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Journal articles by Maria Rikitianskaia
New Media & Society, 2022
Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended in... more Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended into our media environment and, in terms of infrastructural importance, have become comparable with electricity or water. This article offers a new transnational perspective on the underexplored history of IEEE 802.11 standards by focusing on the tensions between the United States and Europe in terms of development trajectories of wireless technology. The goal is to analyze the standardization of wireless networking through a transnational lens and to contribute to enhanced understanding of the global proliferation of Wi-Fi technology. Four particular aspects of the transnational development of Wi-Fi technology are discussed: the rivalry between US and European standards, the constitutive choice to focus on data transmission, radio spectrum availability, and the peculiarities of network authentication.
Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-fi... more Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, in this article, we claim that radio history is broader than the history of broadcasting only. We suggest looking at radio history through the perspective of intermediality and inter-technology, drawing on five different examples: radiography, radiotelegraphy/radiotelephony, radar and satellites, radiomobile/mobile phones with regard to radio spectrum and packet radio networks, such as Wi-Fi. We demonstrate how and why these (and other) technologies should be considered parts of radio studies even though they do not represent classic examples of radio broadcasting. Overall, this intermedia and inter-technological perspective on radio history offers new ways of rethinking and reformulating the confines of radio studies, as well as contributes to a greater field of media studies.
Airspace today is densely penetrated by Wi-Fi networks, GPS services, and broadcasting and mobile... more Airspace today is densely penetrated by Wi-Fi networks, GPS services, and broadcasting and mobile phone signals. This process, what we call the mediatization of the air, is not so new, as it began in the first two decades of the 20 th century, with the advent of wireless telegraphy. Based on archival research, this paper shows that wireless telegraphy mediatized the air and made it a matter of common interest for formerly-disconnected international realms. The mediatized air transformed meteorology, timekeeping, mobility , and transportation, and challenged governance over aerial borders. Overall, this historical study contributes to a different narrative about mediatization by including an invisible and understudied phenomenon that today represents a basic and taken-for-granted infrastructure for global communication.
![Research paper thumbnail of Rikitianskaia, M. (2017). How children learned to listen: the formation of radio clubs in the Soviet Union [Kak detej uchili slushat’(sja): stanovlenie radiokruzhkov v Sovetskom Sojuze] (in Russian). Logos, 27(5), 141–162.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/54200688/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of Vagyna, M. (2012). Rough drafting. Presentation of the Karl Kantor’s book [Chernopisanie. Prezentacija knigi Karla Kantora] (in Russian). Problems of philosophy [Voprosy filosofii], 12, 25–28.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/38714296/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Book chapters by Maria Rikitianskaia
Сборник материалов научной конференции студентов и аспирантов (Москва, 25-26 марта 2010 года)
![Research paper thumbnail of Avanjan, G., Vagyna, M., & Zaretskij, Y. (2012). Introduction. Girolamo Cardano and his autobiography [Vstupitelenie. Dzhirolamo Kardano i ego avtobiografija] (in Russian). In The Book of my life [O moej zhizni] (pp. 11–25). Moscow: NRU HSE.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/38714326/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of Vagyna, M. (2013). 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow as urban success [Olimpijskie igry 1980 kak urbanisticheskij proryv] (in Russian). In I. Glushhenko & V. Kurennoj (Eds.), Time, forward! Cultural Policy in the USSR [Vremja, vpered! Kul’turnaja politika v SSSR] (pp. 243–259). Moscow: NRU HSE.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/38714337/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Book Reviews by Maria Rikitianskaia
Rikitianskaia, M., & Balbi, G. (2017). Nelson Ribeiro & Stephanie Seul (Eds.) Revisiting transnat... more Rikitianskaia, M., & Balbi, G. (2017). Nelson Ribeiro & Stephanie Seul (Eds.) Revisiting transnational broadcasting: the BBC‘s foreign-language services during the Second World War. London, New York: Routledge 2017, 124 pages. Rundfunk und Geschichte, 3–4, 74–75.
Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland The book World Projects: Global Information Befor... more Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland The book World Projects: Global Information Before World War I represents an intriguing study about the ideas, concepts, and projects that tried to bring order on a global scale at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. It covers the origins of global standardization in different fields and traces the mentality of the time through the biographies and ideas of particular personalities. The focus of the book is on world projects such as global currency, universal time, and world history. The study is primarily based on German-language sources marked with the World-(Welt-) prefix, and translator Charles Marcrum II manages to convey their meaning with elegance for an English-speaking audience from the original that book published in 2006 in German.
Реферат ю111г11: Barneft, R. (ed.) 171е Future Uni•·e1"Siry: Jdea.r and Po.~ribllities. -Ne1v·Yor... more Реферат ю111г11: Barneft, R. (ed.) 171е Future Uni•·e1"Siry: Jdea.r and Po.~ribllities. -Ne1v·Yorkand London: Roщ/edge, 2012. -2ЗЗр.
