Clay Shirky: Cognitive Surplus

What do you do with your spare time? Are you improving yourself or society?

We grew-up on TV. It's a fairly simple fact that television changed the way we utilize our free time and it has been that way for over 50 years. Clay Shirky gives a phenomenally insightful speech at the Web 2.0 Conference on what this technology has done to the population and how we will buck the trend with a fundamental shift in the way we utilize media.

After World War II, the 5-day work week meant we had to learn as a population how to use our time away from work. Television and, as Clay singles out, the sitcom took hold and held a tight grip on our hours. For this period of time, there were few other options. There were no blogs, no podcasts, no file sharing, and no open-source technology. Well, the world has changed. In what Clay identifies as an Architecture of Participation, media is turning into a triathlon. The population now wants to consume, produce, and share their media. It's the time of the people.

Think of all the hours wasted staring at a television that provides little in return. Something as simple as sharing an idea means you have taken the time to change society. That idea can circle the globe within seconds of striking the enter key. And, certainly, doing something is better than nothing. Pick your platform and utilize it. Who cares if your ideas are not entirely original? Piggy-back on the wisdom of others. Sharing is still a pillar of new media, just give the originator their credit.

Clay says some extremely insightful things as he surmises the argument. The future is in participation. He says, "Media that is targeted for you that does not include you is not worth watching." Many industries dying a slow death can attest to this (newspapers, music, etc.). Locking out the user sets the stage for a major coup. The over-throwers are the same users you used to call customers.