Cognitive Surplus

1) What is this article about? What is the main argument Shirky is making?

- Shirky is relaying the point that each generation has different technological opportunities to take advantage of, and if they do it will create more opportunities for other generations to come.

2) How does this article define literacy? How does this definition either coincide or differ from the 2 previous articles (Wolf and Carr) we have read?

- Literacy in this article is being defined ad being productive and using the resources you’ve been provided in order to create something useful.

- This definition is different from the others because it does not discuss how literacy involves research and using textual information to grow intellectually.

3) What is a cognitive surplus?

- Cognitive surplus is the amount of time an individual is allotted to provide something useful and intellectual either to the world or for themselves.

4) Why does this article matter?

- This article is important because it reminds people that they were created and given the opportunity to produce and share knowledge with the world around them.

5) Use the Method to analyze the article (pg. 26 in Writing Analytically) by looking for patterns of repetitions, strands of similarities, binaries, and anomalies.

- cognitive surplus, time and knowledge are used repetitively.

6) Choose one repetition, strand, binary, or abnormality and write a paragraph on why this aspect of the article is the most important in understanding what the text is saying. 

- I believe cognitive surplus I used frequently in order to draw the readers in. The phrase in itself is very intellectual sounding so it starts to make readers think they might need to start enhancing their abilities as humans with an endless capacity for knowledge.