How to Get Lost in a City Using a Smartphone

Peter Watts writes about a an experimental social media walk for the Design Museum by first explaining the importance of getting lost:

"Getting lost is a valuable experience. Your senses are sharpened, you see more and remember more. I’m sure that getting lost sharpens the imagination – some might say that it’s only by getting lost that we can find ourselves, or some such pseudo-psychogeographical bullshit – but my interests are more material. Getting lost is fun. It’s interesting. It’s a great way to explore a city and learn how it is put together."

That's where the social media experiment comes in. Watts conceived of a way to use his phone to get lost, rather than stay constantly found.

"I conceived the idea of a walk that would be guided by social media. I’d take a starting pointing – which was obviously the Design Museum – and then ask my followers on Twitter where I should go: left, right or straight ahead. Every now and then I’d take a photograph but otherwise I wouldn’t reveal my location until the end."

Watts reports the (admittedly mixed) results of the experiment, and also provides some other tools and guidebooks for taking it one step past wandering into properly lost.