Connecting Alaskans

"An exceedingly well-referenced history of telecommunications in Alaska, from the very first telegraph networks deployed in the 1860s to the broadband networks of the 21st century. The work is notable for the way in which it interweaves the descriptions of the extreme technical challenges faced in deploying a range of different communications technologies in physically extreme environments with the life-changing applications that those infrastructures have brought to rural Alaskans."-- "Telecommunications Policy" "Hudson has devoted her long and distinguished career to bring telecommunications to the rural areas of the world. She now brings her years of working in Alaska into a powerful policy and historical account. She remains a strong voice of advocacy for all communications, for all people everywhere. A must read!"--Emile McAnany, emeritus professor of communication, Santa Clara University "Telecommunications Policy" "It wasn't long ago that Alaskans watched the evening news the next day, and personal messages were delivered to people in remote communities by radio shows called 'Tundra Telegraph" or 'Caribou Clatter.' Alaska's leadership in adopting new telecommunications technologies has helped link the whole world. Hudson's history comes from both a scholar and an expert who helped make giant leaps happen in a single generation."--Mead Treadwell, lieutenant governor of Alaska, 2010-2014 "Telecommunications Policy" "Connecting Alaskans is a timely contribution to international discussions about the transformational power of broadband. Effective telecommunication links have the power to erase distance as a barrier and in vast geographic areas like the Arctic, that is incredibly important to the safety, health, education and economies of rural residents. Hudson has provided the historical and analytical perspective for readers to better understand what has happened in the 20th Century and what needs to happen in the 21st Century to carry on the tradition of innovation."--Fran Ulmer, chair of the US Arctic Research Commission; former chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage; and former lieutenant governor of Alaska "Telecommunications Policy" "Connecting Alaskans is a riveting story of how the people of a distant, isolated, and inhospitable land overcame isolation to emerge as leaders in adopting new digital ways of doing things, from telemedicine to distance education and government. It is also a book whose importance goes far beyond one state and one technology. As Hudson shows in masterly fashion, Alaska has been a major success story for public and private sector collaboration in infrastructure, and a model that applies to other regions and platforms around the world. For all concerned with economic development, this book is an essential guide."--Eli Noam, professor of finance and economics and director of the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information, Columbia University Business School "Telecommunications Policy"

Heather E. Hudson is professor of public policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a Sproul Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.