Transmission Narratives
Starosielski’s concept of transmission narratives does not merely describe the technical cables of the internet. Instead, it treats network infrastructure as a carrier of history and geography. Popular imagination often sees the internet as an invisible virtual space in the cloud. However, transmission narratives remind us that the internet is built on physical undersea cables and server rooms. These hardware facilities are spread across nations and shaped by geopolitics and capital. From this perspective, the internet is not an abstract system separate from reality. It is constructed by physical equipment and power relations. Every data transfer we make travels along tangible lines, carrying historical choices and resource distribution.
Mapping the World Wide Web
Berners-Lee originally conceived the World Wide Web as an open, decentralised project for information sharing. He aimed to create a public space where anyone could freely publish and read documents, free from central control and enabling equal global connection.
In contrast, today’s internet is heavily centralised. Large tech corporations own most data and traffic gateways. The original open vision has evolved into a commercial ecosystem ruled by platform algorithms. There is a sharp contrast between the two: the early Web was imagined as an inclusive community of information, while the modern internet is divided by commercial platforms, with data and content power concentrated in the hands of a few corporations.
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