While I preferred "Here Comes Everybody", this book was interesting as well. It's basically an examination of how people use online tools to change the world. The book tends to feel Polyannaish and I don't think Shirky went nearly deep enough in his examination on how tools like Facebook and Twitter can be used for evil. I also think that LOLCats is a rather trivial example of group collaboration(Shirky admits this), so why bother with it at all. I'd liked to have seen discussion of 4chan, anonymous and other places/personas on the Internet that don't always work as a force for good. Shirky is obviously pro-sharing, and pro amateur production without really discussing the filter failure this creates and how we might deal with it, whether it be by curation or algorithm. Clearly, Shirky set out to prove or at least suggest a positive use for online tools, but ignoring the less than savory uses doesn't make them go away, nor does it give users an adequate picture of how online tools really work. ( )

enjoyable.

The author has some very good points. It feels lightly researched and he makes his points more through anecdotes rather than research. (To be fair he does provide some additional information in a notes section but no footnotes in the material.) The other problem with the material is his assumption that this surplus will only be used for good. He has a number of stories about people using this surplus for good, but there are I'm guessing an equal number of people that are communicating and connecting for less good reasons. Which doesn't argue that there isn't a surplus but does indicate that we should really be considering the consequences of this surplus rather than just embracing it as a good thing. A good but flawed read. ( )

Reading this in 2019 felt a bit old-hat, so I can't imagine it'll age well. But some good anecdotes/interesting facts, rather loosely held together by the thesis (which is that people are using their spare time to create content rather than just consume it - as indeed I'm doing right now).. Well written, if a bit shallow. ( )

This has not aged gracefully. ( )

Great book explores how we have time to help-- time that we don't always think about.
Shirky is brilliant. It was a real pleasure to interview him about this book and his first, HERE COMES EVERYBODY ( )

Nice! Shirky pulls together great social media anecdotes and research and assembles them into a very clear description of where we're at and where we may be heading... It's a must-read for anyone in the industry and a should-probably-read for any avid Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media service user. ( )

The deft way Shirky connects and articulates different concepts (even when they're mostly very familiar), plus the examples he deconstructs and conclusions he offers, make this a highly insightful read.

I really want to re-read Here Comes Everybody at some point soon. ( )

For the first time in history, the amount of television being watched by a younger generation is decreasing rather than increasing annually. Why? Because time is being poured instead into interactive media, and above all into online activities. The key word here is "activities", for the defining feature of new media is action. Social media offers equal opportunities for all simultaneously to consume, produce and share. What is the potential of this? What can we achieve?

This turned out to be about a different topic than I had expected but I still enjoyed it very much. The author looks at our society of Internet connectivity and social media. There were definitely some nuggets that made me think about things in a new way. ( )

The central thesis - laid out in the first part of the book - is a compelling refutation of the idea that the modern communications technology is a black hole, sucking up our time and attention. Shirky's point is that pre-internet, many in the developed world (his focus is on America, but the same thing applies for other rich nations) spent their free time watching television. By this measure, even the most asinine of internet activities (e.g. making cat memes) is something of an improvement and if only a small percentage of people's free time can be harnessed, unprecedented works of mass collaboration (e.g. Wikipedia) will be the result. The increases in free time combined with modern technology present us with a unprecedented opportunity to produce and create. ( )

I starting reading the print version of this, stalled out and set it down. Then I picked it up again using the audible.com version.

I found this a very nice continuation of the work he began in Here Comes Everybody. Shirky takes similar research about social uses of media and uses them to explain and shed light on theories of Internet behaviors. Overall, in this volume he expands a general theory that humans have a desire/appreciation of group activity and cooperation. Internet technology and ubiquitious broadband access reduce the cost of cooperation and enable us to engage in this kind of activity more frequently.

