Progress Report for 9/25: 4chan, dead leaves and Foucault

Some new stuff to talk about.

TECH
1. Jon had suggested Thwonk, a site that allows users to customize their own Web site. The issue with Thwonk is that, at this stage, it doesn't have any modules, so you basically build a mailing list with .js scripts you write from scratch. I had hoped to port a version of Trust/Risk to a mailing list community, but that's not so important right now.

2. Discovered a promising platform for the Trust/Risk backend, an open source project called Kareha (Japanese-language lesson: It means "dry leaves") which promises to provide something similar to - (hard swallow) - 4chan. Yes, the system I will be using for Trust/Risk is essentially the same as the backend for 4chan. Here's another leap: I think 4chan is a perfect example of an anonymous community. I'll probably do some deeper writing about this as I get into the theoretical backend of this project.

CONCEPT
1. Did some exploration of Foucault, surveillance and behavior on social networks to justify why this community should be anonymous, spotlighting some of the drawbacks of visibility on social networks. It's by no means a solid academic essay, just a sketch in advance of one, but I'm posting it here anyway. (Nevermind the 9/01/09 date, that's just so longer texts will always be at the bottom of the blog feed).