Performance Art? Flash Mob? Fun? Mass Collaboration? All of the above.

Home » Performance Art? Flash Mob? Fun? Mass Collaboration? All of the above.

Flash mobs are becoming a big part of the viral hit scene on Youtube. Just take the University of Kansas Jayhawks mens basketball game flashmob this week – over a quarter of a million hits since posted on the KU Athletic Youtube Channel . Over the next few years it will be interesting to see as this trend grows.

Will it cause problems? yes.

Will it cause controversy? Yes, there will be times it will be innappropriate, done poorly or smack of commercialism masquerading as grassroots (brown roots I guess. ;-)

Will it be fun? Sure.

What will it be? Who knows -more “random acts of culture” like from the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Hallalujah Chorus in a department store at Christmas or another in a food court in November or Flashmobs dancing to MC Hammer in Clothing store. Yes, more of that too. But as more organizations like Improv Everywhere formalize performance art and companies realize the marketing potential of a viral video (Old Spice Guy) it is sure to have an impact.

These cultural things are things we should discuss and think about as we talk about societal shifts. As society shifts culture and entertainment shift as well.

Oh yes, and speaking of viral videos, Shift Happens. ;-)

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Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis has been an educator and IT director in Georgia since 2002. Today, she also works as an instructional technology coach, staying side-by-side with active teachers and students so her work stays grounded in real classrooms.

She's a mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world.

She has blogged at the Cool Cat Teacher Blog since 2005 and hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast and Cool Cat Teacher Talk (radio, public access TV, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms), interviewing remarkable educators around the world. Vicki focuses on what unites us — a quest for truly remarkable, life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers, grounded in truth and shared with love.

If you talk to Vicki for long, she'll encourage you to "Relate to Educate," to "innovate like a turtle," or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and runs half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and telling your friends about the work we do here! - Vicki

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6 comments

coolcatteacher May 23, 2011 - 11:48 am

Cool. Thanks.

Vicki A. Davis
http://www.coolcatteacher.com
Blog: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com
Twitter: @coolcatteacher

Gabrielle Deschamps May 23, 2011 - 11:22 am

Have you seen this flashmob in Antwerp Station, Belgium? http://bit.ly/hlFj4r

Ian H. May 23, 2011 - 11:15 pm

A movement masquerading as grassroots is called astroturf ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing ). Mostly seen in politics, but some advertisers have tried to create faux-viral videos to get people talking about their products. Inevitably, they’re discovered, but some of them go to an amazing amount of trouble (the Microsoft waterslide one, for instance).

coolcatteacher May 23, 2011 - 11:19 pm

Great point! Very true! Thank you for pointing out AstroTurf!

Vicki Davis
http://www.coolcatteacher.com
Sent from my iPad

Custom Essay Writing May 24, 2011 - 7:27 am

Visiting your blog for the first time really great stuff Thanks…

Corporate Logo Design May 25, 2011 - 6:33 am

All
very good point’s sir, thanks for post.

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