Cognitive surplus is the free time that people have on their hands to engage in collaborative activities. In his TED talk, Clay Shirky tells his audience that there are two types of cognitive surplus, communal and civic. While communal benefits the viewer and gives them information, civic cognitive surplus brings ideas together that benefits a large group of people…and that is changing society.
Shirky showcased some effective ways to broadcast his information. He started his TED talk by talking about the election crisis of Kenya in December of 2007. He told a story about the lawyer Ory Okolloh and how she had to find a way to keep her blog updated after the media blackout. This sets the tone, because people now want to listen in are thinking about how this relates to the topic. He talks about Ushahidi, the site that two programmers helped Okolloh create, and talked about its use in the world. Shirky said that it’s a crisis map and described how it’s used in Mexico, Washington D.C. and Haiti after the Earthquake. After his story he used his sly humor to show the other side of cognitive surplus; big cute cats with captions, known as lolcats. This part of his presentation was effective because he uses diversity by describing a serious site like Ushahidi, which helps society, and then shows a site with humorous cats. It also produced some laughs, which a speaker needs to keep the audience interested in his topic. Next he displayed a graph that showed data from a daycare centers in Israel and explained how it showed the deterrence theory, which states that if you want somebody to less of something, add a punishment and they’ll do less of it. It was interesting how the daycare center added a fine for the parents picking up their kids late; however, after the fines were removed, the parents still picked their children up late the same amount of time they did when the fees were installed. It really showed how human behavior works. He ended the presentation by nicely summarizing the two types of cognitive surplus; that lolcats are communal, by giving pleasure to the viewer, and Ushahidi is civic, because it improves society by bringing ideas together. He ended with a quote from Dean Keman, “Free cultures get what they celebrate." We've got a choice before us. We've got this trillion hours a year. We can use it to crack each other up, and we're going to do that. That, we get for free. But we can also celebrate and support and reward the people trying to use cognitive surplus to create civic value. And to the degree we're going to do that, to the degree we're able to do that, we'll be able to change society.”In the world today we need more civic ideas that reflect and elaborate upon the idea of Ushahidi. One example of civic cognitive surplus is Wikipedia, an open data-warehouse that allows people to distribute their knowledge around the world. People use Wikipedia for free and can get the information they are looking for all on one site. Globally, technology has shifted how information is presented, to sites like Wikipedia that eliminate numerous sets of encyclopedias. Even though many people may argue about the accuracy of Wikipedia, it is continuously updated to remain current. If an encyclopedia is being produced, the minute it is published, it is behind the information that Wikipedia share. In another example of civic surplus, Ushahidi provides a strong connection to the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow; when Marcus becomes involved in exposing the DHS, he uses the Xnet to share his ideas. In this example of civic cognitive surplus, he can set up riots and protests, so everyone will know. When he started his Vampire mob, he set it up through the Xnet; and then, when he showed up the next morning to start it, thousands of people were by his side. The Xnet can be set up in a way that is similar to Ushahidi, when Marcus uses it to call to the people of San Francisco to help him take down the DHS.
Both types of cognitive thinking are important, but Shirky said that civic cognitive thinking is changing society. With our trillion hours a year, we can use them by watching videos and looking at pictures, or we can use them to create information for websites like Ushahidi, that will make a difference. For example, after I graduate from college, I hope to become a physician and specialize in medical research; I want to help people fight conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. My dad has rheumatoid arthritis and it has prevented him from doing a lot of things he loves; he used to be a big runner in his twenties, but because of his arthritis, it now hurts him to run. To help my dad, and the rest of the 40 million people with arthritis in the United States, Ushahidi or a similar program would be very beneficial. With Ushahidi I could publish all the research to a crisis map and show which city has the most people with arthritis, and which city has the most consistent weather, because arthritis pain increases when the weather changes more. Down the road, I could be diagnosed with arthritis - as it is in my genes - so the research would help in treating it. Another example is in states like Colorado - or anywhere in the Midwest - where school is at risk of closure in the winter, Ushahidi would help sort all the information. By showing which districts are closed, lengthy lists would be eliminated in searching for one district closure. It could also help buses find a better route if their usual route consists of more traffic or snow, once on the main roads. That way, kids will have a better chance of getting to school on time and it will eliminate snow day commotion. Currently, Ushahidi could be helping the world keep up with the tsunami/earthquake in Japan instead of hunting for information on Yahoo. By clicking on the map of Japan, you can get all the feeds and updates. Since the only way we can see the whole world is on a map, then crisis mapping is a great way to find information based on location. Because access to this information is free, this allows us to collaborate more easily, which is changing the way we get our information now, and in the future, and ultimately this is changing the world for the better. 
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