“Find Out the Truth about Your Literacy!” The Total Dictation as a Form of Flash Mob

Abstract

The main features of the Total Dictation as a form of a flash mob are considered in the article. The main characteristics of a flash mob are illustrated, especially its ephemerity, the simultaneous and public action that is based on strict rules and scenario, and its organization through the Internet and contemporary communication networks, or social media. The main factors of the development of flash mobs are a dissatisfaction with existing forms of social participation, and the improvement of new electronic forms of social communication. Flash mobs come under the two headings of classic and modernized. A classical flash mob does not have any goals. The modernized flash mob has some ideology defining it and can be organized during a specific time. The Total Dictation is the mass action for people who want to evaluate his or her literacy through writing dictation in different places in Russia, around the world, and online. It is organized in Russia and fulfilled by the experts from the Novosibirsk State University, and also serves the rising interest in the Russian language. During the process of the analysis, it is discovered that the Total Dictation is the one of the forms of the modernized flash mobs. It is a mass event because its popularity has grown to a global level. It also has its own ideology, and it is carried out at the same time in different places. It is also a public action, has a clear scenario, and rules for its manifestation. The main function of organization belongs to the website, and to the groups in social media. The Total Dictation also has leaders, clear goals, and a differentiation of the participants, what means that it can be defined as the modernized form of flash mobs. The results of the interviews with participants confirmed the existence of the flash mobs’ features, especially special emotional situations (“like before an exam”), and the identification with the group of patriotic intellectuals who are fond of the Russian language.