Books by Maria Rikitianskaia
This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its ori... more This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. ITU was the fi rst international organization ever and still plays a crucial role in managing global telecommunications today. Putting together some of the most relevant scholars in the fi eld of transnational communications, the book covers the history of ITU from 1865 to digital times in a truly global perspective, taking into account several technologies like the telegraph, the telephone, cables, wireless, radio, television, satellites, mobile phone, the internet and others. The main goal is to identify the long-term strategies of regulation and the techno-diplomatic manoeuvres taken inside ITU, from convincing the majority of the nations to establish the offi cial seat of the Telegraph Union bureau in Switzerland in the 1860s, to contrasting the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance (supported by US and ICANN). History of the International Telecommunication Union is a trans-disciplinary text and can be interesting for scholars and students in the fi elds of telecommunications, media, international organizations, transnational communication, diplomacy, political economy of communication, STS, and others. It has the ambition to become a reference point in the history of ITU and, at the same time, just the fi rst comprehensive step towards a longer, inter-technological, political and cultural history of transnational communications to be written in the future.
Papers by Maria Rikitianskaia
Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology
What role do audiences play in the formation of the media? What influence do consumer practices h... more What role do audiences play in the formation of the media? What influence do consumer practices have on media? This article explores the relationship between media and audiences from a historical and sociological perspectives. Using a literature review on audiences in media and communications history, this paper analyses the role of audiences in the formation of media and outlines the key terms and concepts for understanding the audiences of different media from a historical perspective. As media studies is an important part of the social sciences, conceptualising the audiences as a key part of media processes is an essential part of understanding media, including their history. It is through a sociological perspective that we can assess the importance of listeners, viewers and readers for the media development. The main terms used in media studies and media education for audience research are discussed. The concept of the media triangle is described in detail to assess the signific...
Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the histo... more Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the history of radio broadcasting and wireless telegraphy with its focus on a constant exchange of knowledge, techniques, and news over national borders (Badenoch/Fickers 2010). Following previous research on transnational histories of broadcasting from 1925 (Lommers 2012; Fickers/Lommers 2010), this chapter suggests a social perspective on specific users of wireless technology in the 1910s: radio amateurs. The national literature on radio amateurs is frequently limited to national heroes who developed an idea of national radio broadcasting that "evokes notions of national unity" and serves as "an ideal symbol of national togetherness." (Hilmes/Loviglio 2002: xi-xii) In contrast, a transnational approach helps to identify actors who exchanged information about recent inventions, achievements, and policy decisions on wireless communication across national boundaries. This chapter takes such an approach to reflect on the role of radio amateurs who reshaped, played with, appropriated, and familiarized themselves with wireless technology in the 1910s, paving the way for public and commercial national radio broadcasting. 1 The historiography of radio amateurs usually begins with the 1920s in the national institutional framework, when the first national societies were formed (see for example Brochand 1994; Hilmes 1997; Lovell 2015). However, in the 1910s radio amateurs were already prominent actors who engaged in dialogue about the technology. They were technical enthusiasts who introduced radio technology to the public. As such, they should be considered co-producers of
New Media & Society, 2022
Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended in... more Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended into our media environment and, in terms of infrastructural importance, have become comparable with electricity or water. This article offers a new transnational perspective on the underexplored history of IEEE 802.11 standards by focusing on the tensions between the United States and Europe in terms of development trajectories of wireless technology. The goal is to analyze the standardization of wireless networking through a transnational lens and to contribute to enhanced understanding of the global proliferation of Wi-Fi technology. Four particular aspects of the transnational development of Wi-Fi technology are discussed: the rivalry between US and European standards, the constitutive choice to focus on data transmission, radio spectrum availability, and the peculiarities of network authentication.
Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-fi... more Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, in this article, we claim that radio history is broader than the history of broadcasting only. We suggest looking at radio history through the perspective of intermediality and inter-technology, drawing on five different examples: radiography, radiotelegraphy/radiotelephony, radar and satellites, radiomobile/mobile phones with regard to radio spectrum and packet radio networks, such as Wi-Fi. We demonstrate how and why these (and other) technologies should be considered parts of radio studies even though they do not represent classic examples of radio broadcasting. Overall, this intermedia and inter-technological perspective on radio history offers new ways of rethinking and reformulating the confines of radio studies, as well as contributes to a greater field of media studies.
