Collectives attempting to self-organize without relying on managerial control can leverage open, digital networks to foster information exchange and agility. But, as collectives grow, the open boundaries that enable the mobilization of participants and rapid exchange of ideas can give rise to new organizing challenges that make collective action untenable. We examine this tension by exploring how networked activists self-organize through open, digital networks to achieve shared aims without belonging to a common organization that supports their cause. With a seven-year, inductive field and archival study, we capture how activists from the Anonymous collective organized 70 protest actions while struggling to integrate newcomers and coordinate increasingly complex activities. Rather than succumb to chaos or managerial control, Anonymous learned to self-organize, gradually abandoning normative forms of control in favor of forms of architectural control. By creating a participation architecture—a sociotechnical framework that empowered technical experts and unobtrusively channeled newcomers to designated forums—networked activists enhanced their collective ability to coordinate complex, interdependent actions at scale. Our grounded theoretical model reveals how the challenges of self-organizing emerge with rapid growth and how these can be overcome by configuring architectural control.

试图在不依靠管理控制的情况下进行自我组织的集体可以利用开放的数字网络来促进信息交换和敏捷性。但是，随着集体的成长，开放的边界可以动员参与者并迅速交换思想，这会引起新的组织挑战，使集体行动难以为继。我们通过探索网络活动家如何通过开放的数字网络自我组织以实现共同目标而又不属于支持其事业的共同组织，来研究这种紧张关系。通过为期7年的归纳性现场和档案研究，我们记录了匿名团体的积极分子如何组织70次抗议活动，同时努力整合新移民并协调日益复杂的活动。与其屈服于混乱或管理控制，匿名者学会了自我组织，逐渐放弃了规范的控制形式，转而采用了建筑控制形式。通过创建一个参与体系结构（一种社会技术框架，该框架赋予了技术专家权力，并毫不扰动地将新来者引导到指定的论坛），网络活动家增强了他们协调大规模，相互依赖的行动的集体能力。我们扎根的理论模型揭示了自组织的挑战是如何随着快速增长而出现的，以及如何通过配置体系结构控制来克服这些挑战。通过创建一个参与体系结构（一种社会技术框架，该框架赋予了技术专家权力，并毫不扰动地将新来者引导到指定的论坛），网络活动家增强了他们协调大规模，相互依存的大规模行动的集体能力。我们扎根的理论模型揭示了自组织的挑战是如何随着快速增长而出现的，以及如何通过配置体系结构控制来克服这些挑战。通过创建一个参与体系结构（一种社会技术框架，该框架赋予了技术专家权力，并毫不扰动地将新来者引导到指定的论坛），网络活动家增强了他们协调大规模，相互依赖的行动的集体能力。我们扎根的理论模型揭示了自组织的挑战是如何随着快速增长而出现的，以及如何通过配置体系结构控制来克服这些挑战。