New UA Press book explores telecommunications in Alaska

September 22, 2015

University Relations

The University of Alaska Press has released “Connecting Alaskans: Telecommunications in Alaska from Telegraph to Broadband” by Heather E. Hudson.

“Alaska is now open to civilization.” With those six words transmitted over a telegraph line installed on permafrost and through wilderness in 1900, America’s northernmost territory finally had a connection with the rest of the country. Yet, as hopeful as that message was, Alaska faced decades of infrastructure challenges as remote locations, extreme weather and enormous distances all contributed to formidable conditions for establishing reliable telecommunications.

"Connecting Alaskans" tells the unique history of providing telephone, radio, television and Internet services to remote communities scattered over more than more than 600,000 square miles. It is a history of a region where military needs often trumped civilian ones, where ham radios connected people without telephone lines and where television programs aired days or even weeks later than in the rest of the country.

Hudson covers more than a century of successes in technology and policy, as well as applications from telemedicine and distance education to e-government and e-commerce, while clearly explaining the critical roles of Alaskans’ innovation, advocacy and persistence to connect their communities. Her comprehensive history and analysis of the impact of telecommunications in Alaska’s social and economic development is ideal for those interested in telecommunications technology and history, and in the role of communications in northern development. She also provides an important template for policymakers, planners and developing countries struggling to extend their own 21st century infrastructure.

Heather E. Hudson is professor of communications policy in the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a Sproul Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.

For more information about this title and many more, please visit www.uapress.alaska.edu or call 800-621-2736.