I'm Beginning to Think City Cops Don't Like Projects

Both the NYPD and LAPD have said they cannot help due to lack of resources. Ireland got back to me really quick, with less words than the city police did, and had a semblance of a basic answer for me.

How a Flash Mob Could Raise Money/Awareness

-Charge minimum 'Admission' donations
-Put it on YouTube with ads to raise money from views (on charity's channel, if it has one)
-Have people buy shirts for the mob, charge money past the cost of the shirt
-Hand out flyers about the charity during flash mob
-Make flash mob related to the cause in the actual event

Charity Flash Mobs of the Past

http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living-pictures/8-inspiring-flash-mobs-for-charity.aspx#/slide-1

Some flash mobs that have been done in the past for charities.

Frustration!

Frustration is leading me to think that if I really want this to happen in a mall (survey says: mall) I will just have to go through with it, as the malls are not very nice around here. I may just have to suck it up and pick a charity or cause and design a flash mob around it and talk to the mall that said they have allowed them when it is for a charity. I may want to get in contact with a charity and see if they have any ideas if I was to make the flash mob for their charity.

A Copy-Paste E-mail??

Two of the malls I contacted (owned by the same company) sent me back an e-mail that was worded exactly the same, except for the mall name and "contacting" versus "reaching out to." Did they even think more than two seconds about it? Did they just respond an automatic no? At least the one mall had me call them and they explained that there would be a safety hazard going on at the time I'd be doing it, so they did not reccomend it, not an out-right "we do not allow them" kind of thing. If it is to be in a mall, I will have to work in a charity. That would at least give some reason to build the flash mob around, and that one mall said they have allowed events that bring awareness to a charity.

Critical Point Has Been Reached!

I've gotten to the point where I have answered my essential questions. April is closing in, right on time. Now comes the time where planning the flash mob comes in to play. I first need to find a place where it can be. Most of the malls have said no, but some I had problems with their contact form. I'm going to try to contact those malls next.

A Reflection to the Past!

Remember my first official post? It had my essential questions, and I wrote them on the bus to Math Team. Looking back, I've answered almost all of them now.

What social changes have occurred due to flash mobs?
The internet has increased mass communication, especially since the development of mobile phones with internet.

What social trends caused flash mobs?
They were actually caused by Bill Wasik.

How has society evolved the flash mob?
They have become a form of art and expression, but also a form of advertisement and a way to get ideas out to a large group.

What are their legal implications?
If they are the violent ones that rob people, then a lot. If not, you are actually protected under the First Amendment. However, if they get out of control, then there can be some possible noise and disturbance violations.

What kinds of flash mobs are most successful? Least successful?
The dance and battle flash mobs are very successful. The game and choral are not as successful.

What can cause success? Failure?
A flash mob that is too small or too big can cause failure. Not having control can cause failure. Not having a good network can cause failure. Equipment can cause failure. Success is all of the failures being avoided and a little bit of luck.

What is an ideal size for a flash mob?
A good flash mob will have a size that fits the location and activity. You don't want to break your venue.

How long do they take to plan?
They can take months to plan the dancing kind, but ones like freeze can take a couple weeks of networking.

How many people are needed to organize the ideal number of people?
FMA does it with two people at the top, and they organize people under them as well as participants. Bill Wasik worked alone.

About the Reading

One thing that really meant something to me in this section of The Last Lecture was the part about asking. I found that many people are very helpful about things if you just speak up and ask. Of course, you will always get the scared malls or the busy NYPDs of the world, but many people, like the founders of FMA, the founder of the flash mob itself, or Irish police are willing to help you out.

The part talking about practicality versus inspiration also clicked with my project. While I'm not doing something that will raise money for some charity, or some community service project, my project is on a movement that inspired a lot of people to create something that can be viewed, and is viewed by some, as art. People have dreams of getting people to join behind them in some sort of way, and a flash mob is a way for one person to start a small movement. It also brings suprise, and in many cases, joy to the ones watching the flash mob. While it does not save a life, it can brighten hundreds of lives.

