Creative Gallery: "Around the Country with Post Secret"

This Google map depicts the popular Post Secret project.

All secrets shown were received by Frank Warren at his home in Maryland. What is most interesting is to know that all of these secrets were sent to the same place:
Frank Warren's house
13345 Copper Ridge Road
Germantown, Maryland 20874.

As the blue routes are drawn from the sender to Frank Warren in Maryland, it is shown that many of these secrets follow the same path on their journey.

The locations with blue flags and routed by red lines are the following of the Post Secret Event Tour 2009 for the month of October 2009.

Have fun!





View Around the Country with Post Secret in a larger map

Creative Gallery: Google Maps

For my creative gallery, I am creating a "Google map" of all secrets sent to Post Secret in the month of November, 2005. I have found these secrets by accessing the post secret archive. I have taken it upon myself to place the secrets on the map where I find appropriate with the story the secret is telling. I also Have placed "route lines" visualizing the distance between Frank Warren's house in Maryland and where the secrets are coming from. The map will also show the image of the secret on each location.

I think this is an interesting approach to take and am hoping you do too.



View Love Always, Post Secret in a larger map

Class 11/17

What I did in class today....

Class Activity 11/17 - My Video

Final Essay - Collaborative Authorship

Caitlin Lewis

English 303

Collaborative Authorship

Authorship and authorship rights are very gray area subjects with a number of different ideas behind them. An author is a person who gives existence to thoughts in the form of words or gives existence to anything in art or writing. Authorship is defined as what determines the responsibility for what is created and by who. While both seem so easy to define, there are a number of different ways people view authorship and what it means to them. Delving further into this subject of authorship, I have chosen to look deeper into the special form of authorship, collaborative authorship, and anonymity.

The act of co-creating something while consulting with a group of people to create the project can easily define what collaborative authorship is and how easily it works together. What first came to mind when discussing collaborative authorship was the past and present New York Time’s best selling community art project, Post Secret. The Post Secret community art project can be defined within authorship as creative collaboration from millions of different people that submit their own personal secrets, anonymously on a postcard.

Frank Warren, the collaborator, created the Post Secret project in 2005. The idea for this project was very simple; for numerous people to embellish a post secret while portraying a secret of their own that had never before been revealed. Frank Warren handed out hundreds of blank self-addressed post cards to his home in Maryland to strangers in the Washington D.C. area; there were no restrictions made regarding the content of the secret but that it must have never been spoken before. As the project soon received local, national, and international media coverage the project grew bigger. The secrets were compiled by becoming books, websites, and series of events hosted by Frank Warren himself. Frank Warren is the creator of this community art project that has brought up many points between his project, Post Secret, and collaborative authorship.

In just four years, Frank Warren has released five different Post Secret books that have all been available worldwide. The first book, PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives, was released on December 1, 2005. TIME Magazine reviewed this book as, "Humanity at its finest... and because of it I am falling in love with the world again." (www.amazon.com) In the next four years, four other Post Secret books have been published and all have been noted as New York Times best sellers. Frank Warren took the project to the next level in 2006, creating the Post Secret blog that is updated weekly for fans who just can't seem to get enough of these anonymous confessions. Yet the question many still ponder, if Frank Waren's name appears on the cover of all books is he being credited as the author or as the collaborator of Post Secret?

The Fair Use Doctrine allows the limited use of copyrighted material without receiving permission from the rights holder. The Fair Use Doctrine also stems from the United States First Amendment, free speech. This doctrine helps to prove the point that Frank Warren is not in anyway stealing the work of the millions that send their artwork to Post Secret each week but he is sharing their artwork, anonymously, with the rest of the world in a number of different medias. (copyright.gov)

The collaboration in Post Secret is so interesting and enticing to readers as it comes from strangers from all across the world, all of these collaborators are interested in inserting themselves into the Post Secret community, anonymously. Self-insertion is a literary device where an author appears within the work of fiction but in disguise. In this case, the author is not in disguise but is completely anonymous to both Frank Warren, the public, and all readers. The creation of the Post Secret blog allowed creative collaboration to go to the next level, giving registered users the ability to leave comments with their own personal feelings. With this ability, there is a remix of the idea of anonymity in this project. These users are revealed to the world with their feelings about other people's secrets and it seems the cycle of collaboration continues by everyone leaving their own creative twist to the community art project.

