Surfacing

Surfacing is when networks emerge locally, into local contexts.  For instance, an undersea cable that spans entire oceans, from continent to continent, is largely unknown and inaccessible to everyone until it surfaces at a very specific location on a seashore, and makes its way the final distance to a data center or switching station.  Many other kinds of networks (e.g., roads, rails, power grid, etc.) may be proximate, yet entirely inaccessible to a person or place until they surface to the local context with an on-ramp/off-ramp, station, substation, other means of connecting to and participating in that network.  All networks are local in that the last mile connection to individual users is always local.  But, networks can also be proximate while bypassing entire populations, offering no means of connecting, creating “haves and have nots”.