International = Awesome

The Irish police department, An Garda Síochána, responded, telling me that as long as there is no disorder, then they are ok with flash mobs. That's awesome. Hopefully this is the kind of response the other departments get back to me with, because that would show that flash mobs are still seen as a useful form of expression and still have a good reputation, despite the kinds seen in Philadelphia and other cities that turned violent.

Let's Take This to the World!

After the depressing no from the NYPD, I decided to e-mail other cities and departments. Today I e-mailed Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, and Ireland's Police. I went international! Yea! Hopefully I can get some responses.

Weekend 7

I sent the interview to my phone, so j was able to re-listen to it, and I definitely got some good information about how much I need to plan ahead of time. I was too rushed with Friday, and hopefully the bigger one will be way more successful with this knowledge. In other news, next week is the interview with Bill Wasik, but I want to try to get some more interviews planned this week if I can.

Two Learning Experiences

As previously mentioned, I was going to do a flash mob today... Didn't work so well. Everyone was preoccupied with other events and the lunchroom was almost empty. Outside people were doing hay bale tosses so it was kind of loud... The cd player couldn't be heard at all from 20 feet away! We then tried to have it played over the speakers in the lunchroom, but it was practically empty! So it was kind of a bust.

The phone interview was a lot better, I could hear the recording really well when I played it back, I just need to send it to my phone instead of my brother's iPod, so I can do that tonight. You can barely hear Conroe Brooks on the phone, so to get any quotes from him will be a struggle, but Staci Lawrence was a lot easier to hear and she spoke a lot more. I almost ran out of questions for the time I was given, but thankfully I was given answers that helped to branch off into other questions. I got some really good information from some of the questions, and it kind of doubled the message of more planning that I got from today's flash mob attempt. They can spend hundreds of hours to plan a single dance, and I didn't spend nearly that on the planning for today. On another note, I'm surprisingly hyper despite going to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games (awesome) so I can't even blame anything that happened today on lack of sleep. I know now though that if I want good results to plan and have practices and use social networking more effectively to spread the word. The weather outside is so distracting... It's so nice out, which would have been awesome if I had been successful with the flash mob today. One thing that I definitely got out of both experiences is that if you ask the right people, you can get help. Today when the cd player failed miserably, I ran to the office, and they were really helpful about playing it over the PA system, even if it didn't work so well on participation. With the interview, it was a lot easier to get in contact with people than I thought it would be, and they were really helpful with answering questions.

On the other hand, I got a no from the NYC Police Department, but I can always try Philadelphia, and I think I would get more answers from that end than from NYC, as Philadelphia had the 'flash robs' as a serious problem.

So Much Going On!!

Tonight I'm seeing a midnight premiere, so I'm going to be so tired tomorrow! Tomorrow I have the flash mob (ahh!) and the interview with FMA (double ahh!). I have printed the questions list and the bios on the website for the people I am interviewing, so tomorrow I will be prepared and can mention some things they've actually done so I don't sound like I know nothing about who I am interviewing. I need to test the cd player tonight and see how loud it is!

Another Interview Scheduled!

Friday at 1 o'clock I have an interview with FMA! I have to ask Mrs. Sardo if there is somewhere quiet I can go to make the call. If she reads this post maybe she can comment?

Questions for Interview with FMA (Pending)

**What led you both to the idea of a company that made flash mobs?

*What is it that attracts you to flash mobs in general?

What are your favorite types of flash mobs?

**Do you plan every flash mob? Or do you have staff that handle the every-day citizen's flash mob?

What do you charge for flash mobs with no professionals, just the most basic service?

How many flash mobs does the company produce a year?

**Have you seen a decrease in the popularity of flash mobs? If so, what do you think has caused this decline?

What is the strangest request you have ever gotten?

