I knew there had to be valid justification for user-generated content. Read the article. It's beautiful. And I guarantee that you have time to do it. Author Clay Shirky points out that the sitcom, which has sucked up everyone's free time since people started having free time around the middle of the last century, created a method through which to quantify leisure hours. Shirky calls it a "cognitive surplus." For instance, all of Wikipedia represents roughly the same amount of free time (100 million thought-hours) that Americans spend watching commercials every weekend. Every weekend.
We're moving to a culture in which entertainment means engagement. Instead of passively staring at screens, we're beginning to react and interact and create content of our own. Who has time to Facebook? Who has time to blog? Who has time to read online magazines and journals? Everyone does. Guaranteed.
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3 comments:
The irony ... or me being cynical:
1) More people creating content -> more information.
2) More information -> need to consume
3) Consumption -> original problem.
If 2 does not happen, namely, if people do not consume the information produced, then there is no societal benefit.
(The train of thought is not perfectly complete ... but sufficient)
Well, I would look at it this way: people are going to entertain themselves, regardless of the type/amount of information available. If they go about it by actively engaging material, then the individuals benefit merely by exercising their minds, and, by extension, society benefits.
I don't think consumption is necessarily a problem. If we assume that people are going to consume, then directing them toward more productive—if only marginally so—pursuits, is worth looking into. There may be many better ways for people to spend their free time, but I for one would prefer infinitely more to see them blogging, reading articles, interacting, etc. instead of watching television.
The created information does not necessarily have to be consumed to be valuable. I think that just the action is often significantly suitable justification.
I never wanted Gilligan and his crew to be rescued. For if they were rescued,as my older brother explained to me, the show would be over.
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