I feel that most people would find this talk interesting because of the time in which it takes place. Shirkey talks about the Internet as if it is a place of great opportunity and potential, which I enjoy. The way he talks also makes it clear that this talk is a few years old, seeing as he seems amazed by the idea of viral media. When discussing Ushahidi, Shirkey points out that the site went from a simple idea to a worldwide phenomenon in less than three years. The current state of the Internet makes three years seem like an eternity- especially since things have the ability to go viral almost instantly. He discusses how Ushahidi is of civic nature while LOLcats tends to be more social. This differentiation makes me curious about the future of the internet and which side will become more dominant. My vote is that social content is going to eternally trump the web, but things change so quickly that we never know for sure.
The last takeaway that I got was when Shirkey pointed out that "free cultures get what they celebrate." Although this related to many points, I would like to tie it back to his discussion about creativity and how he doesn't see anything as too stupid to be creative. By applying this to LOLcats he makes a decent point, stressing that although we love to consume information we also like to create and share information. Like it or not, LOLcats is a great way to create content and share it easily amongst internet users. Similar to Ushahidi's crowdsourcing traits, LOLcats are created around the world and brought together with the capabilities of new technologies, particularly social media. I enjoyed watching Shirkey's talk because it shed a new light on many things that I have spent hours interacting with, particularly LOLcats and the way that we perceive our online content creation. The idea of cognitive surplus lies within many of the topics that I have already typed here- specifically with the quick and easy creation of online content. I highly recommend you watch this TED Talk, it provides some great insight and a very unique. modern and intellectual lexicon.