Airspace today is densely penetrated by Wi-Fi networks, GPS services, and broadcasting and mobile... more Airspace today is densely penetrated by Wi-Fi networks, GPS services, and broadcasting and mobile phone signals. This process, what we call the mediatization of the air, is not so new, as it began in the first two decades of the 20 th century, with the advent of wireless telegraphy. Based on archival research, this paper shows that wireless telegraphy mediatized the air and made it a matter of common interest for formerly-disconnected international realms. The mediatized air transformed meteorology, timekeeping, mobility , and transportation, and challenged governance over aerial borders. Overall, this historical study contributes to a different narrative about mediatization by including an invisible and understudied phenomenon that today represents a basic and taken-for-granted infrastructure for global communication.
Сборник материалов научной конференции студентов и аспирантов (Москва, 25-26 марта 2010 года)
Rikitianskaia, M., & Balbi, G. (2017). Nelson Ribeiro & Stephanie Seul (Eds.) Revisiting transnat... more Rikitianskaia, M., & Balbi, G. (2017). Nelson Ribeiro & Stephanie Seul (Eds.) Revisiting transnational broadcasting: the BBC‘s foreign-language services during the Second World War. London, New York: Routledge 2017, 124 pages. Rundfunk und Geschichte, 3–4, 74–75.
Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland The book World Projects: Global Information Befor... more Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland The book World Projects: Global Information Before World War I represents an intriguing study about the ideas, concepts, and projects that tried to bring order on a global scale at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. It covers the origins of global standardization in different fields and traces the mentality of the time through the biographies and ideas of particular personalities. The focus of the book is on world projects such as global currency, universal time, and world history. The study is primarily based on German-language sources marked with the World-(Welt-) prefix, and translator Charles Marcrum II manages to convey their meaning with elegance for an English-speaking audience from the original that book published in 2006 in German.
Реферат ю111г11: Barneft, R. (ed.) 171е Future Uni•·e1"Siry: Jdea.r and Po.~ribllities. -Ne1v·Yor... more Реферат ю111г11: Barneft, R. (ed.) 171е Future Uni•·e1"Siry: Jdea.r and Po.~ribllities. -Ne1v·Yorkand London: Roщ/edge, 2012. -2ЗЗр.
This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its ori... more This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. ITU was the fi rst international organization ever and still plays a crucial role in managing global telecommunications today. Putting together some of the most relevant scholars in the fi eld of transnational communications, the book covers the history of ITU from 1865 to digital times in a truly global perspective, taking into account several technologies like the telegraph, the telephone, cables, wireless, radio, television, satellites, mobile phone, the internet and others. The main goal is to identify the long-term strategies of regulation and the techno-diplomatic manoeuvres taken inside ITU, from convincing the majority of the nations to establish the offi cial seat of the Telegraph Union bureau in Switzerland in the 1860s, to contrasting the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance (supported by US and ICANN). History of the International Telecommunication Union is a trans-disciplinary text and can be interesting for scholars and students in the fi elds of telecommunications, media, international organizations, transnational communication, diplomacy, political economy of communication, STS, and others. It has the ambition to become a reference point in the history of ITU and, at the same time, just the fi rst comprehensive step towards a longer, inter-technological, political and cultural history of transnational communications to be written in the future.
Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology
What role do audiences play in the formation of the media? What influence do consumer practices h... more What role do audiences play in the formation of the media? What influence do consumer practices have on media? This article explores the relationship between media and audiences from a historical and sociological perspectives. Using a literature review on audiences in media and communications history, this paper analyses the role of audiences in the formation of media and outlines the key terms and concepts for understanding the audiences of different media from a historical perspective. As media studies is an important part of the social sciences, conceptualising the audiences as a key part of media processes is an essential part of understanding media, including their history. It is through a sociological perspective that we can assess the importance of listeners, viewers and readers for the media development. The main terms used in media studies and media education for audience research are discussed. The concept of the media triangle is described in detail to assess the signific...
Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the histo... more Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the history of radio broadcasting and wireless telegraphy with its focus on a constant exchange of knowledge, techniques, and news over national borders (Badenoch/Fickers 2010). Following previous research on transnational histories of broadcasting from 1925 (Lommers 2012; Fickers/Lommers 2010), this chapter suggests a social perspective on specific users of wireless technology in the 1910s: radio amateurs. The national literature on radio amateurs is frequently limited to national heroes who developed an idea of national radio broadcasting that "evokes notions of national unity" and serves as "an ideal symbol of national togetherness." (Hilmes/Loviglio 2002: xi-xii) In contrast, a transnational approach helps to identify actors who exchanged information about recent inventions, achievements, and policy decisions on wireless communication across national boundaries. This chapter takes such an approach to reflect on the role of radio amateurs who reshaped, played with, appropriated, and familiarized themselves with wireless technology in the 1910s, paving the way for public and commercial national radio broadcasting. 1 The historiography of radio amateurs usually begins with the 1920s in the national institutional framework, when the first national societies were formed (see for example Brochand 1994; Hilmes 1997; Lovell 2015). However, in the 1910s radio amateurs were already prominent actors who engaged in dialogue about the technology. They were technical enthusiasts who introduced radio technology to the public. As such, they should be considered co-producers of
Philosophical Literary Journal Logos, 2017
History of the International Telecommunication Union, 2020
Mediated Time, 2019
This chapter aims to analyse how the government of Russia communicated the newly established time... more This chapter aims to analyse how the government of Russia communicated the newly established time via time signals and how different media framed these time signals, in the course of two time reforms in the 1920s and 2010s. Firstly, it discusses the spread of time signals with railroads, telegraph, and radiotelegraph networks, attempts of centralising time by the Bolsheviks, and centralised media infrastructure. Then, the chapter draws attention to the 2010s’ time reforms and addresses an important conflict between centralised time coming from the Russian government by national media infrastructure and private clocks on digital devices. It combines theoretical reflections and empirical findings through the lens of three dichotomies between media and time: accuracy–precision, public–private, and national–transnational.
