Information AboutSmart Mob |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SMART MOB | |
| community organizing | |
| naval postgraduate school | |
| superorganisms | |
| collective intelligence | |
| crowd psychology | |
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These growing technologies include the Internet , Computer-mediated Communication such as Internet Relay Chat , and Wireless devices like Mobile Phones and Personal Digital Assistant s. Methodologies like Peer To Peer networks and Pervasive Computing are also changing the ways in which people organize and share information. A smart mob is a group that, contrary to the usual connotations of a Mob , behaves intelligently or efficiently because of its exponentially increasing network links. This network enables people to connect to information and others, allowing a form of social coordination. Parallels are made to, for instance, Slime Mould s. One reason for the rise of smart mobs is the ever decreasing cost of increasingly powerful microprocessors which have allowed them to permeate throughout society—they’re embedded in everything from boxes to clothes. Depending on how the technology is used, smart mobs may be beneficial or detrimental to society. Rheingold warns of the use of the technology by some to create a society similar to the one seen in George Orwell 's '' 1984 '' or by terrorists for their malicious purposes. EARLY INSTANCES According to CNN , the first smart mobs were teenage "thumb tribes" in Tokyo and Helsinki who used Text Messaging on Cell Phone s to organize impromptu Rave s or to stalk celebrities. For instance, in Tokyo , crowds of teenage fans would assemble seemingly spontaneously at subway stops where a rock musician was rumored to be headed. In the Philippines in 2001, a group of protesters organized via text messaging gathered at the EDSA Shrine , the site of the 1986 Revolution that overthrew Ferdinand Marcos , to protest the corruption of President Joseph Estrada . The protest grew quickly, and Estrada was soon removed from office. "Day of the smart mobs" , CNN The Critical Mass bicycling events, dating back to 1992 , are also sometimes compared to smart mobs, due to their self-organizing manner of assembly.'' "Dadaist lunacy or the future of protest?" , Social Issues Research Center "Flash! Mobs in the Age of Mobile Connectivity" ''Fibreculture Journal'', issue 6 RELATION TO FLASH MOBS Flash Mob s are a specific form of smart mob, originally describing a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse. The term ''flash mob'' is claimed to have been inspired by "smart mob". flash mob , WordSpy.com Since its inception, however, "flash mob" has been used by news media and promoters to refer to nearly any form of smart mob. EXAMPLES Essentially, the smart mob is a practical implementation of Collective Intelligence . According to Rheingold, examples of smart mobs are the street protests organized by the Anti-globalization Movement . The Free State Project has been described in '' Foreign Policy '' as an example of potential "smart Mob Rule ".1 Other examples of smart mobs include:
Smartmobs have begun to have an impact in current events, as mobile phones and text messages have empowered everyone from revolutionaries in Malaysia to individuals protesting the Second Iraq War . Individuals who have divergent worldviews and methods have been able to coordinate short term goals thanks to these technologies. The comic book '' Global Frequency '', written by Warren Ellis describes a covert, non-governmental intelligence organization built around a smart mob of people that are called on to provide individual expertise in solving extraordinary crises. SEE ALSO
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