The discussion we had in class this week revolved around smart mobs and how they apply to technical writing. Smart mobs seem to be evident in nearly every aspect of life these days due to the large rise in available technology. From animals in nature to peaceful removal of a government, the "smart mob" theory can easily be found.
The way in which smart mobs function, specifically the inter-connectivity or web of thought, really reminded me of an article I read back in high school about collective wisdom. Collective Wisdom describes how to combined intellect on a group of people provides far better work than that of the best individuals. In the article I read (which I couldn't find now) random people are asked to estimate the amount of M&M's in a jar. Individually the answers were typically far from the actual answer, but when averaged together the average guess was within 5% of the correct answer.
Then second part of the experiment was to take a group of people and have them decide as a group how many M&M's were in the same jar. With this new approach, another close guess was given.
With our class starting a group project that will require good effort from each member I think this experiment can be helpful. As individuals we all have good ideas but it is when we take the best of each member that the best possible answer can be reached.
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