Networking standards and russell\´s revisionism (review of, "Open standards and the digital age: history, ideology, and networks, russel, a.; 2014)[book review]

This column discusses the evolution of networking standards, looking at the history of open standards and the evolution of the communities that designed the Internet, particularly in regards to Andrew Russell´s book Open Standards and the Digital Age: History, Ideology, and Networks. In this book, the author weaves two scholarly stories into one-namely, the history of open standards and the evolution of the communities that designed the Internet. The first theme involves plenty of archival dust, tracing its roots to the American standards movement of the railway era and modern industrialization after World War I. The bulk of the second theme is a lot less dusty, covering events on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s. It gets into arguments that modern readers will find engaging. More to the point, the book offers a revision of the common understanding of TCP/IP´s origins and evolution. Russell seeks to punctuate many popular myths about the role of participatory democracy. The book is a bit dense with facts. Some readers may decide it takes a tad too long-306 pages-to get to the good stuff.