Cognitive Surplus: Clay Shirky's confusing centerpiece

Clay Shirky’s TED talk needs to be watched multiple times. He explores high-caliber subject matter and uses big words to get his points across. I think that the way he speaks really interests people. It draws them into the presentation by reinforcing his intelligence. ‘Wait, what? Wow, I should listen. He knows his stuff.’ In the beginning of his talk, he uses the term “Media Landscape.” My personal definition of this at the moment would be the entire world of media, including TV, internet, etc. The real definition is different media outlets and brands interacting to form a broad picture of modern technology. Our modern media landscape has been described as “crowded.” I would definitely agree with this view, because it seems like technology has overtaken modern life. It is so readily available and easily accessible, which makes it no surprise that it is now everywhere. Certain projects have had more effect on the media landscape than others. Ushahidi has been described by Shirky as very influential. I took the liberty of looking on Ushahidi’s site today, and it has grown exponentially in the last year. A large title on the homepage reads “We are a non-profit tech company that develops free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping.” Why did Shirky use Ushahidi as his biggest example? To me, it is not that remarkable. All it has done is taken information and put it onto a map. Isn’t this relatively simple? I don’t understand why Shirky seems to care so much about this project more than all the other revolutionary open-source ideas out there. I just don’t get it (shrug). The woman who started the blog about corruption in Kenya caused a government media shutdown. This reminds me of Farenheit 451 and 1984, where slightly rebellious actions are treated as more than they are. The governments of all three are harsh, so in a way, Ushahidi is defying the government of Kenya. I wonder if the Kenyan government ever became angry over Ushahidi. It was taking away the government’s power over media, and putting it into the hands of the people. After making a move to assert media power, I would be pretty pissed. What is cognitive surplus? The video defined it as “the ability of the world’s population to volunteer and to contribute and collaborate on large, sometimes global projects.” This almost makes sense to me, but I still have a few questions. How is the ability of the population to collaborate related to excess thought? I think that Shirky’s definition and the literal definition are two very different things. I just don’t understand the concept fully enough to know how the definition relates. The way he uses cognitive surplus as a noun confuses me, as I feel it should be more of adjective. I’m missing the point here. Later in the talk, Shirky begins to talk about LOLcats, and one particular statement he makes connects deeply to what I hope my TED talk will be about. He says that however non-helpful and pointless, LOLcats are still a creative act. In the world of creativity in the media landscape, they are not wrong. Just another way of using the tools presented. Hmm, how odd, that last sentence sounded like a definition of creativity. I hope that my TED talk can support both sides of something like this. He also mentions the idea of a spectrum between mediocre work and good work, and this is relevant in my life each day. As a drummer/musician, I am constantly striving for the magic of amazing creativity. And, being an artist, I can tell when I reach this and when I don’t. When it is reached, things are astoundingly brilliant. But when it is not, they are just ok, and not very remarkable. I try to reach this threshold every time I have a creative idea. Shirky states that LOLcats and Ushahidi meet in the design for generosity. Isn’t this also true of all open source projects? It seems as if people do them for fun, and not for any sort of profit or payoff. They do it out of generosity. The design of an open source project such as Ushahidi is very closely connected with generosity. This shows the intrinsic motivation that has been proven to drive so many to achieve more. This relates back to a large theme of this unit. Through the Daniel Pink TED talk, as well as other sources, I have seen intrinsic motivation as a large part of what makes society work better. All the interconnectedness I have seen through all these TED talks is fascinating, and I think when the messages from all are put together, we as students are more equipped with the tools of the future.