Networks of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure is a short but fascinating look at the physical elements that make up internet infrastructure in New York City. The author talks about how she began investigating the physical artifacts that make up the network. She writes about walking around New York trying to identify and decode what she finds. Filing Freedom of Information Act requests to learn more about the network, she learns about how many cameras are recording our license plates, for example. The book is divided into below ground, ground level, and above ground. Below ground includes the markings that identify cable or other networks below ground. These are color coded, with orange indicating telecommunications infrastructure. This part of the book also includes a bit of history of the telecommunications industry in New York. At ground level you can find junction boxes, traffic signal controllers, mobile license plate readers, and carrier hotels. Above ground there are cell towers, microwave antennae, distributed antenna systems, wi-fi routers, E-Z Pass readers, microwave radars, shotspotters, and surveillance cameras. Illustrations of each of these devices are included so that the reader can learn to identify these devices themselves. Overall, this is a unique look at the infrastructure that we all take for granted.
Ingrid Burrington.
Networks of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2016. 102 pages. ISBN 9781612195421.
