Ted Talk 4 (Clay Shirky)

This video taught me about cognitive surplus "ability of world's population to volunteer, contribute, collaborate on large (sometimes global) projects". I learned that cognitive surplus is made up of free time that people have to commit to shared projects. Cognitive surplus lets motivation to be formed into a new design resource. When someone puts out creative information, no matter how silly it may be, they have still accomplished more than someone who has not put out that information, since, the creativity that was put out can be improved. Another take-away from this video was the deterrences theory (add a punishment and they will do less than even what they are doing). Shirky used an example of daycare centers and their pickup time. The experiment was, parents would be fined if they picked up kids late; consequently, more and more parents picked up kids late. The money got rid of the personal connection/relationship between the workers and parents. Then the culture made by the fine stayed after the fine was lifted and many parents still came late. I also learned about communal value which is a "solved problem". Additionally I learned, how we should use cognitive surplus with civic value to change society for the better. Shirky's speaking techniques included showing examples of communal value with LOLcats, civic value's importance with Ushahidi, and the deterrences theory with the daycare center's experiments. This makes his information apply to regular life and people can relate to it more. The speaker's style is overall serious. There are only a few instances where he uses humor to relate to his point. He tries to convey the significance that civic value has on our lives. This video is important because civic value with cognitive surplus will help benefit society as a whole. It will help me see what's going on in the world and track it more closely as well as education and the world. Cognitive surplus will definitely assist the world in many things to come.