Logo image
Revisiting the Y2K Bug: Language wars over networking the global order
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Revisiting the Y2K Bug: Language wars over networking the global order

K. Best
Television & New Media, Vol.4(3), pp.297-319
2003
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

The Y2K bug was a global media event of the twentieth century, only to fade from view after an anticlimactic change of millennium. This article argues that a reexamination of the text of the Y2K bug illuminates the contemporary cultural construction of value in information and networking technologies. Through the examination of a broad range of media reports and articles, this article illustrates how a hegemonic discourse is creating scales of value that have a profound impact on resource allocation. However, the Y2K bug also illustrates how this discourse is subject to its own gaps in meaning, or internal dissociations, as well as to a variety of creative external attacks, including culture jamming.

Details

Metrics

42 Record Views
Logo image