Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky
Clay Shirkyis an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
Clay Shirky quotes about
communication technology interesting
Communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.
creativity trying problem
Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution
identity groups cooperating
Unlike sharing, where the group is mainly an aggregate of participants, cooperating creates group identity.
technology want couches
Time Warner has called and they want us all back on the couch, just consuming - not producing, not sharing - and we should say, 'No.'
I removed 'cyberspace' from my vernacular. The idea, which I grew up with, of going into a place separate from the real world, is something my students just don't recognise.
guy whether
Whether it's long-form journalism or investigative journalism, it's no fun to just be the guy diagnosing the problem.
believes equally remains somebody talent
I am not somebody who believes everyone is equally talented; talent remains unequally distributed.
editing public putting reserved role
When I say 'publishing is the new literacy,' I don't mean there's no role for curation, for improving material, for editing material, for fact-checking material. I mean literally, the act of putting something out in public used to be reserved in the same way.
change chasm crack crossed giant gulf
There is a giant gulf between doing something and doing nothing. And someone who makes a lolcat and uploads it - even if only to crack their friends up - has already crossed that chasm to doing something. That's the sea change, and you can see it even with the cute cats.
democratic literally opens power quite word
The web's democratic in one way and distinctly undemocratic in another way. And I think a lot of the confusion about the political ramifications have to do with that one word having so many meanings. So, it's democratic in that it quite literally delivers power to the people; it, it essentially opens up participation in the public's mind.
academic academy almost assumes certainly intended stable
I certainly never intended for myself an academic career and, were the academy to suffer, I'd just go do something else. I don't have a commitment to it or to really, frankly, almost any institution that assumes that it has to be stable forever.
More interesting than thinking about what's possible in 10 years is thinking what's possible now but that no one has built.
age extremely globally google great growing name rhymes turkey unique
Growing up with a name that rhymes with turkey - and jerky - was no great fun. But, as an adult, I tell you, being globally unique in the age of Google can be extremely helpful.
club dealing facebook good member membership named social
Facebook is not very good at dealing with named groups; they're not very good at saying, 'We've got this book club and I'm a member and you're not.' But membership is one of the precursors to a lot of social action.