TY - BOOK

T1 - The Social Productivity of Anonymity

T2 - Special Issue of Ephemera Journal

A2 - Bachmann, Götz

A2 - Knecht, Michi

A2 - Wittel, Andreas

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - In a process that started decades ago, a multiplicity of forces is creating a slow, but steadily rising storm against anonymity. Discourses of transparency and accountability often describe anonymity as a threat. Technologies such as the IP-address-based Internet, sensory devices, and machine learning techniques further undermine anonymous encounters. In an age of near ubiquitous surveillance, anonymity is under attack. But what is at stake in such discourses and developments? Based on the premise that anonymity is always socially productive and always socially produced, this special issue draws attention to anonymity as a social form that demands renewed attention. The contributions explore its temporalities, its transformative powers, and its entanglements with public spheres, property relations, and practices of person making.

AB - In a process that started decades ago, a multiplicity of forces is creating a slow, but steadily rising storm against anonymity. Discourses of transparency and accountability often describe anonymity as a threat. Technologies such as the IP-address-based Internet, sensory devices, and machine learning techniques further undermine anonymous encounters. In an age of near ubiquitous surveillance, anonymity is under attack. But what is at stake in such discourses and developments? Based on the premise that anonymity is always socially productive and always socially produced, this special issue draws attention to anonymity as a social form that demands renewed attention. The contributions explore its temporalities, its transformative powers, and its entanglements with public spheres, property relations, and practices of person making.

KW - Media and communication studies

KW - anonymity

KW - social productivity

KW - surveillance

KW - transparency

M3 - Special Journal issue

VL - 17

T3 - Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization

BT - The Social Productivity of Anonymity

PB - Warwick Business School

ER -