The yin and yang of smart mobs?
A course at Purdue University on Computers and Language in Rhetoric, keeps
a group blog.
Some of the members of that class observe the smart mob phenomenon from another
perspective:
As Wendy mentioned (and posted) earlier,
often the notions of smart mobs using technology to create discriminatory, violent,
and hate-based community is often ignored or not given the credit/attention/study
it deserves. As many of us have pointed out, Rheingold doesn't address or confront
(or even acknowledge) the "other" ramifications of people massing together
through technology to push their agenda. At best he points to where tech is cropping
up in the push for larger social change.
From a totally different
framework, another blogger asks
the rather simple (and unanswered) question: When
does a Smart Mob become merely a mob?
Though the question remains
unanswered, it's clear that simply by asking it, doubts have been raised. And
it certainly makes sense to assume that if the good
guys can use the technology, the bad guys can figure out how to use it as
well.
Go
to: From the horse's mouth, or
Go to: Are
crowds really that smart?