• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.63-74
• /
• 2009

There have been many previous studies about an effect of anonymity on self control behavior. However the previous studies are on the aspect of results such as the usefulness, the problems of cyber crime or a lack of trust by anonymity. This study identifies the accurate definition of the objective technical anonymity and subjective social anonymity. And it reveals the relationship among technical anonymity, social anonymity, community tie, and self control as an effect of anonymity. The result of survey shows that technical anonymity affects self control through social anonymity and the relationship between technical and social anonymity is affected by community tie. This study presents how the anonymity affects individual behaviors. So it can be used as a reference to the policy on anonymity of the internet.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.75-83
• /
• 2015

Purpose - This study aims to identify the effects of communication cues, anonymity, and social presence on group polarization in computer-mediated communication (CMC) settings. Extant literature has introduced some theoretical backgrounds of social presence and SIDE (Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects) to explain the effects of communication cues and anonymity. The concept of social presence emphasized the mediating role on communication cues and anonymity. However, most literature did not measure social presence and compare group polarization of all condition groups. This does not sufficiently explain the result of group polarization. Research design, data, and methodology - We believe that the direct impact of anonymity on group polarization can provide a more admissible and clearer explanation for the results. In addition, this study categorizes anonymity into two levels, as anonymity of group and anonymity of self. To justify the anonymity view, a laboratory experiment was conducted. The experiment was conducted in communication cues settings (visual cue; without visual cue) and anonymity settings (identified; anonymous). Each of the four settings has 10 groups consisting of five subjects each (total 200 subjects). The subjects are undergraduates from a large university, majoring in business. All experimental procedures and calculations of choice shift and preference change follow the literature. Results - First, the removal of visual cues does not produce a significant impact on group polarization, which cannot be explained by the social presence view. Second, the anonymous condition does not significantly affect group polarization, which also cannot be explained by the social presence view. However, the anonymous condition directly affects group polarization. Specifically, anonymity of self has a stronger effect on group polarization than anonymity of group. The result explains about the leading factor affecting group polarization. This study examines another view of how computer-mediated communication may be associated with group polarization. The process and outcome data from the experiment reveal that group polarization is not affected by level of social presence, but by level of anonymity. Group discussions conducted with visual cue CMC setting and identified CMC setting result in weaker group polarization. Conversely, group discussions conducted without visual cue CMC setting and anonymous CMC setting lead to stronger group polarization. The results of the study have the following implications. First, they provide clues for business organizations to design the most appropriate media conditions and preemptive social conditions to implement when making group decisions through CMC, to maximize achievements, generate amicable agreements, or actively share information. Second, this study can be useful in analyzing different adverse effects generated through Internet use. Conclusions - This research can help explain discussions and decision-making actions on Internet forums, which have recently increased, as well as providing a foundational basis in newly establishing policies for the forums. Finally, it should be noted that many other factors such as group size, topics, and group history may affect group polarization. These should be examined in future studies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.14 no.8
• /
• pp.101-112
• /
• 2016

Purpose - The objective of this study is to identify the effects of the communication cues and anonymity on group polarization in mobile communication settings, both in terms of route and extent. Research design, data and methodology - Laboratory experiments were conducted to achieve the above research objective; the effect of communication cues on group polarization with social presence as mediation and the direct effect of anonymity, social presence, and perceived cohesion were analyzed. The experiments were conducted by the participation of 240 people, who were divided into 48 groups of 5 people. Results - According to the results, the difference in intergroup polarization due to communication cues and anonymity was insignificant. From this analysis, the structural equation model, communication cues and anonymity did not affect group polarization through social presence. Moreover, anonymity did not affect group polarization through perceived cohesion; however, anonymity directly affected group polarization. Conclusions - This research can help to explain the discussions and the related decision-making actions on internet forums, which have recently come to the rise as well as provide foundational basis in newly establishing policies for the forums.

• 한국경영정보학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.06a
• /
• pp.680-689
• /
• 2007

The objective of this paper is to contemplate a possible alternative to the examination, published as a research article in Information Systems Research(Sia et al. 2002), of the effects of communication cues, anonymity, and social presence on group polarization in computer-mediated communication(CMC) settings. Sia et al. introduced the concept of social presence to explain the effects of communication cues and anonymity on group polarization, but we believe that anonymity alone provides a clearer explanation of the results. This paper classifies levels of anonymity to provide possible explanations for Sia et a1. (2002)'s results and presents the results of a new experiment to confirm our explanation. We also want to emphasize that our comments are not intended to disparage the usefulness of social presence as a mediating variable to explain group polarization; our intention instead IS to encourage further investigation to better understand group polarization in CMC settings.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.257-281
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of social anonymity on community quality and find out mediating factors that affect the relationship between social anonymity and community quality in online community sites. This study focuses on the factors such as self expression, self control, and community ties to investigate their mediating roles on the relationship between social anonymity and community quality. Also, discussion quality and information quality are used to measure online community quality. The results of this study show that social anonymity is directly related to discussion quality but not related to information quality. As for the mediating effects, self expression, self control and community ties are all shown to have strong mediating effects on the social anonymity and community quality relationship.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.25-36
• /
• 2018

