An Excerpt from Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook (Anthology Editions, 2025)

This essay is an excerpt from Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook by Lori Emerson, which includes the Introduction to the volume and the chapter devoted to imaginary media. Other Networks begins from the premise that the internet as we know it is not a foregone conclusion: the corporatized, surveilled, and monolithic state of today’s networked communications represents only one among many possible configurations. Through a taxonomy of communication systems that preexist or exist outside the internet, Emerson uncovers the promise of hidden alternatives. The excerpt includes the book’s introduction and a selection of networks from this taxonomy. Its inclusion in this volume highlights Other Networks as one of the leading contributions to a new, politically engaged orientation in media archaeology—an approach that resonates closely with the aims and research trajectory of the ARTCHAE project.