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