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The internet is coiled spaghetti (with Jane Ruffino)

April 9, 2026 · 31 min

Show notes

In this episode, Elaine tries to turn Kelly into a subsea cables stan with the help of Jane Ruffino, a PhD candidate who recently visited a ship in the midst of (literally) winding up TAT-8, the world’s first transatlantic fibre-optic cable. Jane enthusiastically shares what we can learn from the subsea cable industry’s ‘minimum necessary technology’ mindset, and why it’s important that the infrastructure and labour that keeps us connected is made visible.


Find Jane on LinkedIn and at CharacterWorks.co.


*** Good things we recommend ***

>> Jane’s superb article in Wired

>> Our podcast episode, The internet under the sea

>> The Undersea Network, a book by Nicole Starosielski

>> Atlantic-Cable.com  

>> Derek Cassidy, communication archaeologist  

>> Irish artist Fiona Marron  

>> Ye Olde Hurdy-Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth, Co. Dublin



*** More from us ***

Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com  

FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io  

FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod  

FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod  

FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social  

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