To further develop our conceptual assessment of anonymity, an understanding of culture jamming and tactical media is useful. Week Three's lecture and readings provide important insight into the relevance of these techniques and how their employment forges effective cyber communication possibilities.
Our website is looking at the freedoms attached to online anonymity and the way that communication is more truthfully appropriated and meaningful under the guise of an identity pseudonym or the illusive ‘anon’ persona.
Being anonymous doesn’t mean being identity-less. One’s online identity is defined by the type of presence they command in cyber space and the sorts of messages they communicate. An anonymous identity is an identity nonetheless, but instead of limiting communication and hindering truthful discussion, anonymous users can freely communicate their ideas and beliefs and exercise their civil liberties without fear of persecution, punishment or censorship.
In short, our site is looking to develop a ‘how to’ guide to being anonymous online. At the moment we are looking to include information about:
- How: to be anonymous guide – tips and tools (software which minimises online trails)
- Who: is anonymous online – profile a famed anonymous blogger
- What is anonymity/ a pseudonym??
- What is anonymity/ a pseudonym??
- Why be anonymous - pluses and pitfalls
- Where is it heading: in 10 years what will the status of online anonymity reflect?
We will also need to investigate the legality of anonymity online, the scope for defamatory accusations and inform our users about the boundaries their anonymity manifests within the legal sphere of cyber space.
So how does culture jamming and tactical media link to the concept of cyber anonymity?
The WHO section of the site establishes the potential to engage in a viral tactic: whereby we will leave the forum open for other anonymous internet users to include themselves to the list of profiled anonymous identities. This is an interactive mode of communication, inviting those interested in the concept to include themselves in discussions, developments etc – providing potential for the site to be shared amongst the anonymous cyber community.
Culture jamming includes elements of postmodern aesthetics: uses techniques such as collage, juxtaposition and ironic investigation (Meikle, 2002, p. 131). Our site is an ironic investigation as it will be a self-reflexive icon where four ANONYMOUS identities (our four group members) will use the internet as a medium to communicate ideas about the limitations of the internet - “Cultural Jamming as a way to get dysfunctional culture to bite at its own tail”.
The tendency and potential for online content to be spread and experience unfaltering longevity (considering the ease with which information is sought and found) is an important feature linked to the desire for anonymity and we will of course, practice what we preach.
Our overarching motivation – like Adbusters and the Yesmen and other registered cultural jammers – is the need to change an element of our world: namely the freedom with which we communicate.
The dysfunctional elements of the media include things like over exposure (Facebook), lacking privacy (Google Earth) and censorship, all of which diminish our civil liberties and abolish the concept of free speech. We don’t believe that online forums should be filtered and weeded of all comments deemed “unfit” for publication. This is a clear breach of our right as citizens of a democratic country to freedom of speech.
However, in the present communication context such censorship isn’t necessary as the prevalence of self censorship has developed and evolved to mirror people’s social fear of rejection and marginalisation. People monitor their actions and dilute their beliefs in order to make them digestible for the greatest possible audience. Without realising, people create an identity through which to communicate – be it online or elsewhere, even in everyday conversations – where they consciously ‘sugar coat’ their ideas/beliefs/words so as to avoid offending their peers.
What people fail to realise is that contention motivates change and evolution.
Offending others is the path that leads towards change. It ignites fury and dissatisfaction which in turn, sparks determination and revolt against embedded social perceptions. It is important to be challenged, offended, publically debated against or ethically wrestled with in order for the rebellion inside mankind is to be ignited.
Take Facebook as the key example in this discussion. FB encourages the forging of a public identity. People get caught up in the maintenance of that identity. Nothing is more bleedingly obvious than the way people have filtered their likes and dislikes, favourite movies and songs to reflect trends and what is considered “cool”. Conversation is censored, where apparently provocative truths and realities are saved private inboxes rather than public wall posts.
Why? FEAR.
Anonymity removes the element of fear associated with disrupting the status quo. And it is this that we are encouraging through our proposed website.
Culture jamming is usually toyed with under facades and manufactured identities where cyber users act with uninhibited mobility and flexibility. Shielded by their identities – which protect individuals and so are, in a way, anonymous - diverse responses to changing contexts are developed and communicated, breathing new life into stagnant social ideas (Meikle, 2002, p. 119).
Context of tactical media: creative and/or subversive uses of communication technology by those who don’t normally have access.
The internet has given ordinary citizens a platform through which they can communicate ideas to mass and global audiences. Prior to the development of the internet as a communication medium, media professionals who are undeniably influenced by specific industry agendas, were the only people with access to traditional communication portals like newspapers and radio (Meikle, 2002, p. 129).
MASS COMMUNICATION BECOMES ACCESSIBLE TO ALL CITIZENS THROUGH THE ADVENT OF THE ONLINE COMMUNICATION PORTAL.
Tactics exploit contexts and time: moments and opportunities that allow for cultural/social commentary.
Viral pieces/ideas are passed around by people. This only occurs if the message fits into ongoing debates and conversations held in communities, or in other words – if it is topical and interesting (Jenkins, 2009).
If a concept is to survive, it must be easily appropriated and reworked by a range of different people in different contexts. This can be pursued through guerrilla media campaigns which disseminate information
Anonymity is a concept that is applicable to many online users in different settings. In countries where civil freedoms aren’t always supported – Saudi Arabia for example - anonymity provides a platform for expression. Participation is facilitated through anonymity and this is what gives the concept longevity and importance: it gives the voiceless a voice.
Some additional links to sites concerned with anonymity and blogging/cyber users:
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