@article {kavanagh2019carnivalinfrastructures, title = {Carnival in the global village: Re-imagining information infrastructures}, journal = {Information Society}, volume = {35}, number = {5}, year = {2019}, month = {Oct}, pages = {299{\textendash}313}, abstract = {{\textcopyright}, Published with license by Taylor \& Francis. {\textcopyright} Donncha Kavanagh and Gianluca Miscione. 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{\textendash}the proximate carnival{\textendash}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.}, issn = {0197-2243}, doi = {10.1080/01972243.2019.1647321}, author = {Kavanagh, D and Miscione, G} }