Instant Science

Here you can find some personal reflections on issues concerning my professional interests.

These include Business Process Management, Organization Design, and the use of information technology in a wide sense.

Disclaimer: This blog is not an official Gartner publication. The content represents my personal point of view, but not necessarily the official standpoint of my employer.

Any comments are welcome!

Monday, December 13, 2010

"Hacker Group" Anonymous

The recent operations against Wikileak opponents and anti-piracy organizations have brought Anonymous back into the media spotlight. However, it seems that many journalists do not understand the nature of Anonymous and its structure (or absence thereof). They frequently use the term "Hacker Group", but this is actually not right.

I would prefer the term "Fluid Organization" to describe Anonymous. A fluid organization is constantly evolving with regard to its structure and its members. There are no clear borders, no defined hierarchies. Instead, its members temporarily organize around a task or cause at hand, and the temporary structure is abandoned, once the objective has been achieved.

Any comments, or better ideas on the topic?

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