Oliver spent his time writing thesis by observing people's behaviour

This article is published by Djøfbladet.

Journalist: Laura Brix

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While studying Political Communication and Management at Copenhagen Business School, Oliver Anton applied for a job. There was never a response from the employer.
Instead, an acquaintance approached him one day and said he hoped Oliver Anton would get the job.

This made Oliver Anton - who uses the pronoun 'they' - raise his eyebrows a little.
How did their acquaintances know about the job application?
He did so because the employer had seen on social media that Oliver Anton was friends with someone from the workplace, and therefore the employer had asked who Oliver Anton really was.
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This episode made Oliver Anton start to pay extra attention to what was actually on social media and what they should post in the future. This awareness - and frustration - became the springboard for his thesis.

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"The thesis is about the relationship between being a subject yourself and the amount of data on the internet that somehow tries to create an image of a person as a data subject. At the same time, I have looked at the challenges that can arise between the two,"

On detective work

According to Oliver Anton, it was important to delve into this topic because the internet and social media are so ubiquitous, and therefore it's something we have to deal with.

"When we look at other people online, you have to understand that they are more complex than the image you can get there. And there's definitely some data that goes in a completely different direction than the person you are today because you've evolved," they say.
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The study was based on Oliver Anton stalking five people.
The participants were selected after more than 60 people expressed interest based on an Instagram post about the study.

"I thought it was quite strange that so many people approached me. If a stranger asked if they could stalk me, I'm not even sure I would have said yes."

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In his thesis, Oliver Anton chose to develop and use his own method called the remanufacturing analysis.

"It's basically about analyzing with two different hats on. I started out as a detective exploring social media. It was a lot about using your intuition and curiosity as the most important guide in data collection," they explain and elaborate:

"Afterwards, I put on my interpreter's hat to make it somewhat formalized and try to see how I could transfer all this knowledge to another human being. I tried to see what feeling I got from the person - or the data subject, as I call it - and then hear how they see themselves in relation to it."

For Oliver Anton, working in this way was completely new, and on several occasions it also meant that there was some doubt as to whether it was actually academic work.

"There's not much else to lean on, and people giggle a little when you tell them about it. Because it's kind of a pop culture thing. But it was also incredibly cool, because it really made it my own Thesis, and it meant that it was my own curiosity that was at the center."
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I hope that my Thesis can show others that it is okay to play and be curious when it comes to academic practice.
Oliver Anton, MSc in Political Communication and Management from CBS

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"For God's sake, remember to have fun"

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Oliver Anton chose to extend his thesis period once, but after 13 months they were able to submit the thesis and in October 2020 they defended it with the highest grade.

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"The most important thing for me was that I handed in something that I thought was the coolest thing in the world. It wasn't about just finishing or doing it in the prescribed time. It was more important to me that I did something that I could vouch for in terms of research."

Oliver Anton describes the thesis period as wildly exciting, but also extremely lonely, hard and strange. They always felt that there were multiple perspectives worth delving into, and when the thesis was handed in, it was mostly an empty feeling.
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"I walked around for days thinking that I wanted to investigate further. It was somehow a little baby that I had now given up. It was as if I wasn't really done with it."

Since then, Oliver Anton has also made a point of bringing his Thesis into the spotlight by participating in various podcasts and articles. And today, when they look back on the entire thesis period, a small smile comes to the corner of their mouths. Because the thesis process was, above all, a period where Oliver Anton had a lot of fun and was allowed to unfold his creativity.

"I hope that my Thesis can show others that it's okay to play and be curious when it comes to academic practice. You don't always have to feel so constrained by thousands of years of academic history. You can try to invent something and be a little creative and innovative."
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"I often refer to my Thesis as something very mischievous. I hope it can be an invitation to those who are out there with a weird idea to pursue it. Because it can be done. And remember to have fun, damn it."

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