Swarm methodology: the Consumer Electronic Show, contagion, and visual data collection

This report documents the process of collecting visual data at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. After defining CES as a network and the concept of the swarm as a phenomenon with distinctive data collection implications, a two-stage process is outlined. Understood from the point of contagion theory, the first stage of the data collection process resembled a formalistic approach while the second stage focused on specific data content. The goal was to understand swarm as a relatively unique way of studying ephemeral social phenomena and systematize its data collection procedures.