While I preferred "Here Comes Everybody", this book was interesting as well. It's basically an examination of how people use online tools to change the world. The book tends to feel Polyannaish and I don't think Shirky went nearly deep enough in his examination on how tools like Facebook and Twitter can be used for evil. I also think that LOLCats is a rather trivial example of group collaboration(Shirky admits this), so why bother with it at all. I'd liked to have seen discussion of 4chan, anonymous and other places/personas on the Internet that don't always work as a force for good. Shirky is obviously pro-sharing, and pro amateur production without really discussing the filter failure this creates and how we might deal with it, whether it be by curation or algorithm. Clearly, Shirky set out to prove or at least suggest a positive use for online tools, but ignoring the less than savory uses doesn't make them go away, nor does it give users an adequate picture of how online tools really work. ( )

enjoyable.

The author has some very good points. It feels lightly researched and he makes his points more through anecdotes rather than research. (To be fair he does provide some additional information in a notes section but no footnotes in the material.) The other problem with the material is his assumption that this surplus will only be used for good. He has a number of stories about people using this surplus for good, but there are I'm guessing an equal number of people that are communicating and connecting for less good reasons. Which doesn't argue that there isn't a surplus but does indicate that we should really be considering the consequences of this surplus rather than just embracing it as a good thing. A good but flawed read. ( )

Reading this in 2019 felt a bit old-hat, so I can't imagine it'll age well. But some good anecdotes/interesting facts, rather loosely held together by the thesis (which is that people are using their spare time to create content rather than just consume it - as indeed I'm doing right now).. Well written, if a bit shallow. ( )

This has not aged gracefully. ( )