Clay Shirky on gin, TV and participation
You’ve heard about Wikipedia, YouTube, “user-generated content”, and Web 2.0, right? But what’s their significance—isn’t it all just a fad?
The idea that people can contribute to and share “media”, as well as consuming it, is actually a big deal, and it’ll probably affect you, whether as a user or a publisher.
Clay Shirky’s speech at the Web 2.0 conference back in April, “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus” provides a wonderful perpective on where this fits in with our everyday lives, and specifically our relationship with television. Shirky compares television to gin, and argues that, “it’s only now, as we’re waking up from that collective bender [of watching sitcoms],” that we can begin to work out what we can create by using our spare time to participate.
You can also watch the speech as a video. Great stuff!