Clay Shirky, previously featured here for his book Here Comes Everybody, has provoked a lot of interest through another proposition. Adapted from a conference talk related to Web 2.0, Shirky knit together a surprising combination of elements identified in the title:

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

His first contention is that television sitcoms served the same sociological midwifery role during the American post-WWII ‘leisure age’ as gin during the Industrial Revolution. First it might help to understand just what gin had to do with anything. (more…)

Subtitled “The power of boring technology,” referring to the tiered distribution of new technologies and how they achieve their greatest impact once they’ve passed from the ‘cool’ stage to ubiquity. Shirky argues that the current wave of communications technologies are working to flatten hierarchies, expand communities of interest, and re-cast the media divide from the prior broadcasting model.

Ars Book Review: “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky

The review is followed by an interview with Shirky, including more on the concept of the ‘Coasean floor’ and its intersection with ‘the Long Tail.’ I’m also heartened by the recognition of interdisciplinary study as a catalyst for creativity.