New Directions in Networked Activism and Online Social Movement Mobilization: The Case of Anonymous and Project Chanology A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Patrick C. Underwood June 2009 © 2009 Patrick C. Underwood. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled New Directions in Networked Activism and Online Social Movement Mobilization: The Case of Anonymous and Project Chanology by PATRICK C. UNDERWOOD has been approved for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the College of Arts and Sciences by Howard T. Welser Assistant Professor of Sociology Benjamin M. Ogles Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT UNDERWOOD, PATRICK C., M.A., June 2009, Sociology New Directions in Networked Activism and Online Social Movement Mobilization: The Case of Anonymous and Project Chanology (242 pp.) Director of Thesis: Howard T. Welser The present study explores the structural aspects of online communities and the potential of online communications technologies for social movement mobilization. This is accomplished through an examination of the online collective known as Anonymous and this group’s social movement activism targeted against the Church of Scientology. The research is primarily concerned with answering questions of how the social structural contexts of Anonymous as an online community influenced the growth and development of Project Chanology, how Anonymous is able to establish insider status and group boundaries without access to traditional markers of identity, and what, if any, form of leadership developed within Chanology. To answer these questions, a hybrid methodology consisting of a qualitative case study and network analysis is developed. Results indicate that Project Chanology was a highly fluid movement possessing an informal, cell based leadership structure and that Anonymous was able to achieve stable boundaries by leveraging mastery over the group’s esoteric culture as a marker of insider status. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Howard T. Welser Assistant Professor of Sociology 4 Dedication To my mother and father. I owe everything to you. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to offer the most heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the members of my thesis committee. To Dr. Welser, your constant advice, suggestions, and sense of humor about the project were invaluable. To Dr. Shelly, thank you for your guidance and for letting me know when I was being overly ambitious. And to Dr. Brown, thank you for all your advice and the valuable perspective you brought to the project. I cannot thank the committee enough for all of their help. Finally I would like to thank the department of Sociology and the department faculty for all that I have learned and for all the opportunities I have been given. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 3 DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 5 LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. 9 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................... 19 First Research Question ................................................................................................ 19 Second Research Question ............................................................................................ 22 Third Research Question .............................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 29 Online Communities Defined ....................................................................................... 30 Online Identity .............................................................................................................. 48 The Online Self ......................................................................................................... 48 The Production of Group Identity ............................................................................. 49 Production of Group Boundaries .............................................................................. 52 Online Social Movement Activism ............................................................................... 55 Historical Definition of Social Movements .............................................................. 55 The Use of Online Communications Technologies by Social Movements .............. 60 Historical Conflicts with Scientology ....................................................................... 66 7 Social Network Analysis in Online Settings ................................................................. 68 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 72 Selection of Methodological Techniques ..................................................................... 72 Qualitative Case Study .................................................................................................. 73 Selection of Research Sites ....................................................................................... 78 Qualitative Data Collection ....................................................................................... 83 Network Analysis ......................................................................................................... 92 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 93 Overall Network Measures ....................................................................................... 96 Nodal Attributes ........................................................................................................ 99 CHAPTER 5: RESULTS ................................................................................................ 110 A Narrative Account of Chanology ............................................................................ 110 Precedents ............................................................................................................... 111 Chanology Conceived ............................................................................................. 117 Online Attacks ........................................................................................................ 129 Addition of Offline Tactics ..................................................................................... 142 Network Data .............................................................................................................. 161 CHAPTER 6: ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 169 First Research Question .............................................................................................. 169 Second Research Question .......................................................................................... 179 Third Research Question ............................................................................................ 186 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 204 8 Caveats ........................................................................................................................ 209 Future Directions for Research ................................................................................... 213 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 217 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 222 APPENDIX A: SCRIPT FOR ANALYSIS OF NETWORK DATA ............................ 233 APPENDIX B: CHANOLOGY RELATED WEB SITES .............................................. 240 9 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Selected Network Attributes ...........................................................................166 Table 2: Degree Related Network Measures ................................................................167 Table 3: Influence Related Network Measures .............................................................167 Table 4: Clustering Variables .......................................................................................168 Table 5: Community Involvement Variables… ............................................................168 10 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Activity of selected web sites ..........................................................................81 Figure 2: Posting volume for “Project Chanology” ........................................................96 Figure 3: Complete cyclic triad .......................................................................................99 Figure 4: Site traffic at www.scientology.org 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