Post Secret truly takes advantage of the creative process, which is found to be the social process involving new concepts and ideas also by making associations between the creative mind and existing ideas. (www.productiveflourishing.com) The creative process is also a great example of the relationship between Post Secret and collaborative authorship. As discussed in class, hybrid creativity as Lessig explains as, "respects the rights of the creator - both the original creator and the remixer." This hybrid creativity is based upon remixing; creating and remixing different forms of writing. This type of creativity plays a large role in the creation of Post Secret while respecting where the work is actually coming from.

Creative collaboration has been reviewed as such an interesting form of authorship because it allows anyone and everyone interested to become involved in the Post Secret movement. While everyone is actually the author of their own post secret, they are submitting anonymously, which puts the rights to the artwork in Frank Warren’s hands. As all secrets come from different places in the world, it is unique that there is essentially, a secret for everyone, a secret that you will be able to relate to while finding comfort that there is someone out there very similar to yourself. That feeling of comfort that people receive is why anonymous creative collaboration has gotten the Post Secret project as far as it has come in the last few years.

Post Secret has taken creative collaboration to all levels by becoming involved in the trendiest of social networking websites available today such as facebook, twitter, and myspace. These websites have allowed the creator, Frank Warren, to advertise his community art project by allowing fans to "become friends with the project" and provide the community with their own personal opinions. These social networks also allow Frank Warren to advertise the project by itself as well as advertise upcoming Post Secret events around the country. All of these websites allow users and friends to collaborate more to each postcard by providing insight and support to the anonymous users being represented.

The anonymity of the secrets presented is a major part of why Post Secret is so sacred to many fans. It seems that as people publicly broadcast their darkest secrets, it is an empowering way of meeting society as a whole head on. Yet as the secrets are presented anonymously, privacy is broken down while simultaneously the anonymity increases social fragmentation through private data, those revealing feel safe. This is very important as safety is a growing concern in society today. This anonymity also allows readers to seek and find a connection not with one author but with the possibility of millions. The work does not belong to one person but to society as a whole, left open to interpret in their own ways. (www.culturge.com)

As the Post Secret project has grown over the years, it has been said that the project is considered art therapy for many individuals in need of personal attention. Art therapy is often described as expressive therapy while combining the components of the creative process, which is what Post Secret does. Many online Post Secret fans have posted that the Post Secret blog is what gets them through the week, giving them something to look forward to on Sunday mornings, which is when Frank Warren uploads the week's newest secrets. Kitty Campbell from The Carolinian Online sums up Post Secret therapy rather well, "Part therapy, part emotional voyeurism, PostSecret isn't about drawing attention to yourself - that's why the postcards are anonymous. It's about catharsis - cleansing yourself of those dirty little secrets that have bogged you down with guilt, fear, remorse, self-hatred, or have simply nibbled at your heels demanding to know why you can't be honest with yourself. "

While many say that imitation is often the biggest form of flattery, The "Children of Divorce" group based out of Tuscon, Arizona has imitated Post Secret by creating their own project, "Greetings from Splitsville." Greetings From Splitsville, like Post Secret, gives children the chance to send in their post cards, anonymously, by illustrating their feelings about divorce through drawing and multimedia collages but on a PG-13 level. The major difference found between the two projects is the legal rights explained clearly on the "Greetings From Splitsville" website. The rights explain that anonymous contributers give the "Children of Divorce" group legal rights to "use, reproduce, distribute, and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to that postcard at its sole discretion including published books" (http://postcardsfromsplitsville.com/about). Unlike Post Secret, Greetings from Splitsville makes it clear that once postcards are received, they are the owners of your anonymous work which leaves them receiving credit for this anonymous work.

