This article illustrates the way in which flash mobs can become a social issue in today's society.
Originally designed as a bit of fun to encourage spontaneity, they were never meant to be violent or even political in nature. (Wasik, 2010.)
Increasingly it seems that online collaboration and mass text messaging or e-mailing has made it easier for groups such as these violent Philadelphia youths to congregate and display anti social or criminal behaviour (Ubrina, 2010).
There is something comforting in watching some of the flash mob vidoes on You Tube, seeing groups of people collaborate and preform their 'prank' of sorts just for the pure fun of it or entertainment of those around them. The Glee flash mob in Seattle in April 2010 had approximately 1000 people participate. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5PyIVVKoWU). How impressive to have 1000 people collaborate to the extent they have, with choreographed dance moves.
Although flash mobs can be a positive experiment, simply just for fun such as the Freeze Flash Mob in Sydney in 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2hJJIu8pM&feature=related) it is sad that of course it is also easy to use these ideas and collaboration methods for negative outcomes and desires. It seems that no matter what, there are people that will instead cause harm.

References:
Urbina, I. (2010). Mobs are born as word grows by text message. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25mobs.html

(2010). Official Seattle Glee Flash Mob Video - Seattle, Westlake.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5PyIVVKoWU

(2008). Sydney Flash Mob Freeze - Jun 24 2008 - Official Video.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2hJJIu8pM

In this article Hsu discusses the importance of keeping up to date with the changes and innovation in online learning and teaching through collaboration tools. He emphasizes that many of the first online collaboration tools were not designed as such, but were initially personal use technologies such as instant messaging and email. Hsu mentions that these "conversational technologies" and "constructivist learning tools" (2008, pg. 63.) encourage users to create their own content and to participate in a more interactive and collaborative way. This is especially true as we move from a more "print based" education method to a more "digitally based" method of education delivery. (Hsu, 2008, pg. 63.) The progression of these online collaboration tools means more tools are now available, evolution from email and forums to instant messaging, blogs and wikis (2008, pg. 70). In 2011 we also see online collaboration occurring through other tools not originally designed as a specific online collaboration and educational websites, such as Twitter and Facebook. Hsu emphasizes that online collaboration in education enhances the experience for students and provides teachers with more methods in which to deliver material to their students. Participation and student satisfaction increase in a "collaborative community" (2008, pg. 72.) Reference: Hsu, J.. (2008). Innovative Technologies for Education and Learning: Education and Knowledge-Oriented Applications of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and More. International Journal of Web - Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 3(3), 62-81. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from ProQuest Computing. (Document ID: 1525792171). (Retrieved from Curtin Library Catalogue)

In this article, West argues that the field of education is falling behind and missing out the opportunities that online collaboration can bring to students. He states that "with the ease that misguided youth can organize themselves into a mob; professionals can organize themselves into supportive learning communities." (2010). In particular West discusses Twitter, the use of certain hash tags relevant to his field in music education. West also discusses groups available on Facebook, and how Skype has been used to bring a field expert into the classroom and have a composer watch and ensemble from the other side of the world in order to provide commentary and feedback. West mentions that prior to social networking and other online tools, the only real way to collaborate with those in your field of interest or profession was to attend conferences or conventions held for that specific purpose. But now with the availability of online collaboration tools and the wide spread accessibility, there is a "new universe" (2010) of collaboration and information. West employs that the classroom no longer need to be 4 walls, 1 teacher and 20 odd students, and that the classroom has "at it's disposal a rapidly growing cornucopia of tools, information and services online…" that could bring so much more to students and educators alike. References: West, T. (2010). The Antithesis of Flash Mobs - How Professional Learning Communities Are Changing Education. Retrieved from http://www.thomasjwestmusic.com/apps/blog/show/3327014-the-antithesis-of-flash-mobs-how-professional-learning-communities-are-changing-education

Augar, Raitman and Zhou discuss the benefits of using wikis and online collaboration in teaching and learning. In this article, the authors describe what a wiki is, and how it is used. Originating from the Hawaiian word for quick, (Augar, Raitman & Zhou, 2004, p. 95.) wikis are fully editable websites where content can be edited and added by users. This can also be referred to as "open editing" (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001.) and is a great tool for online collaboration. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia of information is a popular example of a wiki. It is possible for users to edit and add to the content of Wikipedia allowing knowledge and content to come from many sources. Augar, Raitman and Zhou provide a comparison of a few different wikis and their functionality, including the ability to upload images (not all wikis support this) and their method of tracking users and their contributions to the wiki. This particular function is useful to guage participation of students in an educational sense. As Augar, Raitman and Zhou have concluded through a survey of university students at Deakin, for one particular class, 50% of students were not satisfied with the completely online learning experience (2004, p.98) and in order to foster a more positive learning environment with a higher level of satisfaction for students, an ice breaker acitivity has been employed using an onine wiki to improve participation and collaboration. The ice breaker activity took place over two weeks and required students to answer a series of questions designed to help them get to know their fellow students on a more personal level and to introduce them to how to use the wiki properly. Augar, Raitman and Zhou claim the ice breaker activity was successful is accomplishing this. References: Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comf

Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 95-104). Perth, 5-8 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Although I am not sure if a YouTube video link is alright for this assignment I felt it was a great source for the topic of online collaboration in student education and learning. Coomey envisioned an online global collaboration of journalism and broadcast students from different universities and in the year 2000 set out to accomplish this project in collaboration with other universities around the world. Many obstacles were in the way of success however, mostly technical, and highlight the evolution of online collaboration technologies. Computer access in 2000 was not as readily available as it is today in 2011, bandwidth was slow and internet connections were unreliable. Time differences between the students in their respective countries was also an issue as for this project, chat rooms were used as the main collaboration tool. Coomey ultimately says the collaboration effort was not really a collaboration as the students weren't able to work together due to these technical issues but rather they were only able to discuss their projects after the fact. Now in 2011 as most of the technological issues have been solved and also with the development of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A new project called the Global City is now in it's maiden form and the website can be found here http://www.theglobalcity.org/. With the continuing evolution of online collaboration tools an the innovation of users we can see that many of the obstacles and boundaries once faced are slowly able to be dissolved, which opens up new opportunities and experiences to students around the globe. References: Coomey, M. (2010). The Virtual Newsroom: An International Online Collaboration between Broadcast Journalism Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPAtVVKwzPw