versatile

“The everyday folks can now take control of the production of media content, and are no longer merely consumers heholden to professionals media people”. Evidently Rosen is very perceptive, and on point with this assertion, and so is Clay Shirky as he repeatedly echoes the same sentiment is his book” Cognitive Surplus”. According to Shirky, digital media allows the people formerly known as the audience, to create value for one another. This is basically stating that people are now learning to use the free time afforded to them, for more creative acts, rather than consumptive ones, particularly with the advent of web 2.0, and online tools that allow new forms of collaborations.

In chapter two of his book “Cognitive Surplus” Shirky uses a very good example. “The button marked publish”. Maxine Hong Kingston wrote an article praising Barack Obama on the occasion of his visit to her home state of Hawaii, but unfortunately for her, the newspapers she sent the article to, all denied to publish it. To her delight she realized this rejection mattered a whole lot less than it used to. She went onto Open.Salon.com, a website for literary conversations, and as she put it, “All I had to do was type, and click a button marked publish”.

I totally agree with Rosen, gone are the days when the voices of the masses could not be heard, because media ran in one direction, in a broadcasting pattern with high entry fees, and a few firms competing to speak very loudly, while the rest of the population listened in isolation. A few years ago I lived in a small town, in a small island in the Caribbean call Dominica. The media houses were structured, censored, and plagued with bureaucratic red tape. The publication of information and media attention, was difficult, and very expensive. As a result of this, the voice of the masses especially those in the less developed communities was almost nonexistent. A few gifted and ambitious individuals that resided in the town of Portsmouth, decided to take the initiative to fix this, and the idea of a community website was born. Within a short period of time the site http://www.insidepossie.com/ was up and running, and it immediately placed Portsmouth on the map. This was the first community based website on the island. It was used to showcase the town’s activities, it’s natural resources, and it’s many talented individuals. Portsmouth became one of the most popular, and talked about community on the island as it’s events, and the skills of it’s  many talented residents were now displayed on a bigger stage.

The people formerly known as the audience were now speaking, as we own the eye balls on the computer screens, and broadcasting was no longer a one way street.

Web 2.0, so much fun. There is no limit to the amount of amazing things that can be done with all the different platforms and programs available today online. Memegenerator and photoshop makes it so very easy to create and edit images in all different styles and fashion. Being able to manipulate all the tools to create an image of choice, is in and of itself motivating and rewarding. According to Clay Shirky, “it’s an Intrinsic motivation”.

In light of my recent post on Cognitive Surplus and PickupPal, information has shown that over 41,214,074 lbs of potential Carbon Dioxide, Co₂ have been avoided by PickupPal. Some of their Eco-Rideshare Partners include, The United States Environmental Protection Agency, Virgin Mobile, Coachella and The Home Depot. Help save our planet, join PickupPal.

Clay Shirky has touched on many real life situations in an attempt to explore the possible outcomes, that result when we utilize new digital technology, to tap into our shared resources of talent, in order to transform the world. Cognitive Surplus vividly talks about the intersection of technological innovation and social change. In chapter 2 “Means” Shirky writes about a practical transportation problem that can now be taken on in a social way.  He explained how getting to and from work, requires significant effort, and resources, however billions undertake it five days a week. This problem at first glance appears to be media related, but one of the principal solutions available to commuting is carpooling, and the key to carpooling isn’t cars, it’s coordination. Carpooling doesn’t require new cars, just new information about existing ones. A special website, pickupPal.com is one of the new information sites, designed to coordinate drivers and riders, planning to travel along the same route. Many individuals use this site to network, and integrate into a carpooling system for economical and personal reasons.

Before I moved to the United States a few years ago, I lived in a small Caribbean Island call Dominica. I worked about one hour away from where I lived, and drove to work five days a week. On average, my gas bill was about four hundred and fifty Eastern Caribbean dollars per month (USD168). During this time I was a Hi5 member, and a frequent visitor to the site. Hi5 was very popular in the islands, and I spent several hours a day socializing with friends and family members. One of my very good friends who had just returned home after studying in China for five years, had taken up a new job in the same town where I worked. In one of our conversations on Hi5, we discovered that we worked about five minutes away from each other and he also drove to work five days a week. We immediately set a plan in motion, and decided we could travel together, and alternate the days we drove to work. The next day we met online again, but this time invited some other friends to join the conversation. By the end of the night, we were able to team up with two other friends, who lived in our area and took the same route as we did daily. Collaboratively we decided to carpool, so instead of the four of us driving to work in four different cars, we agreed to ride in one car. A different person would drive their car each week.

This mutual agreement was a very economical, and successful undertaking that was initiated through social media. We were able to find an aggregate solution that benefited all parties involved and it saved us a lot of money. In using this carpooling system, we were all able to cut our gas bill by 75%, because instead of each one spending $450ec (usd168) a month, we spent only $113ec (usd42), since each person only drove for one week. Just as Shirky explained, the logic of digital media allows people formerly known as the audience, to create value for one another every day. I am a living example to this notion and as such, totally identified with Shirky in this, and many other real life scenarios.