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<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Call
for papers for an <i>ephemera </i>special issue on:</font></font></p>
<h1 class="" lang="en-GB" align="CENTER"><a name="h.os1jdnbzsy9b"></a><a name="_GoBack"></a>
The social productivity of anonymity</h1>
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<font face="Scala, serif"><b>Issue Editors: </b>Götz Bachmann and
Andreas Wittel</font></p>
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<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Anonymity
is deeply tied to the European values of <font size="3">liberty,
equality </font>and fraternity. Concealing one’s identity can
enable freedom (as in the anonymity of speech), support equality
(e.g. in anonymous application procedures), and provide the basis for
non-reciprocal relationships as expressed in the value of brotherhood
(e.g. asking a stranger for directions). It is capable of traversing
cultural differences and is essential for many contemporary forms of
sharing, communality and collaboration (e.g. commons based peer
production such as Wikipedia entries and open-source software).
However, it is also contested and, indeed, under threat: networked
databases, biometric identification and surveillance technologies
such as CCTV are matched by discourses that condemn anonymity and
celebrate transparency and openness. Legal, technological and moral
imperatives towards transparency contribute to a process in which
anonymity is increasingly under attack. As a consequence, the ‘end
of anonymity’ has been declared in public discourses, not only
since the revelations of Edward Snowden. However, this claim deserves
to be scrutinised a bit further.</font></font></p>
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<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Using
a more analytical perspective, it becomes apparent that anonymity
constitutes a specific form of social relation in which potentially
identifying markers of individuality and difference are dissociated
from specific individuals and collectives. This has the effect of
creating situational, relational and partial forms of unknowability,
invisibility, and untrackability (Nissenbaum, 1999; Ponesse, 2013).
As contemporary societies are increasingly based on networked
infrastructures we face new questions of how information, property
and people can be disconnected. This holds true with regard to
phenomena such as the international activist network Anonymous,
internet-based communication, and forms of ‘algorithmic anonymity’
(Rossiter and Zehle, 2014). The social, moral, and legal significance
of anonymity is also reflected in such controversial domains as baby
drop-off boxes and anonymous births, the anonymous donation of
organs, gametes, and blood, as well as peer reviewing and application
procedures.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Research
into current transformations of anonymity <font size="3">at the
intersecti</font>ons of technologies/infrastructures and politics is
surprisingly thin. Empirical scholarship is fragmented and
theoretical conceptualizations are rare (Nissenbaum, 1999; Frois,
2009; Wiedemann, 2012; Ponesse, 2013). With a perspective on everyday
social and cultural practices future research will be able to build
on a number of ethnographies such as Konrad’s work on egg donation
(2005), Copeman’s comparative inquiries into blood donation (2009),
Frois’ exploration of anonymity in self-help groups (2009), Lock’s
ethnography of organ transplantation (2002), and Coleman’s study of
hackers who operate under the Anonymous label (2010, 2013). While
these studies provide some methodological and theoretical groundwork,
none of them has addressed anonymity in its full complexity, nor have
they linked constellations of anonymity regimes across different case
studies.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">To
collect insights into the ways in which anonymity is modified,
maintained or abandoned in contemporary online-offline worlds, this
special issue will combine three areas of research into anonymity:
(1) research into technologies and infrastructures of information,
communication, surveillance and identification; (2) research into the
regulation, ethics and politics of anonymity; and (3) research into
the everyday practices of anonymity ranging from sperm donation to
social media, from peer review to police work, from political
mobilisation to self-help groups.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">While
anonymity is a deeply ambivalent social form we are particularly
interested in contributions that defend anonymous interactions. Can
we develop a concept of anonymity that emphasises its cultural and
political values and its social productivity? Can we demonstrate that
anonymity enhances, enriches and strengthens the social?</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">We
welcome contributions from a wide range of disciplines, looking for </font></font>
</p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Enquiries
into the technical dimensions of anonymity: What forms of standards,
protocols, software designs, technologies and aesthetics are shaping
anonymity? How are they designed, decided upon, regulated and
changed? </font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Ethnographic
case studies into local formations of anonymity, especially those
that connect online-based forms of anonymity with offline practices.