After much analyzation, it has become clear that authorship will continue to evolve over time. More specifically, the Post Secret community art project will continue to evolve as each week's Sunday Secrets are posted on the blog, with millions of new artists contributing to the collaboration of secrets. New projects will continue to be created while mimicking the Post Secret project, collaboratively putting all of these ideas together one can only hope. Frank Warren was quoted, ""Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world" (www.goodreads.com/author/quotes).

Thoughts on the creative gallery

As I understand the creative gallery so far, I am very interested in creating an in depth Google map for my creative gallery. As Post Secret (the theme of my project all semester) is a collaboration of secrets from anonymous authors from all over the world. This Google map will feature images of secrets amongst a number of different locations, allowing you to virtually read Post Secret.

Hopefully this idea is on the right track and will result in a success. I am looking forward to bringing my creativity to the table in this class and think that this will be a lot of fun to create!

- Caitlin

(example of a Google Map)

Story Forking

Look at my story: here

Here is the google docs link to my proposal:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYRbYReA-CShZGd3bXA1ZGJfMjFkOTZkMzNjNw&hl=en

Rough Draft - Collaborative Authorship

Caitlin Lewis

English 303

Rough Draft – Collaborative Authorship

Authorship has become the main topic of discussion and research in the English 303 Multimedia Writing course at West Virginia University. An author is a person who gives existence to thoughts in the form of words or gives existence to anything. Authorship is defined as what determines the responsibility for what is created. While both seem so easy to define, there are a number of different ways people view authorship and what it means to them. Delving further into this subject of authorship, I have chosen to look deeper into the form of authorship, collaborative authorship.

The act of co-creating something while consulting with a group of people to create the project can easily define collaborative authorship. What first came to mind when discussing collaborative authorship was the current New York Time’s best selling community art project, Post Secret. The Post Secret community art project can be defined within authorship as creative collaboration from millions of different people.

Frank Warren, the collaborator, created the Post Secret project in 2005. The idea for this project was very simple; for numerous people to embellish a post secret while portraying a secret that they had never revealed before. Frank Warren handed out hundreds of blank self-addressed post cards to his home in Maryland to strangers in the Washington D.C. area; there were no restrictions made regarding the content of the secret but that it must have never been spoken before. As the project soon received local, national, and international media coverage it grew bigger, becoming books, websites, and series of events. Frank Warren is viewed as the “author” of Post Secret as his name appears on the cover of all books, blogs, and special events or is he only the collaborator? This brought up many points between Post Secret and collaborative authorship.

The Fair Use Doctrine allows the limited use of copyrighted material without receiving permission from the rights holder. This doctrine helps to prove the point that Frank Warren is not stealing the work of the millions that send their artwork to Post Secret each week but he is sharing their artwork, anonymously, with the rest of the world.

The collaboration in Post Secret is so interesting and enticing to readers as it comes from strangers from all over the world, all of these people are interested in inserting themselves into the Post Secret community, anonymously. Self-insertion is a literary device where an author character appears within the work of fiction but in disguise. In this case, the author is not in disguise but is completely anonymous to Frank Warren, the public, and all readers.

Post Secret truly takes advantage of the creative process, which is found to be the social process involving new concepts and ideas also by making associations between the creative mind and existing ideas. The creative process is also a great example of the relationship between Post Secret and collaborative authorship.

Creative collaboration has been reviewed as such an interesting form of authorship because it allows everyone to get involved. While everyone is actually the author of their own post secret, they are submitting anonymously, which puts the rights to the artwork in Frank Warren’s hands. As all secrets come from different places around the world, it is unique that there is essentially, a secret for everyone, a secret that you will be able to relate to while finding comfort that there is someone out there just like yourself. That feeling people receive of comfort is why anonymous creative collaboration has gotten the Post Secret project as far as it has come.

