Ellie Rennie - Wi-Fi

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Julian Thomas,

Rowan Wilken, and

Ellie Rennie

polity

Copyright © Julian Thomas, Rowan Wilken, and Ellie Rennie 2021

The right of Julian Thomas, Rowan Wilken, and Ellie Rennie to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2021 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2989-6

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2990-2 (pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

1.1A mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, provided by the Australian internet network operator NBN during the 2019/20 bushfire season, at an evacuation centre, Bateman’s Bay, New South Wales. Source: NBN Co. Ltd.

1.2Internet everywhere: public Wi-Fi, Talinn, Estonia. Authors’ image.

1.3Square at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. Source: F1 online digitale Bildagentur GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo.

2.1Nikola Tesla holding a gas-filled phosphor-coated wireless light bulb circa mid-1896. Source: Tesla Universe.

2.2ALOHA terminal control unit, 1971. From Schwartz and Abramson (2009, p. 22).

2.3 Apple AirPort base station. © Mark Richards. Source: The Computer History Museum.

4.1 ‘Signal Code of Trampdom’ in the Kendrick Gazette (Kendrick, Idaho), 4 June 1909.

4.2 Warchalking symbols. Source: Wikimedia Commons

4.3 ‘Another view of Cantenna II’. Source: Flickr/lungstruck licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0.

5.1 Immaterials: Light Painting WiFi (2011). Source: Einar Sneve Martinussen, Jørn Knutsen, and Timo Arnall, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

5.2 ‘A WiFi network from an 1890s apartment building spilling into the street’ (Martinussen, 2011).

5.3 Café doors in the Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, with a sticker promoting Wi-Fi availability. Authors’ image.

Many people have contributed to our work on this book, and to the research projects and writings that have led to it. We would like to thank all our colleagues in RMIT’s Technology, Communication and Policy Lab, and in the Digital Ethnography Research Centre. Warm thanks especially to Hannah Withers, who worked with us on this project in both its formative and concluding stages. We would also like to thank RMIT for the University’s generous support for our work throughout. Thanks also to Daniel Sacchero (Easyweb Digital) and Jenny McFarland (CAYLUS) for interviews with Ellie Rennie on Wi-Fi in remote Aboriginal communities ( Chapter 4).

At Polity, we wish to thank Mary Savigar and Ellen MacDonald-Kramer for their enthusiastic support of this project, their patience, and their assistance in seeing this book through to publication.

Closer to home, Julian would like to thank Jeannine Jacobson and Sam Thomas for their patience, especially when the Wi-Fi was down; Rowan would like to give a big thanks to Karen, Laz, Max, and Sunday, for their love, support, and encouragement; and Ellie would like to thank Jason Potts for giving her lots of experience with Wi-Fi troubleshooting over the years (earning her the badge for SuperTechSupport at home).

Finally, thanks to all the first pets for being excellent passwords over the years.

Julian Thomas

Rowan Wilken

Ellie Rennie

When catastrophe strikes, we see communication in new ways. January 2020 was high summer in the southern hemisphere. Holiday makers, together with their smartphones, flocked to the beaches and camping grounds of the Australian coast. But, after years of drought and record high temperatures linked to global warming, the forests were on fire. Hot days, dry air, parched bush, and gusty winds created the conditions for huge, fast-moving fires. Ancient rainforests which had never experienced fire were lost. The fires isolated and burned through small townships. They left thousands of people homeless and stranded. With roads blocked by fire and fallen trees, people were trapped in small coastal communities for many days. There they managed as best they could, sheltering on beaches, making do in tents, sheds, and caravans.

Months later, when eventually the fires were controlled or extinguished by rain, the damage to people, wildlife, and the environment was immense: 186,000 square kilometres were burnt and 5,900 buildings were lost. Thirty-four people died, and an estimated 3 billion animals were killed or displaced. As well as burning bush and buildings, the fire ravaged the essential infrastructure people rely on: power lines, water supplies, roads, and communications. The fire destroyed cellular phone towers and landlines. Fixed and mobile broadband services failed, leaving homes, visitors, and businesses without internet. Destruction led to disconnection. Electronic payment systems and cash machines could not be used; health records could not be accessed.