Carnival in the global village: Re-imagining information infrastructures |
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| Authors: | Donncha Kavanagh Gianluca Miscione |
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| Institution: | 1. College of Business, University College Dublin, Dublin, Irelanddonncha.kavanagh@ucd.ie;3. College of Business, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland |
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| Abstract: | AbstractInfrastructures 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. |
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| Keywords: | Bakhtin Bitcoin carnival carnivalesque cryptocurrencies games Information infrastructures |
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