I do note that Shirky's work seems to parralel that of Yochai Benkler. Previously, Benkler's work has been much more specialized and harder to access. However, with his publication of The Penguin and the Leviathan, I recommend anyone who is interested in this area of study to read Benkler's work. It is phenomenal. (Shirky's book is pretty good too.) ( )

Cognitive Surplus is Shirky's second book and takes a more academic/intellectual edge then his last one. They both explore this basic idea of "Cognitive Surplus" that massive amount of mental resource at our collective disposal with, only now, the ability to tap into it with collective projects like Wikipedia. This book is just as interesting as the first, but a bit harder to get through. One of the basic ideas is that we've always had the desire to do things, collectively, altruistically, en mass, but have never really had the ability before the dawning of the internet age.
I'd recommend reading Shirky's first book, Here Comes Everybody, and if your still interested this is definitely worth a look too. ( )

Really enjoyed this. It's mostly about why people do things (especially on the internet) to amuse or help people for reasons other than money.
It's also kind of about what people have been doing with their free time since they suddenly got a lot more of it in the 20th century, and how just watching TV isn't really enough anymore.
( )

All through Cognitive Surplus I was compulsively underlining and marking key paragraphs in an approved Jacobsean manner. Shirky elegantly illustrates how participatory culture–like Wikipedia or YouTube–changes the nature of media, and gives names to many of the phenomena we’re peripherally aware of as users. He attempts to draw up guidelines for successful harnessing of cognitive surplus at the end, although I didn’t find that as successful as his catalogue of examples. But the man is amazingly quotable, and you feel like he actually understands where media is going (his online writing on the state of newspapers has been the best analysis of their woes I’ve read). ( )

I found this a fascinating read. He talks about how now, with the combination of surplus time in society (all time that has previously been spent in watching television) plus new opportunities to share and create online (think Wikipedia, Apache, online charities, couchsurfing.org, meet up.com, pickupal etc.) that there are now amazing ways to use our cognitive surplus for public/civic good. Obviously he's talking to readers on the other side of the digital divide, employed people with surplus time and money. He says that people are no longer satisfied to be merely passive consumers of media. Given the opportunity to interact and to create, people prefer that. Gone are the days when only publishers can publish and only organizations can organize. Also, cyberworld, now that so many of us are on it, is no longer separate from the real world. It is part of it. This book crystallized many things I've already been thinking--as I belong to many online/real world communities and I was already in awe of the potentials there. Reading this book made me really excited about the potentials of online sharing/networking and publishing. ( )

We live in amazing times. For the majority of those of us who live in America, we have vast reservoirs of free time.

But how do we choose to use that free time? Sadly, for the last fifty years, we have spent most of it passively watching television, watching television to the exclusion of other more social, more fulfilling activities. Last year, in fact, Americans watched about two hundred billion hours of television. And, even more sadly, studies show that those who watch tv are less happy, more overweight, and less social.

Shirky begins his book with this information, but he does have happier news to report: Americans are gradually beginning to turn off the tv in favor of other, more interactive activities. Shirky looks with great hope at the new social media that allows users to accomplish big social projects in easy ways.

A book that is definitely worth reading.

This book uses examples from the present to illustrate a preferred future where people spend more time actively doing things, and less time passively watching television. Using examples ranging from the open source software movement to the group "Grobanites for Charity" (a Josh Groban fan group), Shirky shows what is possible when groups spontaneously come together. He cites research on intrinsic motivation, and the overall result is an optimistic tome.

The book is filled with examples of collective action made possible by the global Internet's capacity to bring people together. If you need inspiration to get off the couch, this book should be sufficient. If you need firebrand-style inspiration, then you probably should read Sirota's "The Uprising" instead. Then come back and read this book for ideas. ( )

My copy of Cognitive Surplus is festooned with sticky-tabs, noting passages of particular interest that I'd like to revisit. Shirky's argument in this work is that society will be improved by the increased access, communication, and social interaction that is available to people now, via the internet and the social media aspect of its use. He spends many pages on the history, research, and examples to back his claims that the mix of these tools and the free time available to average Americans will lead to increased participation in projects that will improve society; and not many pages on the themes of his detractors. Shirky particularly draws upon the findings of Behavior Economics, and the study of what motivates people to make the choices that they do, with regards to how they spend their time (and by some extension, their money).

