Abstract

Since the early days of the internet, the Web has provided forums for like-minded people to gather and create virtual communities. These have traditionally been based around forums and chat rooms, but in more recent years new genres of communication have enabled communities to have a greater level of dynamic interaction. As new methods of online communication between individuals and groups emerge (blogs, Twitter, etc.), these new ways of interacting have been integrated into the existing communicative mode. Thus, online collectives are now frequently using more than one genre of communication to further strengthen and build the community.

Many of these online communities are even extending their communication out of the online-only sphere and engaging in real-world rhetoric. Several examples from recent years demonstrate this. One of the most prominent of these groups is the "hacktivist" collective "Anonymous." Since its inception, this group has successfully and consistently planned activities online and then executed them in the real world. This group in particular is significant because it has received attention from the mainstream media as well as worldwide governmental agencies, indicating that it is perceived as a viable source of activity by these influential groups (though whether these activities are ethical or not will not be discussed in this paper).

Primarily using rhetorical models provided in the work of Spinuzzi and Zachry, this paper will examine the rhetorical genres used by Anonmyous and attempt to identify if there is a collection of genres that significantly contributes to the success of the organization. The purpose in doing this is to perhaps identify patterns of communications that could be emulated by other groups to build communities online and then meaningfully activate community members in the real world.

(This is obviously a rough work in progress which I'll be working on during the day. I wrote this up during an all-night marathon of House and while running on caffeine.)