**Have any of your flash mobs been stopped by the police?

*What would you say has made this company so successful?

*Did you ever imagine that you would work with names like Universal Studios, Rachel Ray, ABC and other well known brands and companies?

Who is the most famous celebrity you have worked with?

Questions for Interview with Bill Wasik

**What brought you to plan the first flash mobs in 2003?

How long did you spend planning the first flash mobs?

*Did you ever think they would become such a phenomenon?

*What are your feelings on the commercialization of flash mobs by companies?

*What are your feelings on the violence titled as flash mobs in cities such as Philadelphia?

**What, in your words, is the definition of a flash mob?

**Would you say that flash mobs, by that definition, have died out? If so, why have they died?

What would you say makes a flash mob successful?

What would you say causes them to fail?

*Why do you think flash mobs have turned into what they are today?

What, in your opinion, has been the best flash mob to date?

**What advice would you give to someone planning a flash mob?

Of course, these questions may lead into other questions, and I may run out of time, so the starred ones are the most important, by number of stars.

Friday is Good to Go!

Let the planning begin. I have permission from the principal!

Stupid Spam Filter

I thought I didn't have an email from the PR agent, but I did... in my Spam folder.... Stupid yahoo...

Day 40 Thoughts

Still no more emails today, but we talked about The Last Lecture in class today. I think we have a final plan for what I talked to the principal about, so I need to talk to him tomorrow with the final plan and then the word will be spread. I also talked to someone with the school's tv staff, do that student can get video hopefully.

First Interview Set Up!

I'm having an interview with Bill Wasik on April 4th. For anyone that doesn't remember, Bill Wasik is credited as the 'Father of the Flash Mob' for his mobs in Macy's and other locations back in 2003. This interview is one I never thought I would get, and now I do!

I still need to hear back from Flash Mob America's PR rep, but that will hopefully be a second interview, although that will be much sooner than the Bill Wasik interview. I could explode from the amount of good news in one day!

Up, Up, and Away!

That's my mood right now. I just got a response from Bill Wasik, the founder of the flash mob. It's the people who you do not expect to get back to you, that do... I never expected the response I seem to be getting for short interviews, but it is just blowing my mind right now. The only people left to get on my side are the malls. And our guest speaker was right... follow-up e-mails are the best.

I am Suprised, to Say the Least

I think I just got confirmation for the secret... I should have the post up on Friday, but I'm going to be busy this week for sure! I have to talk to two other students to clarify details, but this is pretty much going to go ok, I think. I better knock on wood...

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I have a meeting with the principal today, who may wind up havinge talk to the school board if he cannot give permission. I'm soon to hear back from the pr rep about the phone interview. Fun, fun, fun today!

Wow, I Need to Check my Phone More!

I got an e-mail back from the PR rep from Flash Mob America, and I may get a phone interview from the founders next week! This is awesome.

Day 39 Thoughts

I am finally getting responses and progress... It definitely helps get me back into the work.

I also sent some more emails, including to Bill Wasik and the commissioner of police for NYC... I fear I may be reaching a little high, but who knows, I may get helpful replies.

Finding Hatchets in a Jungle

A jungle of red tape, that is.
First Hatchet:
I went to my principal's secretary and set up a meeting, a lot easier than trying to get a response over e-mail. Monday at 1:00 PM I can hopefully get an answer or at least an idea, so then I can start what I need to if I get the answer I'm hoping for!
Second Hatchet:
Another student in the program is doing a 5k to raise money for a charity. One of the malls said that if the flash mob is for a charity, they have let them run in the past. If I work with the other student to have my flash mob raise awareness for their 5k, it fits that mall's criteria! It is also the mall I was most hoping for, since I have been there with my friends, and have seen that there is a lot of open space.

Now I think I've found the spark to light a fire underneath of me. I may just survive this jungle.