Optimism also permeates the work, which is a refreshing change from the usual discussions around our technological and communication revolution. Taken historically, people have been through this before, and we (as a people) will come out the other side. Shirky mentions the casualties of such upheaval, but briefly, and with that self-same optimism that the upheaval will be seen as a necessary onward step, eventually.

In all, it was a hopeful book, steeped in technological culture even as Shirky is analyzing the behavior of people within that culture. ( )

I originally wanted to read this book because I really loved "Here Comes Everybody." However, I have to say I was disappointed with "Cognitive Surplus." The best parts of this book are largely covered in "Here Comes Everybody" and in Dan Ariely's wonderful "Predictably Irrational." What's left is an anecdotal and biased muddle. ( )

Shirky describes the economic changes swirling around us as people have disposable free time and an unprecedented ability to create, combining to form a massive potential. Wikipedia is a drop in the bucket compared to what could be done if people reduced the time they watch TV and instead spend it on a massively collaborative project (akin to but different than Wikipedia).

It is informative and pushes you to think about our economy and how media is evolving into something more than we once understood it to be. The collective power we hold as a group of separate individuals is truly staggering. As the ability to combine forces is refined it has the potential to change how we go about our lives. The possibilities of what could be possible are mind blowing. ( )

Before we had access to the Internet and the many social media applications so many of us use today, we spent quite a bit of our free time in the solitary and consumptive activity of watching TV. Now we may still be watching TV with some of our free time, but it is no longer a completely passive activity. People are participating in discussions online as they watch as well as using content to create new things to share with our online world. We have become participators, collaborators and producers. More often than not, we do this work for free. However, it is not just entertainment-related content we are sharing with each other. We are creating content to inform (think Wikipedia) and save lives (Ushahidi.com, reporting violence to Kenyans in real time-- to name a few ways.

We (of much of the developed nations) have an excess of free time, energy and ideas and this is what Shirky refers to as “cognitive surplus.” The use of this surplus in creating content with our free time without monetary gain continues and is increasing because social media fulfills our innate desires of being members of a group and sharing with one another. Much of this book looks at what benefits to society can come from the pooling of this surplus.

"Cognitive Surplus" is not really a deep look at how people are using social media and online communities but rather a book of quotable observations and examples. It is a really affirming book if you are involved in social media and are optimistic about the future of the use of these tools and applications. Though Shirky sees a promising future through the use of our cognitive surplus for goodwill, there is no real direction on how we will really accomplish this. Optimism is good and these are exciting times so I do recommend this book but I do so with some reservation. I do not believe that there is too much in this book that has not already been said by Shirky and others. ( )

Pretty neat perspective of the author. I like how it tied in somewhat qualitative, right-brain concepts (creativity and generosity) with modern trends in technology and business. Well written with good examples.

I heard his Long Now talk and was intrigued by the idea of a collective cognitive surplus. Some of the stats were interesting, like how many people-hours have been devoted to Wikipedia, how many hours spent watching TV (collectively), and how many hours of free time Western people have available for various pursuits. But, my interest ran out of gas fairly quickly after that. DNF. ( )

Disclaimer: I received this book for free through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Clay Shirky's use of the term "cognitive surplus" refers to the fact that when society moved to a 40 hour work week people had significantly more free time than they had previously. Mostly, says Shirky, they spent that time watching television but now social media makes it possible for people to pool their resources and easily collaborate on projects that they are interested in with people all over the world. These projects can be useful and important like open-source software or they can be silly and pointless like ICanHasCheeseburger.com. Shirky is not utopian about these changes but he certainly believes that it's a net-positive for society.

I enjoyed this book a lot. Shirky does an excellent job of clearly explaining what's important about social media in a way that's intuitive. To be fair, I mostly agreed with the ideas in this book before reading it (although, I could not have said it as well as Shirky).