[Creative Commons and Flickr user inju to thank for the photo]
I recently revisited Clay Shirky’s discussion on ‘cognitive surplus’, the idea that there is a tremendous amount of latent mental energy going unused or being underemployed. If you haven’t explored the idea then watch the video of Mr Shirky’s keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Franscisco last year. And after rewatching that video I started thinking about how to better use my own cognitive surplus…
It’s time to get off the couch…
What is really great about this idea is that we can actually all start to re-employ our own latent cognitive energy and all it takes is enthusiasm and a bit of elbow grease. I’ve been keeping myself pretty busy of late and I have been asked by a number of people “where do you find the time?”
The frighteningly prosaic answer is that I work long hours and I care a great deal about the projects I get involved with. But it’s also true that I keep a folder on my Macbook actually titled Cognitive Surplus (don’t believe me?) and I try to make sure that there are always a few small projects I can spend so-called ’spare’ time working on.
Mapping cognitive surplus, or notes on amateur social cartography
Most recently I have been employing my own cognitive surplus in producing a custom Google map that has Sydney cultural guide TwoThousand’s Eat/Drink and Shopping listings marked on it. I should make it clear at this point that I have no professional connection to TwoThousand and that I was simply motivated to work on the map because I love their guide so much. I really appreciate their editorial work and I wanted to repurpose their content in a creative way using existing platforms. If you represent TwoThousand and want to chat about the work, please feel free to contact me.
I was motivated to do this after responding to a Canadian friend’s request for advice on what to do in Melbourne by producing my own Google map of my favourite haunts down there. It occurred to me then that this completely free and incredibly powerful mapping platform was just sitting there waiting to be used. So instead of watching TV in the evenings I have been compiling the map below.
The Unofficial TwoThousand Guide to Sydney
View Unofficial TwoThousand Guide to Sydney in a larger map
Anyone can crowdsource, so now it’s your turn!
What projects can you devote a small amount of time to regularly that will put your own cognitive surplus to better use? Have a think about it and let me know in the comments below. Is there a project you’d like to see get off the ground that you haven’t managed to find the time for yet? I’d like to think if we’re prepared to share the idea and share the investment of our collective cognitive surplus, we can all work on those problems and crowdsource some nifty solutions.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts :) If you’re interested in sharing this blog post, don’t forget you can Tweet about it using the Tweetmeme button at the head of the post or by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.
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