The founder of PostSecret is coming to campus November 1. In my RHE 309K, we talked about PostSecret quite a lot. As a community art project, it interestingly updates 60s and 70s mail art. I'm also interested in how it uses a blog as a public art space, and how it constructs its public.

From a blogging perspective, it's also interesting as it has essentially an infinite number of unique authors. The near-absence of "Frank," or the editorial voice who is actually posting everything to the site (or the ways in which he's present?) is also interesting. (And then he does live book signings, which is a little weird, I think.)

It's also kind of fun to try to categorize posts to see what people most frequently keep/confess as secrets. What kinds of secrets are people exposing? (Take a quick scan; I notice a huge number of secrets about sex and a huge number about relationships with relatives, often guilt about neglecting those relationships.) Are PostSecret secrets an example of the "open secret"? I'm not sure they are, exactly, but the question is interesting.

One variation on the theme that I especially like depicts a scribbled-out secret and below it, the text, "If you want to know my secret, you could always ask." Virtuality and intimacy, intimacy and community....