Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in New Media Cultures

Book excerpt: Divided into three sections, Error brings together established critics and emerging voices to offer a significant contribution to the field of new media studies. In the first section, "Hack," contributors explore the ways in which errors, glitches, and failure provide opportunities for critical and aesthetic intervention within new media practices. In the second section, "Game," they examine how errors allow for intentional and accidental co-opting of rules and protocols toward unintended ends. The final section, "Jam," considers the role of error as both an inherent "counterstrategy" and a mode of tactical resistance within a network society. By offering a timely and novel exploration into the ways in which error and noise "slip through" in systems dominated by principles of efficiency and control, this collection provides a unique take on the ways in which information theory and new media technologies inform cultural practice.