Logistical Media: Fragments from Radar’s Prehistory

<jats:p>Fragments from the prehistory of radar are analyzed to advance a notion of logistical media. Logistical media order and arrange people and objects and subtly influence our experiences of space and time (Case, 2010). Logistical media emphasize logistics, feedback, and remote control in communication. They gesture to the work of Innis (1951, 1972), Wiener (1948/1961, 1954), Carey (1988), Mumford (1964), and Virilio (1989, 1994), and to the transmission model of communication. This article considers the torpedo, searchlight, war horn, and death ray logistically and as they prefigure radar. The analysis of other logistical media is suggested.</jats:p>