Carnival in the global village: Re-imagining information infrastructures. Issue 5 (20th October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kavanagh, Donncha; Miscione, Gianluca
• Is Part Of: Information society. Volume 35:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 299
• Page End: 313
• Publication Date: 2019-10-20
• Subjects: Bakhtin -- Bitcoin -- carnival -- carnivalesque -- cryptocurrencies -- games -- Information infrastructures; Technology -- Social aspects; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Social aspects; Information science -- Periodicals; Sciences de l'information -- Périodiques; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2019.1647321
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0197-2243

Abstract

Abstract: Infrastructures are typically seen as boring and serious, and are routinely depicted using metaphors from transportation. We argue that the carnival is a fruitful metaphor for understanding emerging information infrastructures, as the information age is also the age of the carnival. We distinguish between the ubiquitous or distal carnival and its particular manifestations – the proximate carnival – both of which are characterized by play, anarchy, dissimulation, vulgar language, and excessive consumption. The article focuses on Bitcoin, which we see as a nascent information infrastructure and an exemplary instance of a proximate carnival. It also considers how the carnival metaphor might help us reimagine our study of the information age.