Reflection: So far, I think that my introduction is the strongest asset to my rough draft so far. I think that the flow of my body paragraph ideas are in the right direction , but might need "something else" - just not sure what that something else is... Which brings me to what I believe needs some more work - small details, etc. Or it might be great how it is so far - which is what I hope to hear from you!

What I Think....

I think I am in the same place I was when we last blogged about our feelings on this project - I feel that I have a strong topic which focuses upon collaborative authorship in Post Secret. As far at the essay goes, I think that I am in need of a bit more direction for where I should currently be in the essay process and where we should be heading. Are we each writing our own essay - or - is the class putting together 1 essay as a whole? As far as my own research goes, I believe I am on the right track so far...

I do think that I have come a long way so far this semester in creating this topic into more of a concrete authorship example, not to mention I have been having some fun with it!

LINK TO MAP: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYRbYReA-CShZGd3bXA1ZGJfMjBmZzJiZHJqOA&hl=en

Post Secret Presentation - REVISED & FINAL CUT!

Reflection on Topic

From the research I have gathered regarding Post Secret and anonymous authorship, I feel somewhat confident. I feel confident that this a relevant topic to our class research. I also feel confident in what I have found thus far: how readers feel about secrets being anonymous, the different mediums used in producing Post Secret to the public, etc. What I worry, is that I am not finding enough different information to create into a lengthy research paper.

I am still very interested in the topic I have chosen. Actually, I must admit I am becoming even more excited as the latest book is releasing today! (10/6/09!!!) I will use this release as a part of my research, looking deeply into the reviews the new book will receive, how many copies will have been sold, the overall response of the newest edition to the Post Secret Community.

I am interested in looking more deep into the topic of art therapy + anonymous therapy that Post Secret provides many viewers. I would like to use that opportunity to possibly compare Post Secret anonymous art therapy to the infamous therapy of AA (Alchoholics Anonymous). But I am not sure how this would work with the topic of this project, if that would be on the right track.

Google Docs Presentation - Post Secret Anonymity

Here is my Google Docs Presentation:

Authorship + Post Secret Theory

Authorship is a way of giving responsibility and credit for a piece of written work. A multimedia author collaborates and presents gathered information in the form of multimedia. (websites, books, blogs, texts, music)

With this in mind, Frank Warren, the creator of Post Secret is the epitome of a multimedia author. As he goes on and collects other's secrets, posting them to his website and publishing them in his books.

Michael Foucault began his article with, "In dealing with the "author" as a function of discourse, we must consider the characteristics of a discourse that support this use and determine its differences from other discourses. If we limit our remarks only to those books or texts with authors, we can isolate four different features."

I would like to use this quotation to begi

n my theory which is based upon anonymity and multimedia authorship.

It is clear that Post Secret would not be made possible or anywhere near as interesting if these secrets were not anonymous. The thrill of reading a secret and having something in common with a complete stranger gives many people something to hold onto; hope in this world even.

Frank Warren is sure to use all mediums available, while he created a Post Secret website following the Post Secret Books, Frank has become a member on numerous social networking websites. I think this helps show people (fans) that he really is just like them, interested in hearing what other's have to say, possibly even learning from different things they might have dealt

with. This makes his work easier to find as well as helps to promote different events and other promotions that he has running.

Again, I will quote our reading, " Even within our civilization, the same types of texts have not always required authors..." I think that this really sums up the topic that not every story is in need of a name on it. Looking back on more simplistic times where money was not everything and credit does not mean plastering your name everywhere - Post Secret thrives on this.

Wordle

9/17 Reading Response

I found "The Author Function" to be an interesting article. Interesting to think that the idea of authorship goes back as far as the Middle Ages. From what I understand, it seems that pieces of work were based more upon real things; science than fantasy that is often written about today.

