Reading Reflection No. 3

Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general idea of the book is that with the advent and rise of the influential sphere of the Internet, people are spending more time collaborating online with each other and creating a plethora of collaboration spaces that weren't even remotely available before the current technological advancements. This collaboration can lead to a genuine change in society, which is the focus of the book.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

Dr. Pryor has proven throughout the entire class that collaboration and feedback and communication is key in entrepreneurship. Although this book focuses on a bigger picture than a single startup company, the startup can still use the cognitive surplus - now more than ever, through the various forms of social media, entrepreneurs can advertise and introduce their venture and receive literally immediate feedback from markets all around the world. Where a businessperson used to have to buy a list of phone numbers from a third party company and spend the time to call each number, hoping to survey 1 out of 15 people that even picked up, not only can the survey time now be expedited through mass emails but potential customers can find the business online and approach the business themselves, instead of the other way around.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would design an experiment type of exercise. In the author's chapter on Opportunity, he references the Ultimatum game and the difference between what behavioral economics predicts will happen and what actually happens. I would change the game to fit entrepreneurship, and have students propose partnerships, business-to-business deals, or deals between the service and the customer and have other students respond. I am sure that the class would emphasize the point that we are likely to create fair trades with each other rather than trades that heavily benefit us and put the other party at a disadvantage, and that we are likely to not accept unfair deals even though we still might be gaining something.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

Honestly, my biggest "surprises" from the book was that a) it was not about the same term of cognitive surplus that we use in cognitive research (we use it in terms of how much cognitive resources an individual has at their disposal, and this can be tested) and b) that Myspace was not in fact the first social media site. Who knew? It was a site called SixDegrees. But...no one remembers that website nor even used it, that I know of, so I will still reference Myspace as the first successful social media site.