The Waiting Game

I really do not like waiting for responses.... I found that out from waiting for colleges... It's not knowing, I guess, that gets to you. I think I will send some follow-up emails to people who have not responded and I will try to go to the pricipal's office to set up an appointment if I cannot get an e-mail back or meet with him immediately.

Day 38 Thoughts

Well, it is offically 3 months until graduation, and about a month and a half until I start putting together the presentation the presentation. I still haven't gotten a response from the principal, so I amd going to send another e-mail, since I am running out of time for what it is about.

Red Tape!

I'm caught in it! I went to the counselling office to contact the person I need to for the secret, but I was apparently barking up the wrong tree. I needed to contact the principal instead, so I just sent another e-mail to the principal instead. Hopefully he gets back to me, or I will have to go to his office on Friday, as I am running out of time!

Heard Back...

from a mall... they said no and that it was 'disruptive to business.' Oh well, still have 2 other malls to contact me back, and I have gotten in contact with some programs.

I Love Having E-Mail

I've sent out e-mails to two more malls, the other two's contact sites are still having problems. I also just sent one out to a company called Flash Mob America, as well as the group flashmobaustin. Hopefully I can get some good contacts from this.

E-mail!

I made an email for the project. It is:
welcometothemob@ymail.com

So, if you want to contact me, there is an awesome account to contact me at!

Day 36 Thoughts

We had a guest speaker from the program two years ago come in today to talk to us, since our teacher noticed we were all hitting that wall that is lack of inspiration.
I also went through the surveys for the second question, and I am amazed I came out without any papercuts. I was suprised at the low number of responses mentioning the group dynamic. Most people think of simply the entertainment factor. Tomorrow I am going to try to talk to the teacher I e-mailed, as I have not gotten a response, and according to another student, I probably never will, and this is a very time-sensitive thing right now.

Some Final Tallies From the Survey

7 people mentioned some form of media in the first question.

These are all from the second open-ended question.

53 people mention that they are fun, or because they are bored.
24 people mention or allude to the audience
6 mention inclusion or a group

Day 35 Thoughts

There are definely trends in the responses. I will try to bring them in tomorrow and sort more and move in to second question hopefully.

Some Quick Results

These are from the first question so far:
9 people were positive
6 were negative
Most were neutral

33 people mention dancing or singing

26 mention a group of people or a lot of people

Sample E-mail!!

Hello, my name is Daniele Schneider and I am high school senior in a class called the Senior Research Seminar. In this program, we research a project, and then put on a 40 minute presentation in May. As a part of the program, students do research as well as field work, such as interviews and surveys. My project is on the social effects and planning of flash mobs. Part of my project is that I would like to plan a flash mob to test the research I have done, and to see the reaction of a crowd to a flash mob, as I have not seen one in person myself.
Would you be willing to do an interview on your experience with flash mobs or flash mob-like events? The interview can take place over the phone, e-mail, or Skype, whichever is more convenient for you.
Thank you,
Daniele Schneider

*Sigh*

I don't know what it is, but I'm just not really feeling any drive whatsoever right now. Maybe its just all the waiting for other people to get back to me? It just feels like there's nothing that I can do.... I think I'm going to start writing a sample letter to ask for an e-mail interview with the major people in flash mobbing next period.

Day 34 Weekend 5 Thoughts

Still no e-mails, but I did start reading responses on the survey, and it does seem like some answers are very similar to others. Tomorrow I will take home the small stack of original responses and then I will do an official sort and count after school. Tomorrow in class I will try to contact some more malls, and maybe some stand-alone stores like Kohl's or Target if I can.

Day 33 Weekend 5 Thoughts

Still no e-mail from the malls or teacher that I know of. I was too upset from a college's decision to actually get any work done today, but tomorrow I have to start looking at the survey answers so that I can get some patterns if there are any.

Day 32 Thoughts

Contacted one mall today, as the other ones had contact issues, and am still waiting on a response from the teacher. Frustrating!

This weekend I want to dive into the open ended questions and try to analyze those.

