27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

I chose to read Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky who is a professor at NYU whose work surrounds the internet and its effects on the population. 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

Cognitive surplus is a phrase coined by the author. It is essentially people's extra time and creativity that leads to productivity and sharing online. People have lots of time on their hands and are spending more and more time on the internet, therefore, there is increased creation. He explains there are four types of sharing: personal, communal, public and civil. Personal sharing is your typical selfie post on instagram to your friend group. Communal sharing would be buying and selling furniture in the Facebook marketplace in Gainesville, and only benefits the local area. 

The next two he says are really valuable. Public sharing is when people go on Wikipedia and spend their valuable time creating content for other people to use. Civic sharing would be people using their online resources to crowdfund resources and share safety areas during a hurricane. He focuses on the benefit that civic sharing can have, or actually making society a better place. The general theme of the book is cognitive surplus can be a powerful thing and will continue to have impacts going forward as it increases. From another angle, people should spend less time watching TV and exercise cognitive surplus to make the world a better place. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

I think cognitive surplus related to ENT because there is a new concept in business that companies should be aware of their environmental, societal and governmental impacts. Simply making a profit for personal or communal (employees) reasons is not enough. Understanding the public and civic impacts is what will set apart a venture for long term success. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would have the students explain the 4 sharing aspects with regard to their business. 1. What are the personal benefits that you are getting from starting this business (financial, behavioral, mental). 2. How would your business change your friends, family, local area? 3. How would you make a public impact across the state/country. 4. How are you changing society? (are you giving back in any ways?). I believe this exercise will help create an even stronger venture idea by examining all areas of impact. 

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations

My favorite part of the book was thinking about how social media and the internet could be a good thing for my life AND society. I was at a point where I was deleting social media every other week to give myself a break. Maybe I could start writing blogs or looking for ways to help society (ie. volunteering to help an online charity with something). The author quotes that Americans watch 2 billion hours of TV or over 5 hours a day. I want to make an effort to make my screen time valuable towards my personal benefits (ie. career enhancement) but also civic value (raising money for a cause on Facebook).