"Authentication no longer required reference to the individual who had produced them; the role of the author disappeared as an index of truthfulness and, where it remained as an inventor's name, it was merely to denote a specific theorem or proposition, a strange effect, a property, a body, a group of elements, or a pathological syndrome."

- My take on this, was that this is when anonymous writings became more popular. This beginning to anonymity has led over lots of time to the state of anonymity the world lives in today. Going back to my research topic of Post Secret - this is quite interesting how much of an effect an author's name may have on the viewer.

"The Death of the Author" was also an interesting short story. I find it strange to think that the author is merely the smallest aspect of the story that readers love to read and that the author continues to diminish in the spotlight. Yet again, it follows the theme our class has been discussing of authorship and anonymity. It seems that the only time an author is actually acknowledged during a novel is if that novel is in fact about the author them-self. The short story stated, "linguistically, the author is never anything more than the man who writes, just as I is no more than the man who says I: language knows a "subject," not a "person," end this subject, void outside of the very utterance which defines it, suffices to make language "work," that is, to exhaust it."

I think this is what literature lacks today, a strong author's name like in the past. In the past author's depended upon their names to sell their books. Names such as Fitzgerald and Jane Austen, well-known names that leave people thinking about the author AND their work, not one or the other as it seems to be in this day in age.

Final Proposal/Bibliography

Post Secret is a community art project created by Frank Warren. This project began as Frank handed out 1,000 self-addressed post cards that included directions. These directions were to let go of your deepest secret by simply writing it on this post card, anonymously; it can include artwork, and mailing it to him. Only about 300 post cards were returned to begin with but he began posting them online which is when the Post Secret project really took off. Frank Warren has published four books full of other people’s secrets since the project started and has a fifth book coming out in October 2009. The main topic of my research project will be Post Secret, a view of online anonymity and the power Post Secret has on a number of different medias. Who really deserved the authorship to Post Secret?

I plan to use this website: http://media.www.carolinianonline.com/media/storage/paper301/news/2006/03/28/Life/Web-Junkie.Postsecret.Art.Or.Therapy-1750628.shtml while asking the question, why does the anonymity make Post Secret so special? While anyone is capable of creating a blog and posting all of their deepest, darkest secrets, why is Post Secret so different? I would like to understand further why not knowing where these secrets come from, whether it is a man or a woman, white or black, make that difference?

I plan to take this research finding out how it works with anonymous work and authorship – who really deserves the recognition? I will research whether or not authorship and plagiarism has been an issue thus far for him. http://www.appscout.com/2008/04/qa_postsecrets_frank_warren_1.php

Most of the secrets received by Frank Warren are posted on his weekly blog: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ as well as his twitter: http://twitter.com/postsecret keeping fans up to date in between book releases. I would like to address the impact popular social networking websites have on the Post Secret project. While it began with only books and blog it has now become a part of the facebook, myspace, and twitter community. I would like to address how Frank Warren has benefited from these networking website.

Coming back to the topic of the strong power Post Secret has over its readers, I would like to address the topic of anonymous therapy that these secrets are providing people with. http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/4/7/3/pages254736/p254736-2.php

Bibliography:

“Post Secret.” http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. 9/12/09.

DeGroot, Jocelyn. “We All Have Secrets.” http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/4/7/3/pages254736/p254736-1.php. 9/14/09.

Monson, Kyle. “Q&A Post Secret’s Frank Warren”=.” http://www.appscout.com/2008/04/qa_postsecrets_frank_warren_1.php. 9/5/09.

Campbell, Kitty. “WEB JUNKIE: PostSecret - art or therapy?” http://media.www.carolinianonline.com/media/storage/paper301/news/2006/03/28/Life/Web-Junkie.Postsecret.Art.Or.Therapy-1750628.shtml. 3/28/06.