A Squashed Mob

http://kezi.com/news/local/214052

The security made them stop and leave beacause they did not ask for permission. The mall said they would have given them permission if they had just asked. This is promising in that hopefully I can get permission since I am asking so far in advance.

By the way, this is the 100th post I have written!! Awesome.

Evil.

That is the access denied filter. Evil. I can't send emails in school, so I have to try to use the websites, but the only one that had a working Contact Us section was Quakerbridge. I'm not making people cross the bridge either, so nothing in Pennsylvania. I still have to contact other malls. I could not find any legitimate sites on whether or not you need to ask permission.

Trying to Contact Malls!

Is so not fun. I tried to contact one of the local malls and the site is having problems! Not cool. Another one gives you email addresses, and I cannot access email from school... I have the message I wanted to send, so I'll post it here so I can copy/paste. It is generalized so I do not have to change anything about it from mall to mall.


Hello, my name is Daniele Schneider and I am high school senior in a class called the Senior Research Seminar. In this program, we research a project, and then put on a 40 minute presentation in May. My project is on the social effects and planning of flash mobs. Part of my project is that I would like to plan a flash mob to test the research I have done, and to see the reaction of a crowd to a flash mob, as I have not seen one in person myself. This would be recorded, and the footage could be made availible for use by the mall if it is requested. My research is availible at srsflashmob.blogspot.com. What is this mall's policy on flash mobs? Would you be willing to give permission to run a flash mob in late April, early May?
Thank you in advance,
Daniele Schneider


So hopefully I can get permission from a mall, because it was number one on my survey results!

Day 31 Thoughts

Today we discussed the reading in class. I also sent an email to the teacher running the program I would like to get in contact with for the big secret. Hopefully they are able to help, because I think it is a great idea, and my friends are really pressuring it since they like the idea.

Day 30 Thoughts

Wow it's been pretty much a month...

Today we had a group meeting in class. I got a little cut off time-wise, but I didn't have much to say. My mentor meeting was moved to Friday due to scheduling issues for the week. I read the sections of the book we had to read for class tonight.

Day 29 Thoughts

I got my surveys in, yay!
Most people have not seen a flash mob.
The majority thinks they should be in a store or mall.
The majority are stuck between a battle or a dance.
A huge majority (my results were more than 3/4ths!) would participate.
The demographic was teenage students.

I have not formally read the open-eneded, but people were either all for it, or thought they were "stupid."
People also mentioned singing and dancing, especially dancing, often, suggesting this is the 'stereotype': A synchronized dance in a mall/store.

The Results Are in!

My mentor gave me a stack of surveys filled out today. Seriously, a stack. So I now have 84 units of data for the statistics portion of the survey. This give about ±11%, but it is really not significant when compared to the overwhelming patterns that stuck out. Battles and Dancing were racing to the finish, constantly one right behind the other, but they came to about a tie, blowing the other options 'out of the water.'

±10.91089

Seen
28
33.33333333%

Haven't Seen
56
66.66666667%

±11.25088
Park
0.5
0.632911392%

Parking Lot
4
5.063291139%

Store/Mall
56.5
71.51898734%

School
10.5
13.29113924%

Street
7.5
9.493670886%

±11.11111
Dancing
26.5
32.71604938%

Choral
8.5
10.49382716%

Freezing
11
13.58024691%

Game
4.5
5.555555556%

Battle
30.5
37.65432099%

±11.11111

Would Participate
67
82.71604938%

Wouldn't Participate
14
17.28395062%

Day 28 Thoughts

Today was a big Excel day. I made the sheet so all I will have to do is type in as I get more votes, and the stats and the charts will be updated as I go. This makes my life a lot easier. I still need to go through the objective responses, and tomorrow is a lecture day, so I will have to take home the responses I have to go through them. I do not know when my mentor will be doing the survey, but I do know it will be in the next three days. Wednesday I want to talk to the teacher previously mentioned, so I will have to jump on that tomorrow to see if they are available to talk to. If I can get the program's assistance, things will be a lot easier. However, it will need to stay in secret channels, as the public cannot know just yet.

