Hello to all. This is the beginning of the voyage to anonymity... understanding, that is.
We had our first Digital Ethnography class today, discussing anonymity and the course of our course. Discussing the subject matter, I was interested in the history of anonymity as an idea and then how anonymity has changed and perhaps become more accessible with the advent of the internet. In coffee shop discussions, Plato and his idea of the ring of Gyges was mentioned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges). This parable tells of a magical ring that turns its wearers invisible and how the invisibility, the anonymity if you will, made it impossible for the wearers to adhere to the code of moral conduct espoused by their cultures. This could then be linked to more modern tales like Tolkien's series with the 'one ring' turning its wearers invisible and The Invisible Man (where the invisible, anonymous central character commits horrible crimes and is completely unaccountable. Other ideas tossed around were from V for Vendetta, pseudonyms, and pen names (Ben Franklin, Samuel Clemens, etc.). Throughout history, people have assumed "false" names, guises, masks, and dreamed of what they could do with invisibility or complete anonymity.
Now with anonymity even more accessible, how has the idea of being anonymous changed? How is it used? Through RPGs, Anonymous (the group), hate mail, love mail, videos, blogs, and everything else, are we seeing a polarization of identity via the internet? With a fascination with "efame", so-called every-day people can become internet stars via youtube or post themselves via media like Facebook and Myspace. At the other end of the spectrum are the ones who choose to remain anonymous. Those who do not espouse their legal names over the internet and either act alone or in a group with the assumption of anonymity...
So, that's basically where my meandering thoughts have left me at the moment. More to come sooner rather than later.
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