International Journal of Communication, 2016
The book World Projects: Global Information Before World War I represents an intriguing study abo... more The book World Projects: Global Information Before World War I represents an intriguing study about the ideas, concepts, and projects that tried to bring order on a global scale at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. It covers the origins of global standardization in different fields and traces the mentality of the time through the biographies and ideas of particular personalities. The focus of the book is on world projects such as global currency, universal time, and world history. The study is primarily based on German-language sources marked with the World(Welt-) prefix, and translator Charles Marcrum II manages to convey their meaning with elegance for an English-speaking audience from the original that book published in 2006 in German.
Transnationalizing Radio Research, 2018
Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the histo... more Since radio waves easily transcend national spaces, a transnational approach can enrich the history of radio broadcasting and wireless telegraphy with its focus on a constant exchange of knowledge, techniques, and news over national borders (Badenoch/Fickers 2010). Following previous research on transnational histories of broadcasting from 1925 (Lommers 2012; Fickers/Lommers 2010), this chapter suggests a social perspective on specific users of wireless technology in the 1910s: radio amateurs. The national literature on radio amateurs is frequently limited to national heroes who developed an idea of national radio broadcasting that "evokes notions of national unity" and serves as "an ideal symbol of national togetherness." (Hilmes/Loviglio 2002: xi-xii) In contrast, a transnational approach helps to identify actors who exchanged information about recent inventions, achievements, and policy decisions on wireless communication across national boundaries. This chapter takes such an approach to reflect on the role of radio amateurs who reshaped, played with, appropriated, and familiarized themselves with wireless technology in the 1910s, paving the way for public and commercial national radio broadcasting. 1 The historiography of radio amateurs usually begins with the 1920s in the national institutional framework, when the first national societies were formed (see for example Brochand 1994; Hilmes 1997; Lovell 2015). However, in the 1910s radio amateurs were already prominent actors who engaged in dialogue about the technology. They were technical enthusiasts who introduced radio technology to the public. As such, they should be considered co-producers of
New Media & Society
Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended in... more Wi-Fi is an integral and invaluable part of our media practices. Wireless networks are blended into our media environment and, in terms of infrastructural importance, have become comparable with electricity or water. This article offers a new transnational perspective on the underexplored history of IEEE 802.11 standards by focusing on the tensions between the United States and Europe in terms of development trajectories of wireless technology. The goal is to analyze the standardization of wireless networking through a transnational lens and to contribute to enhanced understanding of the global proliferation of Wi-Fi technology. Four particular aspects of the transnational development of Wi-Fi technology are discussed: the rivalry between US and European standards, the constitutive choice to focus on data transmission, radio spectrum availability, and the peculiarities of network authentication.
Time signals provide a sense of “despatialized simultaneity,” a rhythm to the everyday lives of b... more Time signals provide a sense of “despatialized simultaneity,” a rhythm to the everyday lives of billions of people, and experiences of liveness. This article offers a history of time signals from the 19th to the 21st centuries, identifying three typologies: scheduled time signals, sent mainly by radio and TV; on-demand, such as those of the speaking clock; and automatized, transmitted by the Network Time Protocol for digital devices. The article stresses the importance of time signals in media history and the significance of an infrastructural network of timekeeping/timesharing for the functioning of media themselves.
Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media
Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-fi... more Examining radio development over a long time span from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, in this article, we claim that radio history is broader than the history of broadcasting only. We suggest looking at radio history through the perspective of intermediality and inter-technology, drawing on five different examples: radiography, radiotelegraphy/radiotelephony, radar and satellites, radiomobile/mobile phones with regard to radio spectrum and packet radio networks, such as Wi-Fi. We demonstrate how and why these (and other) technologies should be considered parts of radio studies even though they do not represent classic examples of radio broadcasting. Overall, this intermedia and inter-technological perspective on radio history offers new ways of rethinking and reformulating the confines of radio studies, as well as contributes to a greater field of media studies.