courses :: mas 963   the virtual society :: judith donath   visualizing crowds The late nineteenth century heralded the beginning of modern urban society, and with it the rise of concerns about the "masses" and crowds. "Deriving from this context, the term carries connotations of homogeneity and unity of purpose, albeit perhaps irrational purpose, which cling despite the relatively early efforts of historians such as Lefebvre to distinguish typologies of crowd behaviour and patterns of activity and motivation."(David Andress) In considering the social function of crowds I think it is important to bear in mind the myriad of different reasons why people congregate together(to express solidarity, to protest, to watch an event, to purchase something, to chat and socialize, to do business...) and what activities then take place. Watching crowds, or "watching the world go by" is a very pleasant experience that can help while many hours away. Making observations about crowds and drawing conclusions is also a highly subjective process, very much dependent on your own personal understanding of conversation, gesture and appearance. General Observations: Different people caught my eye or drew attention to themselves a number of different ways: 1) People who are physically different from the norm - very small children, very large people, very tall people. 2) People who appear similar to you - in dress, style, manner. 3) People who are particularly animated in speech or who gesture in an extravagant fashion. 4) Big groups of people or concentrated groups of people who look similar(families). If I was looking for a friend amidst the milling crowds, I would concentrate primarily on faces. I would already know the approximate stature of my friend, and would therefore subconsciously filter out any persons who did not correspond to that size, without having to examine each and every face. In considering the question of how one would examine a crowd if one was looking for a multi-millionaire, I found myself resorting to primitive stereotyping. I looked for people who were expensively dressed, carrying shopping bags from expensive stores(Prudential) or sauntering decorously ahead of a porter hauling stylish Louis Vuitton luggage(Logan Airport). Wealthy people quite often have a very assured demeanor and a confident poise, which can also help to make them stand out in a crowd. In searching for international terrorists in Logan Airport(you'll be pleased to note that I don't think I spotted any), I looked for people possibly acting somewhat suspiciously, wearing glasses or other disguising artifacts, and trying to make themselves look as inconspicuous as possible. Logan Airport: Sunday Evening Logan Airport was incredibly busy on Sunday evening, particularly in the international arrivals section, where people were crowded around the small waiting area, up to 8 or 10 deep from the main barrier. Most people were standing around in small groups, many of them obviously families, all more or less facing in the direction of the arrival doors. Group conversations were taking place but appeared to be of a somewhat distracted nature. Whilst a few of the group conversed, the other members would stand silently by, anxiously watching as each passenger emerged from behind the sliding doors. The atmosphere was good-natured, despite the fact that it was quite difficult to navigate between such a dense concentration of people, who took some coaxing before they would move out of the way or even notice that someone had requested that they move. Prudential Center - Saturday Evening There were quite large volumes of people in the Prudential Center on Saturday, owing to the inclement weather. I mainly observed people gathered around two central locations - waiting to be seated outside Legal Sea Foods, and at the passage intersection in front of the café mezzanine. Legal Sea Foods A similar phenomenon as that described above was also noted outside Legal Sea Foods on Saturday evening. People appeared very single-mindedly focused on getting a place in the reservations queue, to the extent that they blocked up one whole pedestrian passageway in the mall. Once in line, they appeared oblivious to the obstruction they were causing, staring pointedly instead at the maitre'd of the restaurant. There was little conversation between couples/groups until the reservation had been made. Once that had been achieved, they tended to move away from the front of the restaurant and gravitated towards the adjoining walls, where they appeared content to idly watch people go by, whilst keeping a careful ear out for their name to be called. Café Mezzanine This location afforded more of an opportunity to observe groups of people walking, talking and maneuvering around a congested space. It was interesting to note the tendency of people to walk on the right hand side of the central artery, going in either direction, similar to road traffic conventions. Few people walked directly against the flow of human traffic, and those who strayed from the path after passing through the area outside the mezzanine, soon reverted to the norm again and switched back to the 'appropriate' side. Many of the groups walking by consisted of three people, most of whom that I observed, walked with two in front and one slightly lagging behind. Perhaps this was out of consideration for fellow shoppers, although I also noticed several groups of teenagers(oh those pesky kids) walking four and five abreast, which caused some problems when they encountered another group. Most other obstructions were caused by groups of people being deep in conversation, only for one of their group to notice the café and stop short to see if anyone wanted coffee. This unexpected reaction resulted in some minor confusion and bumping and temporary breaking up of groups, which became quite amusing after constantly noticing it over a period of time. In Stanley Milgram's The Individual in a Social World, he discusses the theory of crowds as proposed by Gustave Le Bon. From an initial abstract premise concerning mass society, and the submergence of the individual within the mass, Le Bon focuses on the nature of the street crowd. He describes the "disappearance of conscious personality" and the turning in a fixed direction of the ideas and sentiments of individuals composing such a crowd. Le Bon has been criticized for drawing conclusions and generalities about all types of crowds based on anecdotal evidence gleaned from observing mobs and unruly crowds. Could his theories be used to explain some of the behavior observed in the Prudential Center or Logan Airport? I think a more interesting comparison could be drawn between Le Bon's theories and an online system for browsing the Internet called Crowds, developed at AT&T. Crowds, as described by its creators, is a system for protecting your privacy while you browse the web. It uses the idea of blending into a crowd as an illustration of how it addresses the notion of anonymity on the web. Targeting adversaries such as system administrators, backbone administrators, active attackers, other users and law-enforcers, the system seeks to protect the identity of both the sender and the receiver, and in so doing, disassociate any linkage between them. The system works by associating its users into "crowds." Any request made by a member is randomly forwarded to someone in the crowd, so that the target server cannot tell if the requesting party is in fact the originator of that request. This facility is double-edged in that whilst your identity is protected regarding your own requests, you are also in some ways potentially responsible for all requests from the "crowd", as the random assignment of requests means that any request could appear as if you originated it. Associating with a certain group of people online could be seen as akin to physical proximity within a real world crowd, where due to proximity to others who may be causing trouble or entertaining everyone, you will become directly associated with those sentiments also. The system does have a "blender" function, which allows you to associate yourself with certain crowds, and potentially set up new ones. Crowds can be a useful way of drawing your attention to something interesting - maybe you see a group of people gathered around a market stall or a street performer or peering into a shop window. Upon receiving this "signal", you may be enticed over to sneak a peek yourself. Physical mass as an indicator of popularity could perhaps have a correlation in the online world where hit counters specific to individual pages on a website could help lead the user to areas of most interest on the site. Readings Whyte, W. The social life of the street Milgram,S. The drawing power of crowds Milgram, S. The familiar stranger   back