It’s funny how sometimes our gut instincts ring true in the end, regardless of wherever the path may lead. In a not-too-distant time near the beginning of the semester, a question was thrust upon me with little prior warning. I was asked to write on a note card a tentative topic for my final project (on the first day of class no less!), and with little more than a passing thought I hurriedly scribbled a crude “4CHAN” onto the card. And that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. At this point, all that I knew was that my opportunity had finally come to build a project around everyone’s favorite online image board. Over the following weeks my idea came to barely resemble its original form, and I cycled through a study of Japanese culture and a brief stint with video games before finally arriving back at my original idea.
But what was the idea, exactly? I struggled for awhile to uncover a concrete purpose and move beyond merely “a project about 4chan.” I began to analyze why I preferred frequenting 4chan over social networking sites like Facebook, and realized that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. What I thirsted for was anonymity; the polar opposite of the persistent identity encouraged by social networking sites. I had become bored of the never ending pursuit of an attractive social persona attributed with these sites, and felt restrained as to what I could post without upsetting the image I had worked to achieve. And suddenly I had my KYHOI, which in its most basic essence is that anonymity does not merely provide us with a way to mask our identity; it frees us to reach beyond the restraints imposed by a persistent identity.
This entails several things. Firstly, we are more likely to post unflattering or jeopardizing information under the guise of anonymity. When our identity becomes a factor, an entire realm of discourse is being suppressed. Previous social ties are of little consequence via anonymity, and each participant in the conversation stands on relatively equal footing. In a nutshell, anonymity allows us to fail and recover gracefully. Rather than obscuring who we are to the world, our anonymous personas are actually indicative of our “true selves” and allow us to move closer towards the concept of complete authenticity. This has been shown to increase originality by a noticeable degree. The temporary disposal of our ego, or our desire to maintain and elevate our social status, is a necessary component of anonymity.
This all sounds great until you realize that anonymity in its current form is a dying animal. Sites like 4chan have been a bastion of hope in the past, but have recently been on the decline due to a lack of revenue and support. If nothing is done, these sites are at risk of either disappearing or folding to business interests, and taking some of the most prominent venues for anonymity along with them. In order to preserve anonymity it must be allowed to coexist peacefully with persistent identity, a goal which is being worked towards with websites like moot’s most recent venture, Canv.as.
My video attempts to communicate these ideas by using the idea of Facebook vs. 4chan as a parable that represents the current conflict between anonymity and persistent identity. I briefly describe the uses, limitations and structure of each site to give an idea of what role they play in society. Whether or not the video accomplishes its full purpose is up for debate, but I hope that at the very least I provided the viewer with enough of an overview of the anonymity/identity debate to spark further research of their own.
Sadly, the video was unable to realize its full potential. I experimented with narration via a voice synthesizer, but I couldn’t get it to mesh well with the project without scrapping the majority of my draft. Due to a mistake on my part, my draft in its original form in Vegas was overwritten by my new attempt. Given more time I may have been able to find a way to salvage the project and integrate narration along with the additional information that accompanied it. While I feel regretful, given how the situation currently stands my draft will have to suffice as my final project.
References
Poole, Christopher "moot" Speech. SXSW. Austin Convention Center, Austin. 13 Mar. 2011. Youtube. 13
Mar. 2011. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DurQRZhREe0>.
- Used as a supplement in the video to help communicate ideas and add credibility (note: although moot’s views coincide with my own in many respects, the ideas expressed in my video were not lifted from him but rather are from an amalgamation of sources, including my own thought processes)
Connolly, Terry, Leonard M. Jessup, and Joseph S. Valacich. "Effects of Anonymity and Evaluative Tone
on Idea Generation in Computer-Mediated Groups." Management Science 36.6 (1990). Jstor.
ITHAKA. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://www.jstor.org/pss/2631901>.
- In the idea-generation experiment presented in the article, the anonymous groups produced a greater number of original solutions than the identified groups. At the same time, the identified groups perceived a higher level of effectiveness when in fact the anonymous group had bested them.
Dwyer, Catherine, Starr Hiltz, and Katia Passerini. Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking
Sites. Rep. Association of Information Systems, 2007. Google Scholar. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.148.9388&rep=rep1&type=pdf.>.
- Indicates that privacy of information and trust of both the website and those that use it are large factors in what does and does not get posted on social networking sites. Overall, individuals are less likely to share new information that may jeopardize them if they sense a lack of privacy and trust.
McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken. Penguin HC, 2011. Print.
- While this source may not have had a direct impact on the content of my video, it served as an inspiration of sorts. McGonigal’s idea that we are our “best selves” while in the gaming realm struck a chord with me, and I thought that it could also apply to the concept of anonymity (although in this case it might be more of a “true self”, seeing as the results can be both good and bad.)
Hewitt, Anne, and Andrea Forte. Crossing Boundaries: Identity Management and Student/Faculty Relations on the Facebook. Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.94.8152&rep=rep1&type=pdf.>.
- Facebook preserves authority based relations, which limit the kinds of interaction that can occur between people in hierarchical relationships. Anonymity does away with this.
Brophy-Warren, Jamin. "Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes." Wall Street Journal (2008). Wall
Street Journal. Dow Jones, 9 July 2008. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://www.sheep.ru/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/4chan-wsj.pdf>.
- A meme is “a unit of cultural information” that is passed on virally (coined by Richard Dawkins in “The Selfish Gene.” 4chan is a throwback to pre social networking sites. The embracing of this archaic style is a reaction to the pervasiveness of social networking. 4chan is at risk of being swallowed by business and transforming into something marketable.
Dibbell, Julian. "Radical Opacity." Technology Review Sept. 2010: 82-86. Google Scholar. Web. 1 May
2011.
<http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/2011-nma-pdfs/18-profilewriting /technologyreview.pdf>.
- Mainstream internet is moving away from anonymity. Once a defining feature of online interaction, it is now seen as something that needs to be fixed. Anonymity allows you to fail without fear of reprisal. Social networking sites like Facebook epitomize this shift, appealing to both users and marketers. Each method of interaction may not be mutually exclusive, as evidenced by moot’s recent venture, Canvas.
Herwig, Jana. "The Archive as the Repertoire." TS. Google Scholar. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://homepage.univie.ac.at/jana.herwig/PDF/Herwig_Jana_4chan_Archive_Repertoire_2011
.pdf>.- 4chan requires collaborative participation and engagement with people as well as the information being exchanged. This process transcends simple classification. The exploits of Anonymous displays the manifestation of this process in the real world, with the formation of “anonymous collectives.”
Bernstein, Michael S., Andres Monroy-Hernandez, Drew Harry, Paul Andre, Katrina Panovich, and Greg
Vargas. 4chan and /b/: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community.Rep. 2011. Google Scholar. Web. 1 May 2011.
<http://projects.csail.mit.edu/chanthropology/4chan.pdf>.- Anonymity fosters strong communal identities as opposed to attachment on an individual basis. It increases equity and sidesteps the “economy of attention”.
Pseudo-Sources: 4chan, Facebook, KnowYourMeme, EncyclopediaDramatica – I obviously couldn’t get away without crediting 4chan and Facebook. These two websites pretty much formed the foundation of my video and the ideas presented within it. By browsing the sites, I was able to become more familiar with their structure and purpose. KnowYourMeme and EncyclopediaDramatica also deserve a mention, as I have poured countless hours of “research” into these sites to become more acquainted with the content that comes out of 4chan.
Oh, and here's the video. Nothing has changed between this and my draft.
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