</font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Case
studies on the macro and micro-politics of anonymity, especially
when anonymity becomes problematic. What undermines anonymity in
specific settings, who develops strategies in its defence and to
what aim?</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Research
into activist tactics and strategies for enabling anonymity, and
attempts to raise the public socio-technical literacy with regard to
managing identifying information (for example cryptoparties).</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Research
into the legal, moral or ethical principles and (historical)
discourses, and how they are enacted, reflected, criticized or
recreated by heterogeneous actors while doing/undoing anonymity.</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Theoretical
and empirical articles on the properties of anonymity, such as
blockages of tracing identification, continuities between past and
present and the prevention of reciprocity, and anonymity’s
duration, (non-)reversibility and dynamics.</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Theoretical
and empirical articles on ways in which anonymity connects to
concepts and practices of the person, the self, the social, of
private/public constellations, of statehood, property and the
commons.</font></font></p>
</li></ul>
<h2 class="" lang="en-GB">Contributions</h2>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.42cm;line-height:115%" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Potential
contributors are asked to write an extended abstract (between 500 and
1000 words). Abstracts should be sent to both editors (goetz.bachmann
[at] <a href="http://leuphana.de">leuphana.de</a> and andreas.wittel [at] <a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a>). The deadline for
the submission of abstracts is <b>15 January 2015</b>. Notification
of acceptance of abstracts will be 1 March 2015, and the deadline for
the submission of full papers is <b>30 September 2015</b>. Please
note that three categories of contributions are invited for the
special issue: articles, notes, and reviews. All submissions should
follow <i>ephemera</i>’s submissions guidelines
(<font color="#00000a"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration:none"><a class="" href="http://www.ephemeraweb.org/journal/submit.htm"><font color="red"><b>MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.ephemeraweb.org" claiming to be</b></font> www.ephemerajournal.org/how-submit</a></span></span></font>).
Articles will undergo a double blind review process.</font></font></p>
<h2 class="" lang="en-GB">References</h2>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Bauman, Z. (2011) ‘Is this
the end of anonymity? From microdrones to the internet, technology is
invading the private sphere – with our encouragement’, <i>The
Guardian</i>, 28 June.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Coleman, E. G. (2010) ‘What
it’s like to participate in Anonymous actions’, <i> The Atlantic</i>,
December.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Coleman, E. G. (2013)
‘Anonymous and the politics of leaking’, in B. Brevini <i><a href="http://et.al">et.al</a>.</i>
(eds.) <i>Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the future of
communications, journalism & society</i>. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Copeman, J. (2009)
‘Introduction: Blood donation, bioeconomy, culture’, <i>Body &
Society</i>,<i> </i>15 (2): 1-28. </font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Frois, C. (2009) <i>The
anonymous society: Identity, transformation and anonymity in 12
steps.</i> Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Fuchs, C. (2009) <i>Social
networking sites and the surveillance society. A critical case study
of the usage of studiVZ, Facebook, and MySpace by students in
Salzburg in the context of electronic surveillance</i>. Salzburg /
Vienna: Research Group UTI.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Hirschauer, S. (2004)
‘Peer-Review-Verfahren auf dem Prüfstand. Zum Soziologiedefizit
der Wissenschaftsevaluation’,<i> Zeitschrift für Soziologie</i>,<i>
</i>33 (1): 62-83.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Kerr, I., V. M. Steeves and C.
Lucock (eds.) (2009) <i>Lessons from the identity trail. Anonymity,
pseudonymity, and identity in a networked society</i>. Oxford / New
York City: Oxford University Press.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Konrad, M. (2005) <i>Nameless
relations. Anonymity, melanesia, and reproductive gift exchange
between British ova donors and recipients</i>. New York: Berghahn.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Levin, T. Y., and P. Weibel
(eds.) (2002) <i>CTRL [SPACE]: Rhetorics of surveillance from
Bentham to Big Brother</i>. Cambridge: MIT Press.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Lock, M. (2001) <i>Twice dead.
Organ transplants and the reinvention of death</i>. Oakland:
University of California Press.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Marx, G. T. (1999) ‘What’s
in a name? Some reflections on the sociology of anonymity’, <i> The
Information Society</i>, 15 (2): 99-112.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Nissenbaum, H. (1999) ‘The
meaning of anonymity in an information age’, <i>The Information
Society</i>, 15(2) 141-144.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Ponesse, J. (2013) ‘Navigating
the unknown: Towards a positive conception of anonymity’, <i>The
Southern Journal of Philosophy</i>, 51 (3): 320-344.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Rossiter, N. and S. Zehle
(2014) ‘Toward a politics of anonymity: Algorithmic actors in the
constitution of collective agency and the implications for global
economic <font style="font-size:11pt">justice movements’,
in M. Parker, G. Cheney, V. Fournier & C. Land (eds.)</font><font style="font-size:11pt"> </font><font style="font-size:11pt"><i>Routledge
companion to alternative organizatio</i></font><font style="font-size:11pt"><i>n</i></font><font style="font-size:11pt">.
London: Routledge.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5cm;margin-bottom:0.11cm" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY">
<font face="Scala, serif"><font>Wiedemann, C. (2012)
‘Irrepresentable collectivity. Anonymous and the technologies of
the common’, in G. Cox and C. U. Andersen (eds.) <i>World of the
news</i>. Aarhus: Digital Aesthetics Research Centre, Aarhus
University.</font></font></p>
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