Flash mob in Dolores Park

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a flash mob in Dolores Park, in San Francisco. I also expect that cheesebikini will have some reporting on the event; it seems to cover them very well.

An IFTF resarcher was there, and sent her impressions of the event:

My partner and I participated in a smart mob this last weekend. The goal: congregate in Dolores Park for a quick game of "Duck, Duck, Goose." In attendance were about 200 locals.

The process itself was fun--it was great to be doing such a silly task with strangers and neighbors that you would otherwise never meet. It was also fascinating to see the mob quickly coalesce out of "nothing" -- the process was much more *efficient* than a top-down style of milling about and waiting for instructions. It's an interesting phenomenon of a mob whose members are still individuals with agency.... It's a great introduction to the idea of smart mobs, and it should be apparent to any participant how this process could be efficiently used for other means, such as political action, cleaning up neighborhoods, and so on. It'll be interesting to see how the lesson is applied.....

The only downside of the smart mob was the secrecy--we were not "allowed" to tell bystanders what we were doing, that this was intended to be a flash mob, etc. The official word was that this would add to the sense of randomness and whimsy to the event....but there is another, more elitist interpretation of why we would be withholding information from others. (You know, only the Cool Kids get to know what's happening, and everyone else has to stand around wondering, "what the hell?!?!?"")

I keep mulling this over, as the coolness factor really seemed to go against the spirit of all sorts of people running together, pell-mell in Dolores Park, laughing and smiling. I hope the call to secrecy fades away as people continue to experiment with these mobs. I can envision a more chaotic and whimsical urban area, where people jump into flash mobs as they encounter them throughout their day.

[Many thanks to Leah!]

[from Relevant History]