The social value of anonymity on campus: a study of the decline of Yik Yak

Abstract

This paper considers the social value of anonymity in online university student communities, through the presentation of research which tracked the final year of life of the social media application Yik Yak. Yik Yak was an anonymous, geosocial mobile application launched in 2013 which, at its peak in 2014, was used by around two million students in the US and UK. The research we report here is significant as a mixed method study tracing the final year of the life of this app in a large UK university between 2016 and 2017. The paper uses computational and ethnographic methods to understand what might be at stake in the loss of anonymity within university student communities in a datafied society. Countering the most common argument made against online anonymityits association with hate speech and victimisationthe paper draws on recent conceptual work on the social value of anonymity to argue that anonymity online in this context had significant value for the communities that use it. This study of a now-lost social network constitutes a valuable portrait by which we might better understand our current predicament in relation to anonymity, its perceived value and its growing impossibility.

Ontological Transparency, (In)visibility, and Hidden Curricula: Critical Pedagogy Amidst Contentious Edtech

“…Yet, there were several instances of the direct pedagogical application of invisibility being expressed in the data, such as the creation of places to ‘explore without being observed’. This position of (in)visibility largely aligns with research emerging on the social value of anonymity online (Bayne et al 2019 ) suggesting the need for approaches to teaching that acknowledge the increasing datafication of education and provide an alternative narrative to that increasingly pervasive data-driven ‘hidden architecture’ of higher education (Williamson 2018 ).…”

“…This suggests potentially a diversification of pedagogical practices that stimulates movement between visibility and invisibility. For invisibility, this involves capturing the social value of anonymity online (Bayne et al 2019 ) through anonymous discussion and collaboration as well as the creation of space that allows for exploration without being observed. Additionally, embracing invisibility becomes an issue of critical praxis as we have the opportunity to advance alternative narratives to the increasing surveillance of teacher and student activity ‘by recognising the value of the sensibilities of anonymity, ephemerality and unreachability’ (Bayne et al 2019 : 65).…”

Surveillance Imaginaries: Learning from Participatory Speculative Fiction

“…The rise and fall of the social platform YikYak, and its use amongst university students, illustrates this. Bayne et al (2019) describe how the platform was redesigned to require usernames and logins, ostensibly in response to accusations that its anonymity (combined with its hyperlocal functionality) facilitated harassment and abuse. 2 Contrary to this rhetoric, they observe that Yik Yak produced opportunities for "peer support, empathy and community building" and was widely and extensively used by students until the point where it was no longer completely anonymous (Bayne et al 2019: 99).…”

Digital student agency: Approaching agency in digital contexts from a critical perspective

“…Students, then, are managed as a collective group and assumed to have the same relationship with each of their peers. Following Bayne et al (2019), students might turn to acts of resistance if they cannot control their selfrepresentation. Similarly, research has found limited options for self-representation to decrease student engagement (Stenalt, 2021).…”