Update: Clay Shirky Explains “Cognitive Surplus”

2 comments

May 2, 2008

We wrote about Clay Shirky’s “cognitive surplus” theory earlier this week - here’s a video of him talking more at length about the idea. In it he explains the process by which he determined the amount of “human thought units” used in watching sitcoms versus creating user generated content, in the form of Wikipedia entries (by his calculation, Americans spend 2,000 more units per year zoned out in front of the boob tube than creating content). Watch it below:

By Christine Huang

in Entertainment, TV & Film, Trends In The US
  • Print

Related Topics: ,

You're reading PSFK.

Inspiration to make things better.

Previous Article

Next Article

Comments (1)

  1. A bland concept badly presented. Sorry. (And if I hear Clay Shirky’s story about the mouse again …)

    Morgan
    May 11th, 2008 at 9:29 am

Featured Elsewhere (1)

  1. Gin, Television, and Social Surplus « Get Shouty