Imagining the Canadian Internet: A Case of Discursive Nationalization of Technology

This article explores the discursive nationalization of the Internet in the context of Canadian new media policy. A textual analysis of the federal policy documents on new media (1994-2001) brings forth four discursive strategies through which technology is temporarily articulated as a material, economic, and spatial resource for the Canadian nation. It is argued that nationalism remains an important mechanism to legitimize policy recommendations. More importantly, nationalism is a means through which the format and social roles of an unknown and emerging technology become imagined in official discourse.

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