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A prehistory of the Cloud /

We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Clasificación:Libro Electrónico
Autor principal: Hu, Tung-Hui, 1978- (Autor)
Formato: Electrónico eBook
Idioma:Inglés
Publicado: Cambridge : MIT Press Ltd, [2015]
Temas:
Acceso en línea:Texto completo
Descripción
Sumario:We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that cloud-shaped icon on our screens is a whole universe of technologies and cultural norms, all working to keep us from noticing their existence. In this book, Tung-Hui Hu examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our understanding of the cloud. Hu shows that the cloud grew out of such older networks as railroad tracks, sewer lines, and television circuits. He describes key moments in the prehistory of the cloud, from the game "Spacewar" as exemplar of time-sharing computers to Cold War bunkers that were later reused as data centers. Countering the popular perception of a new "cloudlike" political power that is dispersed and immaterial, Hu argues that the cloud grafts digital technologies onto older ways of exerting power over a population
Descripción Física:1 online resource (232 pages)
Bibliografía:Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN:9780262330091
0262330091
9780262330107
0262330105