Creative Surplus Creativity and Generosity In A Connected Age by Clay Shirky

Creative Surplus Creativity and Generosity In A Connected Age by Clay Shirky

The central idea of this book is that because of social media people are able to pool resources in their free time to create unique digital projects.  These projects can range from free encyclopedias like Wikipedia to lolcats which is a collection of funny pictures of cats.  Social media in this book expands beyond computers to include smartphones and cell phones.




Clay Shirky is arguing people are moving away from passive forms of entertainment like television to more interactive forms of entertainment like the internet.  He compares television to gin which is a bit far fetched but entertaining.  This change represents a shift in values which should create a more interactive future.



I found the book to be very positive and a bit evangelistic about the benefits of social media.  He dismisses the disruption caused by deprofessionalization when amateurs volunteer to do many jobs that were professional in nature.  Clay Shirky touches only briefly on the concept of digital sharecropping where writers and other creative professionals work for free or very little money on blogs and other digital projects.



The description of the benefits of social media is the best part of this book.  We learn how cell phone use makes government more transparent, how people created open source software, and how computers are making us more connected.  He points out that services like http://www.meetup.com/ extend social networks into the real world and allow people who had only met on computers to meet in person.



This book had a conversational tone that spoke directly to the reader.  It tried to connect with peoples every day experience of using the internet.  I found it to be easy to read.  It was also well researched with extensive notes and an index.



Clay Shirky also wrote Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.  He is considered an internet guru and is a professor at New York University.

Daily Thoughts 7/26/2010 ( Cognitive Surplus, Queens Library, libraries )

Benjamin Franklin., 1767, Oil On Canvas, In the White House

Daily Thoughts 7/26/2010

It is clear that advocacy is becoming a central fact with libraries in the United States these days.  If you are not willing to speak up for your library you may not have one in your community.  Also, if you work in a library and do not speak up for your library, you might even get laid off.  Being quiet is not really an option. It may make some people uncomfortable, but it is necessary.



To Close Budget Gap, Queens Library To Lay Off 46
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/886041-264/to_close_budget_gap_queens.html.csp




With Library Campaign Materials Libraries Must Navigate Between Education and Advocacy
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/886037-264/with_campaign_materials_libraries_must.html.csp




I checked out a book called Design And Launch An Online Social Networking Business In A Week by Entrepreneur Press and Julien Sharp.  It provides an outline of the process of creating a social network from scratch.


I am looking at the Fostering Digitally Inclusive Communities Grant offered by the National Broadband Plan.  To even begin applying to the grant we would have to put some social media into effect in order to get it.  The grant mentions blogs, email, and other digital tools as being part of communicating with the public.  I have already been looking at MP3 players and ebooks because of our recent promotion of Overdrive Digital Media Catalog at our library.  It should be very interesting.




This morning, I went through and updated most of the displays as well as set up meetings to understand the invoicing process for electronic data interchange.  I also emailed Poets House about their Poetry In The Branches Program and talked to BWI about electronic data interchange.  Posters for the Library Express database also came in as promotional material.




On the train home, I finished reading Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky.  I like the descriptions of how people donating time to social media adds to real life connections through groups like Wikimedia and Meetup.  He does an excellent job of describing the intrinsic value of giving time to social platforms that can reach into the real world.  A very real example of this for me is my going to places with the New York Librarians Meetup group.

Daily Thoughts 7/25/2010 ( Turning The Page Online Course, Cognitive Surplus, Reanimation Library )

A photochrom postcard published by the Detroit Photographic Company of the Library of Congress in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.


Daily Thoughts 7/25/2010


This morning, I finished The Turning The Page online course for library advocacy. It was a challenge at some points mainly in navigating the class to make sure that I saw all the options. This would be a good free course to take if you want to clarify your message about why you should support the library and give funds to the library. I have a printout that acknowledges my taking the course. http://www.sustaininglibrariesonline.org/pla/index.asp




I read some more of Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus.  The author is describing how many people who are using the web are intrinsically motivated.  They are doing things because they enjoy them not necessarily for rewards.  They are also doing intrinsically motivated projects that scale communally like Wikipedia and other things.  This can range from the silly to the extremely relevant.  There is no reward for posting videos on Youtube or making a Facebook page.  People do it for social reasons.  I certainly am not being paid to write this blog.  Yet, I am learning how to use social media, improving my writing skills, and creating a sense of both open communication and self mastery. The ideas in this book reflect many of the actions which I am taking personally.  They are relevant to how people use the web and changes in communication and interaction caused by social media.




The Reanimation Library one of the odder library websites I have seen. http://www.reanimationlibrary.org/pages/about.htm

Daily Thoughts 7/24/2010

Library Park, Bath, ME; from a 1917 postcard. This shows the Roberts Fountain, with the Patten Free Library at right

Daily Thoughts 7/24/2010

September is National Library Card month. http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/calendarofevents/otherinitiatives/card/librarycard.cfm

Long Overdue A Fresh Look at Public and Leadership Attitudes about LIBRARIES in the 21st Century http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/Long_Overdue.pdf

I took a little bit of time to look at the Booklife Now blogroll http://www.booklifenow.com . It had a site which I find very useful and entertaining if you are in the publishing world, Shelf Awareness. I read it every day in my email. http://www.shelf-awareness.com I added it to my own blogroll.

I walked up to the library this morning and I spent some time looking at Consumer Reports, both the buying guide for 2010 and the September 2009 issues on Digital Cameras. Then I went to Amazon and cross referenced the highest rated digital cameras. From what I see, the Samsung SL102 is getting the best ratings. The Samsung TL110 is also getting excellent ratings. It looks like they are selling out of the TL110 in the stores and not discounting it which is a good sign that something has good quality. The TL110 has digital video, so it would be possible to do both videos and pictures which would be very nice.

I have been reading more of Digital Photography for Dummies, 6th Edition. I think I will be prepared to buy a digital camera pretty soon. I just have to look around. J and R Computer World in Manhattan has an excellent reputation. I sometimes go there. I also might just buy it from Amazon and spend a little extra money to get a better warranty.

Of course, I have a little bit of trepidation because I am not sure what will happen in six months if the library I am working at manages to either not raise additional funds or manages to lose its central library status causing a considerable loss of funds. This means it makes me wonder if I should not be holding onto my cash as much as possible.

Anyways, I started reading Cognitive Surplus Creativity And Generosity In a Connected Age by Clay Shirky. Cognitive surplus is that eight hours of free time where we either are not working or sleeping. It used to be that this was filled with television, a passive medium. Now, people are starting to use it for more interactive media in interesting ways. Clay Shirky talks about shared activities on a large scale like Wikipedia, Facebook, and other online social activities. People are no longer passive in the media landscape. Everyone in effect becomes a producer of content who wants to. I am not a huge fan of television, I find the internet and social media to be personally entertaining and rewarding even if I am not paid to use it.