A few months back, partly in anticipation of this blog, I created a Flickr account for the Berkman Center‘s Infrastructure group. To my surprise, no account with the name “Infrastructure” was taken, so I grabbed it, and the site is now here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/infrastructure/
All the photo sets so far are mine, but I trust many more will come from other folks in our group. Here’s a rundown on what’s there now:
- Shots exploring Domodossolla, Italy, during a day trip from our family’s ski vacation this past winter in Zermatt, Switzerland. The trip was recommended by Urs Gasser, Executive Director of the Berkman Center.
- The rapidly-changing spire atop the Empire State Building, on a day pilots call “severe clear.” It is interesting to see how much electronic stuff has encrusted the blunt winged art deco made familiar by King Kong, and how much of that same stuff has been replaced many times over the years. Much of what’s still there is obsolete analog VHF TV transmitting antennae, that I expect will come down. What I’d like to see, personally, is the old building restored to something close to its original shape. Since most transmissions are now on much shorter wavelengths, using smaller antennas, this should be do-able.
- Fiberfete, a “celebration of our connected future,” in Lafayette, Louisiana. Lafayette is the first city in the country, I believe, to have a municipal fiber optic network that passes every home in town (more than 100,000 people live there), and can deliver 100Mbps service within the town. That’s interesting infrastructure right there. What should be done with it? That was a focus of the gathering.
- Tracking flights. For most of the history of aviation, following airplanes in and out of airports electronically — watching weather alongo the way — was a privilege only of a few professionals. Now it’s something anybody can do, with the help of services such as FlightAware. Here I tracked my 13-year-old son on his first solo passenger flights coast-to coast, all in one weekend.
Infrastructure sets with other Flickr accounts include:
- Touring tech sites with Tim Pozar (the subject of an upcoming Linux Journal column)
- Infrastructure study on the Minuteman Bikeway
- Post-Fire Infrastucture Tour (Santa Barbara)
- Sidewalk Signage in Cambridge
- Boston Infrastructure Photo Study
- Transmitters, Antennas and Towers
- A Visit to a Doomed TV Transmitting Site
- Fiber Optics Get Easy in Loma Linda
- The Tunnel Between Concourses B and C at O’Hare
- Mt. Wilson Before the Station Fire
- Bike Trip Through Cambridge
- Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge Flyby
- Chicago From the Air at Night
- Lake Mead From the Air
- A Photo Study of AM Radio Engineering
- New York From the Air
As a bonus link, here’s the Infrastructure Photo Pool at Flickr.