At long last, I’m pleased to post Show # 237, May 20, my interview with return guest Prof. Gabriella Coleman of McGill University, author of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous. Biella has written a remarkable anthropological study of Anonymous, the ubiquitous collection of technology activists who were born out of the “lulz” (i.e., pranksterism plus). Over many months, Biella got to know an assortment of individuals involved in Anonymous, and through that interaction paints a complex and surprising picture of their operations. In our discussion, we talked about both her research methods and the insights that she developed through her work. In an era of networked interactions that exist on the spectrum from public to secret, Biella’s work is both groundbreaking and essential. I greatly enjoyed our broad discussion.
{Hearsay Culture is a talk show on KZSU-FM, Stanford, 90.1 FM, hosted by Center for Internet & Society Resident Fellow David S. Levine. The show includes guests and focuses on the intersection of technology and society. How is our world impacted by the great technological changes taking place? Each week, a different sphere is explored. For more information, please go to http://hearsayculture.com.}