Digital Story: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Davenport, David. "Anonymity on the Internet: Why the Price May Be Too High." Communications of the ACM 45.4 (2002): 33-35. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

David Davenport lays out an argument that says “allowing anonymous Net communication,

The fabric of our society is at risk.” He does this by making a case about the importance of accountability. I can definitely use this argument as a skeptic for contrasting with the viewpoint of Poole. He is ultimately talking about the same issue.

Holland, Norman N. "Psychology of Cyberspace - The Internet Regression."Psychology of Cyberspace - The Internet Regression. Department of English - University of Florida, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. <http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/holland.html>.

Holland’s piece is almost exactly the type of project I am looking at producing. He directly cites anonymous internet comments and then talks on how this is showing societal shifts in how we communicate and act towards each other. He also makes direct comparisons between the good and the bad from applications such as the openness that anonymity creates, such as random acts of kindness en masse v.s. anonymous harassments en masse. This more or less serves as a spiritual predecessor for what I want to produce.

Poole, Christopher, and Chris Anderson. "Transcript of "The Case for Anonymity Online"" Christopher "moot" Poole": The Case for Anonymity Online. TED, 2 June 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online/transcript?language=en>.

Christopher Poole was the speaker, and Chris Anderson was the host who asked a few questions at the end. Poole was the founder of 4chan, a site which (originally) focused itself on being an anonymous image board. His argument is that anonymity allows for people to say what they think without fear of being censored, as well as organize efforts for protests and “internet detective” work in ways that cannot happen as quickly or effectively in traditional communication. He does also concede that anonymity can become harmful at a certain point: 

“And saying whatever you like, I think, is powerful. Doing whatever you like is now crossing a line”(Poole).

This could function as an argument for anonymity, in contrast to David Davenport.

Suler, John. "The Online Disinhibition Effect." CyberPsychology & Behavior7.3 (2004): 321-26. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.jcu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=13621589&site=eds-live>.

Dr. Suler is basically the reference I was looking for in the proposal for the Freudian connection that I wanted to make. His piece is a major analysis on how the internet’s communication forms cause people to act without the constraints of normal society.

“In the case of expressed hostilities or other deviant actions, the person can avert responsibility for those behaviors, almost as if superego restrictions and moral cognitive processes have been temporarily suspended from the online psyche.”

---Dr. John Suler

That is the kind of information I was looking for with the proposal.

I am also looking to have an interview(s) with a few different people who have personal experiences with the effects of anonymity. While I have my own experiences to share, if I could get an audio recording of someone else sharing theirs, I feel that would make for a far stronger project.