Post Secret Bibliography

I have used these few websites so far in beginning research for my topic:

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
This blog created by Frank Warren is the main subject of my research project. This blog is where he posts about 12 secrets that were sent to him via mail per week. Each postcard has a secret accompanied by artwork.

http://postsecretarchive.com/
This website is useful as it goes back years to postsecrets that the compiler, Frank Warren, has recieved. The archive provides information about the ongoing community art project that is held together by anonymous secrets. This site also redirects viewers to post Secret's other social networking sites: twitter, facebook, and myspace

http://www.foundmagazine.com/
Another take on anonymous artwork posted on the Internet and in magazines.

http://www.culturge.com/2009/05/public-anonymity-post-secret-and.html
This article adresses the topic of these secrets being anonymous but viewable by the entire world via books, internet, and events.

Proposal: Post Secret Research

Authorship is often defined as the occupation of writing as well as being the creator of a piece of work. With that in mind, I became even more interested in my favorite weekly blog/community art project, Post Secret created by Frank Warren. While the whole idea of Post Secret is for people to mail their secrets on a post card and mail them anonymously to Frank Warren at his home in Maryland. Frank Warren has published four books full of secrets since the project started and has a fifth book coming out in October 2009. The main topic of my research project will be Post Secret, an analytical view of the popular ongoing art project.

I found it to be intriguing that Frank Warren simply compiles other people’s anonymous secrets and has created them in not only blog and book form but events that people buy tickets for as well. I plan to take this research finding out how it works with anonymous work and authorship – who really deserves the recognition? I will research whether or not authorship and plagiarism has been an issue thus far for him. These secrets are posted on his weekly blog: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ as well as his twitter: http://twitter.com/postsecret keeping fans up to date in between book releases. I am interested in learning more about the process of this project, its effect on readers and avid followers, as well as how Post Secret rethinks authorship itself.

While beginning my research of the infamous community art project, I came across another community art project: www.foundmagazine.com. This project does not post stranger’s secrets but posts things such as letters that never got to the recipients, promotional flyers, to-do lists, and photographs – anything that allows you to become somewhat involved in someone else’s life. This project not only has a website but magazine issues that are for sale featuring the most interesting found items. I think that Found Magazine will be a good comparison to Post Secret, a look at a different spin on annonymous art.

Both of these publications are great examples of anonymous authorship, which will be the basis of my research. I am most interested in seeing the effect these anonymous authors have on other people. This project should be a great way to understand the fine lines of what is and is not seen as plagiarism.

Many of the bookmarks I have found and posted on our class diigo site have been a great help in getting my ideas together. I plan on using a number of these sites while constructing my actual research paper. www.postsecretarchive.com

Class Discussion 9/1/09

The Rise of the Plagiosphere by Edward Tenner

This was quite an interesting article that gave me more of an insight on what exactly our multimedia research is looking for. Both of these articles as well as many of the dingo posts have helped me to understand better what to be looking for in different areas of study.

I found it to be creative in the sense it went back to what "big technology" was in the 1960's. How a simple picture had such an impact on people and was viewed as the greatest technology, it is crazy how every aspect of everyday life has technology involved in some way or another. I think that these new spider movement tools are a chance to save our dying art of language. If operated correctly, it is definite that rates of plagiarism will drop dramatically. This is sort of that "big brother is watching" mindset - people tend to do the right thing when under the impression they are under surveillance.

The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism

By Jonathan Lethem

This article was also interesting but on a different level than the previous article. I consider myself to be a fan of Bob Dylan but never really put together where all of his lyrics were coming from. I like the term used: appropriation for how his songs are formulated. If anything, I would think this makes his music even more of a cultural influence than it already is with the new knowledge of where everything comes from.

The example using The Simpsons episode was very clever and true indeed. As all three of those hit adult cartoons - Family Guy, South Park, and The Simpsons all mimic a current event that might be going on or spoofing a celebrity. South Park has even had an episode, one of my favorites, that spoofs on Family Guy but I would definitely not consider that to be plagiarism. These cartoons are simply their own view of different subjects.