The International Journal of Trolling and Online Participation 1(2)

Foreword for the Special Issue on Anonymous

Niki Lambropoulos1
The last two decades the real world has been expanded due to the
extension of the borders of the real. Mixed realities utilised for major
global human virtual gathering and production have created a mental Net
of information around the physical one and in the global wires. Individual,
Group and Community evolution was based on two main factors:
Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) and the use of new
technologies. LPP is the process of social based on engagement and
practice. Also, participation in global groups and communities involves
the use of tools, new technologies, used within cultural practices and carry
a substantial portion of that practice's heritage. The meaning and
signification of such processes is related to the social and cultural ground
and imitated activities so to improve our capability to deal with increasing
complexity of the expanding mixed reality ecosystems. This digital
ecosystem is associated to users behaviour, personality, physicality and
digitality resulting in the merge of the urban and the cyber space; the local
and the global; multi- and self- communication; the need to connect and
trust other users in smaller or bigger groups, communities and social
networks. Such interconnectedness revolved around common interests
and passions implies different levels of social power, that is not been
utilised to its full potential yet.
The objective of this Special Issue follows Anonymous community vision,
aiding in the creation of common ground. Anonymous is a community of
activist and hacktivist entities that operate anchored in ideas and beliefs
rather than directives, using the community social power to shake
governmental status. The contents in this special issue are related to
cyberculture, e-politics, internet psychology and sociology, multimedia
studies and political science to name a few, providing alternative mixed
reality perspectives. Instead of being lost in digital flood, technologies and
1

Global Operations Division, UK, nikilambropoulos@gmail.com

The International Journal of Trolling and Online Participation 1(2)

methods can support our responsive interactions so to experience our
world as an entity and act upon as an entity. The Internet of Humans and
the Internet of Things is the common ground for massive actions.
Increasing interconnectedness implies increasing our perception and
comprehension space for groups, communities and networks, converging
in mutual actions. These are, and not limited to, the following: (a)
direction, motivation and activation based on common purpose; (b)
knowledge, meaning and signification acquisition; (c) expanded skills and
competencies; (d) engagement in massive creative flow and related
activities; (e) increased sense of trust and belonging; expanded lifelong
learning and sharing experiences; and (f) expanded consciousness. There
is a sense of responsibility for authoring the mindedness of the future, as
with a social engineering project. Everything that exists on the Net is a
building block to forward our reality.