Cognitive Surplus
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.
48 responses so far
The carpooling idea is excellent, not only for saving money but for having more space on the public streets and parking for all of us. My idea for a perfect future according to this topic, is people start to drive uni-personal electric cars. When you are on a highway you can see 100 more 5-passenger cars being driven by only one single person. This means too much wasted space on the streets. I dream to live in a city full of smart fortwo cars or similar. Small and electric cars are the future.
Great post, Eddy. At some point, you might take a look at Shirky’s first book, “Here Comes Everybody,” where he talks, among other things, about organizing via social media. Where Cognitive Surplus is about creating and sharing, HCE is about using social media to make connections and organizing to perform some sort of action collectively.