Final Thesis Proposal

Adam Church
IML 346
IML THESIS PROPOSAL

I. TITLE: “In Lulz We Trust”

II. ABSTRACT: I am investigating a largely unacknowledged or unknown internet subculture called “anonymous,” where internet subversives and cyber-terrorists congregate and pursue “lulz.” Many of those who call themselves “anonymous” are children, and more often than not they seem to have come by their infamy innocently enough, accidentally. However, substantial illegal and otherwise questionable internet activity arises from websites like 4chan.org, an online forum for posting images where so-called delinquent hackers congregate. Thanks to their ingenuity, the people behind this website remain mostly anonymous, and any posted content is erased after a very short while. The majority of the activity could be described as childish indulgence or pranking, but there exists a very disturbing underbelly. With a daily user base over 7 million, the frequency of identity theft, piracy, and even child pornography, is concerning to say the least. Sometimes the overall behavior is pointless and absurd, but actions often allude to a vigilante mentality, with strong tendencies towards the sadistic, perverse, or macabre. In any case, the actions and perceptions from without of anonymous are changing the landscape of the future, impacting everything from internet law to the software coding/authoring to the very way people interact online, the ways they understand the virtual as it bleeds more and more into the real.

III. DESCRIPTION:
1.Genre – Docu-Narrative Experiential

Methodology – I’ve conducted first hand research in a kind of ethnological, sociological mode. I’ve been interviewing people in the groups, and people who are authorities on the subject. Also, I’m using pre-existing theoretical frameworks to motivate and clarify the issues.

Delivery Format – A website, mimicking the aesthetic and interface of donniedarkofilm.com, where the user follows a loose narrative that both explains the subject matter and illustrates its relevance to society at large.

2. Project Goals – I feel this project needs to be realized in multimedia because so much of the activity on these websites is content driven. It’s difficult to convey the significance of a picture or video clip, of which the production is never ending in “anonymous”, when confined to a text filled essay. The viewer will hopefully take from this project a greater awareness of online activity, knowledge of the subversive undercurrents of these forums, and a sense of their significance in both the day-to-day and in other realms such as politics. I feel this project is valuable in an academic context because no one is really looking at the intersection of convergence culture and online networking. The soul of humanity is laid bare through the myriad activities and content of forums like 4chan, and I believe this evidences a larger change in the collective consciousness and structure of society.

3. Project Significance – These groups are pushing the boundaries of current internet law and shaping its future. I aim to both create an awareness of and open up for discussion the social and political significance of lulz. I hope as well to shed light on this often overlooked section of society. My research has applications across a number of levels, from issues of privacy rights, to cyber crime, to the role of identity on the internet as individuality seems more and more to be assimilated into this anonymous culture.

IV. TIMELINE: I will have completed all of my research by the start of next semester. As well I will have a model of the basic structure of the website. Production will begin in January of 2008 and finish in the fall of that year.

V. BUDGET: So far, I’ve spent roughly $500 on travel and another $500 on materials. I don’t anticipate putting much more into this, but I may travel to interview a few more people. The upper cap is $2000, though I intend to keep costs to a minimum because this is all out of my own pocket.

VI. CONFIRMED ADVISORS: Bill Whittington, Holly Willis

VII. PRESENTATION/DISTRIBUTION PLANS: Beyond the IML class presentations, I will publish the website and then wave goodbye.

VIII. PRODUCTION RESOURCES: So far I have been working on a fairly basic level with a DV cam and a shotgun mic to record things. Future interviews may be either video or audio only. I know I will be using Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, After Effects/Motion. I will also need to learn and employ web software and Flash.

IX. PRIOR RELATED WORK: This semester I wrote a fairly weighty term paper on the subject of internet censorship, and the research I did in preparation for that paper will be of particular aid to me here. Last semester I sort of created a machinema for the purposes of a Second Life critical analysis, but that is only connected in that it familiarized me with internet cultures. Further, the only known public acknowledgment of, or address to, my topic is a very biased, mis-information laden FOX 11 news report. There is no previous academic work in the field of “anonymous”.

X. RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY: selected works from Danah Boyd, Katherine Hayles, Henry Jenkins, Georges Bataille, Guy Debord, Michel Foucault, Bakunin, and possible more as I come across them.