This just posted TED Talk from Clay Shirky, “How cognitive surplus will change the world”, is one that is informing my thinking and practice, especially as I prepare to dig in the next few weeks in July into serious planning mode before returning to work (officially, anyway) on July 27. I am also currently reading the book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Digital Age, on my Kindle app for iPhone and will be blogging my reactions to the book at some point in July as well and what I think it might mean for my library program in 2010-11 and my practice as a librarian.
I encourage you to carve out about fifteen minutes to listen to Shirky’s talk:
The Unquiet Librarian 
Love Shirky’s talk. I just finished reading Nicholas Kristof’s powerful book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. This fits right into Shirky’s argument that intrinsic motivation to civic action and cognitive surplus will indeed shape the 21st Century.
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Judy:
Thanks for that book recommendation—I am going to check that out!
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Thanks for bringing Shirky’s talk to the attention of those who might not otherwise have seen it. I’ve been a big fan of his since seeing the 52-minute “Internet Issues Facing Newspapers: A Talk with Clay Shirky” recorded on September 22, 2009 and posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnW2Lv8aFGs. He clearly takes big-picture issues and offers compelling thoughts on them in ways that lift us above the day-to-day concerns we too-infrequently consider.
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Hi Paul:
Thank you so much! He is definitely a cutting edge thinker who articulates his ideas so wonderfully—I think there is much we as librarians can take from his writing/presentations!
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