Charts!

Another fun function of Excel that gives good visual representations.

What Needs to be Done.

I need to talk to a certain teacher that is the head of a program at this school that is relatively new. Why? Because I don't want to hurt the program by not going through the program. (Yes secretive, I know. But I will explain it all later. Just... not right now.) I talked to the person that is my 'connection' that helps to get the network I need for the big secret, and they gave me the teacher's name. I will text them after class to see what room that teacher is in so that I can talk to them about the 'secret.' Otherwise my only option is e-mail.

Upload All the Data!

(Data is the plural of Datum, so it is the grammatically correct form of that meme...)

I do not like the accuracy of the 13 responses.... hopefully I have significant numbers by Friday so that I can actually have reliable results.

Yay for Study Hall!

I finished my Excel Sheet for the 13 responses I got on Friday. I'm still mad about that person that was so rude. I'm appalled at the ±28.9% that having 13 results will get you. I need the responses from my mentor's classes to actually have accurate data.

Edit: Noticed a problem... the ±28.9% was for the 12 results since one had an issue in the where question. The other questions should be more accurate.

Weekend 4

This weekend was busy with homework, but I had a conversation with two of my friends about the big secret, and they agree with me about it and think it is a good idea. I'll have to talk to the people that would help to initiate it.

Day 25 Thoughts

So today I tried to get my survey out. When I went to the study halls, there were so few people! Some people seemed reluctant, but did it. Some people were really nice and did it because they knew me and are just cool like that. That was a grand total of two people who did that. Some people were just rude! One girl was sitting on a guy in study hall and nothing else actually said, "I'm really busy." I can see you're doing nothing. All you have to say is no.
I got a total of 13 in today. 4 were from my class. I started the Excel spreadsheet, but did not have a chance to finish before the bell, so I'll finish it Monday. Hopefully I get better results from my mentor's classes, but I'm afraid that people won't like that they have to do it.

Balloons

Who would have thought there are so many different sizes of balloons that you can shape.
http://www.balloons.com/

Today's Goal for Class...

...is to visit the media center and try to get to one of the study hall class rooms to pass out some surveys. I want to get some preliminary responses so I know if I need to give my mentor a changed survey for next week in classes or not. If I like the type of responses I am getting, then the survey will stay and I will get the results next week. This will help me to see what people in this area think would be the best, since that will hopefully get the best reaction of the crowd.

Connections, Connections, Connections.

Forget location. Today I may have started the ball rolling for the big Secret from Day 3! I talked to a classmate and sadly, had to tell the secret to see if he thought it would be possible. We need to talk to someone else about it, but we may be able to do it as a 3-in-1 thing. I still want to keep this quiet as possible. The less that people know, the better.

Excel!

The program, I mean. I can use this to easily calculate percentages that will go into the pie chart, which I can even make 3D! They can look awesome and be informational at the same time. Hopefully I can use this to come up with where people think flash mobs should be and what they think they are. Hopefully I do not get a bunch of responses saying violence...

Survey Results How-To

http://www.ehow.com/how_6371832_show-results-survey.html
This basically says that all I'll have to do is get the percentages down for the multiple choice and yes/no. For the open ended I will probably have to interpret those a bit more, like do they mention fun for why, or do they mention making chaos or friends? Then I will need to break that down into basic percentages for 'grouped' answers, I guess. Since I know my demographic is just teenagers currently enrolled in high school, I shouldn't have to try to get demographic information like age or where they live.

Hip Hip Hooray for the Survey!

I asked my mentor if he could habd the survey out to all of his math classes and he agreed! So next week sometime I will have all of those surveys come back, and tomorrow I will walk to some study halls or the media center to conduct some of my survey as an initial feedback so I know what to expect for the larger group of responses.