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]

"Pawset"-enabled hunting

This is a touch off-topic, but I thought it too interesting to overlook. People interested in smart mobs and emergent behavior spend a fair amount of time looking to the animal world for examples of interesting emergent behavior-- swarming, pack hunting, and the like. So it was only a matter of time before natural swarming and technology converged, as reported by m-pulse:

In mobility-happy Finland, hunters have taken to strapping wireless phones combined with a GPS chipset to the backs of their hunting dogs. The phone can send the dog's location back from the field, and the hunter can ring up their dogs and give them verbal commands. The hunter also can listen to the dog's barking, which varies depending on the type of prey being tracked.

Most importantly, though, the dog's movements can be tracked. The GPS components in the dog's harness relay coordinates back to a handheld device, displaying a map showing the dog's position relative to the hunter.

Here is an account of a "pawset"-enabled moose hunt.

I wonder how long it'll be before someone develops a system that will allow the dogs to communicate with each other?

WILD@Stanford

This is an interesting group at Stanford. I am planning to do some observations in the Wallenberg space and also interview some students who use wireless as part of their daily education.

WILD@Stanford
WILD@Stanford is a special interest group that includes faculty, researchers, and students on campus and throughout the Bay Area who use Wireless Internet Learning Devices to improve teaching and learning. Monthly meetings will explore current applications and future innovative potential of these devices.

WILD@Stanford is directed by Roy Pea, director of SCIL and professor of education and the learning sciences. The group meets the second Tuesday of each month at 4:30 PM in the Peter Wallenberg Theater in Wallenberg Hall (Building 160 on the Main Quadrangle). These meetings are open to the public; new members are welcome.

You can find out more at

http://scil.stanford.edu/events/wildSIGindex.html