Anonymity plays an increasingly important role on social media. This is reflected by more and more applications enabling anonymous interactions. However, do social media users behave different when they are anonymous? In our research, we investigated social media services meant for solely anonymous use (Jodel) and for widely spread non-anonymous sharing of pictures and videos (Instagram). This study examines the impact of anonymity on the behavior of users on Jodel compared to their non-anonymous use of Instagram as well as the differences between the user types: producer, consumer, and participant. Our approach is based on the uses and gratifications theory (U>) by E. Katz, specifically on the sought gratifications (motivations) of self-presentation, information, socialization, and entertainment. Since Jodel is mostly used in Germany, we developed an online survey in German. The questions addressed the three different user types and were subdivided according to the four motivation categories of the U>. In total 664 test persons completed the questionnaire. The results show that anonymity indeed influences users' usage behavior depending on user types and different U> categories.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.23-33
• /
• 2011

The purpose of the study is to investigate the structural relations between variables which give influences on cyber-violence. On the basis of literal materials, those variables as self-control ability, social identity, and norm consciousness are selected as the variables of having influences on cyber-violence, and the analysis is focused on the influence that anonymity, the representative characteristic of Internet, gives them. The validation of the Model is to be done through AMOS 6.0, and the degree of Model validity is to be estimated through the values of ${\chi}^2$, RMSEA, CFI, NNFI. As the result of the analysis, it is found that social identity and norm consciousness are direct causes of cyber-violence. Anonymity does not have any direct relations with it, but it indirectly gives influences on cyber-violence, for it gives some influences on social identity and norm consciousness. That is, anonymity is a cause of weakening social identity and degrading norm consciousness, by which, it is assumed, cyber-violence is triggered.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2020

Online rumor creates psychological stress and image loss for victims. Prior studies related to online rumor did not consider the online environmental factor, despite the fact that online rumor occurs in the online space. Therefore, this study tried to investigate the influence of online characteristics on online rumor. This study considered perceived anonymity, lack of social presence, and perceived dissemination as online characteristics. We established and demonstrated a research model in which online characteristics affect online rumor behavior through attitude toward online rumor. This study obtained the sample of 201 social network users based on the survey and verified the research model using PLS tool. The results provided that perceived anonymity and perceived dissemination influenced online rumor behavior through attitude toward online rumor. On the other hand, lack of social presence was not significant. The findings of this study provide the fact that an individual's online rumor behavior can be caused by online characteristics. This study suggests that we pay attention to the role of perceived anonymity and perceived dissemination for online rumor behavior.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.63-86
• /
• 2019

As the use of ICT became a part of daily social life, online community has emerged as a new type of social organization. Online community is a virtual space which enables many people to participate and contribute together to collective knowledge. Anonymity in online communities can encourage active social participation by people with various social constraints, however, anonymity can also lead to serious social pathology. As a result, it is necessary to study on what is fundamentally influencing human behavior and how people's behavior is controlled in anonymous online community. This study focuses on human identity and investigate the factors affecting human behavior control in anonymous online environment by examining various aspects of identity in online discussion community. This study empirically verifies the causal relationship between factors, including social & technical anonymities, various identity dimensions, intrinsic motivation to participate in the community, group norm conformity, and quality of discussion. It also analyzes the difference between groups by the level of anonymity, gender, age, community usage period, and discussion topic. Based on the findings, this research provides theoretical and practical implications for online community management strategies and a better culture on Internet discussion.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.69-80
• /
• 2007

To protect personal information when releasing data, a general privacy-protecting technique is the removal of all the explicit identifiers, such as names and social security numbers. De-identifying data, however, provides no guarantee of anonymity because released information can be linked to publicly available information to identify them and to infer information that was not intended for release. In recent years, two emerging concepts in personal information protection are k-anonymity and $\ell$-diversity, which guarantees privacy against homogeneity and background knowledge attacks. While these solutions are signigicant in static data environment, they are insufficient in dynamic environments because of vulnerability to inference. Specially, the problem appeared in record deletion is to deconstruct the k-anonymity and $\ell$-diversity. In this paper, we present an approach to securely anonymizing a continuously changeable dataset in an efficient manner while assuring high data quality.