Network Nation: How Business, Technology, and Government Shaped American Telecommunications

Network Nation
How Business, Technology, and Government Shaped American Telecommunications

New America Foundation, Center for Social Media at American University, and Media Access Project
Thursday, December 9, 2010
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Telecommunication forms a vital thread in the fabric of societal information and communication. It has shaped the ways in which global economies operate. Studying the history of telecommunications is essential to understand the evolution of the state, politics, and society in the present day.

In Network Nation, an exhaustively researched account of the history of American telecommunications, Richard R. John explains how the first electrical communications networks, the telephone and telegraph, emerged as mass communication offerings "nurtured by a particular configuration of governmental institutions and civic ideals," despite strong business lobbying in favor of limiting services for an exclusive clientele.

Richard John will discuss his book and talk about how business and government institutions helped shape American telecommunications in a panel discussion with Patricia Aufderheide from the Center for Social Media at American University and Andrew Schwartzman from Media Access Project.

Introduction
Tom Glaisyer
Knight Media Policy Initiative
New America Foundation

Keynote Speaker
Prof. Richard R. John
Columbia University
Author, Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications

Panelists
Prof. Patricia Aufderheide
Center for Social Media, American University

Andrew J. Schwartzman
Media Access Project

To RSVP for the event: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2010/network_nation

For questions, contact Stephanie Gunter at (202) 596-3367 or gunter@newamerica.net

For media inquiries, contact Kate Brown at (202) 596-3365 or brown@newamerica.net