The Specifics of Secrets: A Project Proposal

Since the beginning of the Anonymity Project, I have been searching for a positive side to our subject of research. I found it in Frank Warren's PostSecret project. I will do a case study of possibly the most beautiful and transcendent anonymous community to emerge online. For those of you unfamiliar with PostSecret, it is a website/art project to which anyone can anonymously mail in their deepest, darkest secret on a homemade postcard. Though I have been familiar with the site, I only realized the correlations to the Anonymity Project after reading the posted articles from my classmates. That research allowed me to think more deeply about what is really happening in the PostSecret community.

What are people willing to disclose about themselves behind the cloak of anonymity?

Could this be an element of the Crisis of Significance--in that people might need recognition for their posted secrets, as well as for the secret itself to be made known?

Data for this research will fortunately be very easy to find: archives of weekly secrets are linked, message boards document personal reactions, and Warren's personal blog, YouTube channels, and four books are readily available. Interviews with PostSecret community members and possibly Warren himself are feasible. Sister sites exist in French, German, Spanish, and Korean, so a cross-cultural element is also possible.

The implications of this research could reveal astounding trends in online interactions. Personal connections run deep in the PostSecret community; many even claim that the site has saved their lives in making them feel less alone. Others say that it has restored their faith in humanity. In an online world where anonymity has produced hate, discourse, and things like Anonymous, it will be necessary to keep within our sight something that seems to have transcended the anomie, disconnection, and insignificance that threaten our increasingly technological existence.

Keep checking back for research updates!
-Katie