21A

• I chose to read Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky and fell in love with the book! The main argument of the book revolves around free time and what to do with those excess hours. Shirky proposes that, if we spent all of our free time attempting to engage with technology, our society would be able to advance like we have never seen before.
• This book relates to ENT3003 in numerous ways. The first way is that, while I do not have that much free time this summer, the free time I do have I spent working on class assignments online. Furthermore, most of the research I conducted about my product, the ignition lock, was done on a computer during my free time. Therefore, I agree with Shirky's statement that free time, when mixed with technological engagement, can result in increased productivity. Also, the book mentions that social media is inherently good and can be very beneficial to the world around us. This summer, I have deactivated all of my social media and I feel out of the loop. The daily articles that pop up on my Facebook feed really educate me about what is going on in the world around me and I almost feel lost without having this information so readily available to me and, furthermore, shoved in my face at all times.
• Based off of this book, I would design an assignment focusing on social media. I would encourage students to write down the pros and cons of each different type of social media site (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) and then go around interviewing people of all diverse generations to see what they think about these sites. It would be intriguing to compare the different reviews based off of the different age groups.
• I was very surprised to learn that Shirky was so pro-social media. It is very rare to see a middle aged man being so adamant about the benefits of social media but Shirky proved this stereotype wrong in his book. It also made me realize how good social media is, especially in moderation.