage is the first in the 1950s,
> with SABRE (reportedly inspired by SAGE) and telephone switches (arguably
> remote machine-machine) not far behind in the early 1960s, all AFAICT
> predating ARPAnet.
> >
> > Joe
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Internet-history mailing list
> Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history
> -
> Unsubscribe:
> https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/9b6ef0621638436ab0a9b23cb0668b0b?The%20list%20to%20be%20unsubscribed%20from=Internet-history
>


-- 
--------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  +12185659365
--------------------------------------
-