LBCC Spring Term: Media & Society Kicks Off with Shirky

Over the break, I finished reading Clay Shirky's book, "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations." It's an interesting exploration of society, the Internet and how social media (e.g. blogs, Facebook, Twitter) is changing the way we communicate.

Shirky emphasizes the power of the Internet as a tool to organize, and how people passionate about a cause are succeeding like no other time in history. It's not that people are more dedicated to their particular target for change, it's just that the Internet has made it more possible to quickly find people of like mind and to mobilize faster than ever before. Shirky includes a number of interesting case studies to support his claims and propel the reader through his book.

We focus on some of Shirky's ideas at the outset of my Media and Society class at Linn-Benton Community College. For a sneak peek, enjoy both Shirky's TED talk and this video from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

Updated:
--For a discussion of some of the ideas in Shirky's upcoming book, "Cognitive Surplus," see this new post on Kevin Kelly's blog.



-rp-