a story about surplus

Sometimes I wonder where all my free time goes.

Sometimes I know exactly where it goes -- to the fridge, then to the couch, then to our DVR to watch Gossip Girl. (Really...don't judge.)

Sometimes I use it in slightly more creative ways...baking being one of the highest on the free-time-o-meter.

But lately, I've spent some of that surplus time reading a book called Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.

It's basically a book about two things. I could try to explain it, but Clay Shirky, the author, does a much better job:

This book is about the novel resource that has appeared as the world's cumulative free time is addressed in aggregate. The two most important transitions allowing us access to this resource have already happened -- the buildup of well over a trillion hours of free time each year on the part of the world's educated population, and the invention and spread of public media that enable ordinary citizens, previously locked out, to pool that free time in pursuit of activities they like or care about. Those two facts are common to every story in this book... Understanding these two changes, as different as they are from the media landscape of the twentieth century, is just the beginning of understanding what is happening today, and what is possible tomorrow.

You've probably seen charts showing the distribution of the world's wealth across the globe -- showing areas where it's concentrated or sparse or not there at all. How interesting to think that, in a similar way, we have a wealth of time and creativity at our disposal that, properly recognized and used, could lead to fewer barren areas on the monetary map, or fewer instances of crime and violence in another country (or our own), or greater education, or better health.

In the next couple of days, I'm going to post some stories and links about organizations that have combined new technological capabilities with Shirky's so-called "cognitive surplus" to enable new behaviors and benefits to other people around the world. It's pretty exciting, if I do say so myself... Many of these will be examples described in the book, but a few will be external to it. Exciting!! (Do I have you convinced?)