Blog 3:Summary of Rheingold

Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs:The Power of the Mobile Many was probably one of my favorite articles we've read so far this semester. Rheingold discusses how something as simple as an email or a text message can become something so complex. In the beginning of his essay he discusses the overthrow of Filipino President Estrada in 2001. The Filipinos were not happy with his control of the government and decided to take matters into their own hands. This was all done through mass text messaging (where one person sends a text to a friend and it keeps on going through a chain) and emails. 

He goes on to tell us about the term "Smart Mobs". Smart mobs (the technical term being mobile ad hoc social networks) are groups of people that are formed from chain text messages, emails, chat rooms and so one, to perform some group task. Sometimes the smart mobs are formed to over throw a government as Rheingold exemplifies earlier on in the text, or it could be just for fun. 

During class Dr. Chandler had us search for Smart Mobs on the internet using search engines other than Google. The results were very fun and enjoyable for everyone to watch, I think. I found that there will be a mass pillow fight in New York City on E 14th and Broadway on March 22 at 3:03pm. Anyone and everyone are invited to attend, the only directions given online are to be there on time, to tell anyone you know, and to keep your pillow in a bag until the set time. Once the fight begins you are only aloud to hit other people with pillows (unless someone without a pillow asks to be hit). We also watched a video on YouTube.com in class that showed some young Japanese men chasing after older Japanese men for seemingly no reason at all.