Vanish

I was assigned "Vanish" by Evan Ratliff, chronicling his "disappearance." The idea of his little experiment (paired with Wired Magazine) was to see if anyone could truly vanish in the digital age. They turned the experiment into a contest with a five thousand dollar reward to the first "hunter" to find Ratliff, use the code word (fluke), and snap a picture of him. The search generated a lot of online chatter, via Twitter and Facebook and hunters even formed groups and collaborated on finding Ratliff.

Eventually, Ratliff was found and lost the game, but the real story lies in the middle - his experiences as a man without any real identity, relationships, or connection to the world. The story was extremely interesting and well written (from a few different perspectives.) Themes include: identity, dissociation from society, impact of technology on the modern world, disappearance, and the effect of social media/accessibility of private information . You could easily simulate this activity within a school to demonstrate the point. You could create "moles," "hunters," and one "hider." Although you'd have to make obvious modifications, it could turn into a neat "game" for students to play - employing reason, logic, and common sense.