Cognitive Surplus - Search for the Lost Tomb of Genghis Khan

"Cognitive Surplus" serves as an interesting contrast to the "New Gatekeepers" in that both involve an evolution of technology but with very different outcomes. Cognitive Surplus is described as a collection of ideas, testimonies, reports that contribute, after being aggregated, to a common understanding of a phenomenon. This is the type of cognitive surplus that has implications for contributing, positively, to society. Cognitive surplus, however, can also contribute to projects that are of interest to a select few individuals with little to no contribution to society.

A former colleague of mine, Dr. Albert Lin, is famous for his research around searching for the tomb of Genghis Khan. Lin, a computer scientist by training, set out to solve a multi-century old mystery of the lost tomb of the Mongolian leader. His findings were of interest to an entire country and perhaps world. I found his work to be an extraordinary example of the magic that can happen when the technology and social science worlds collide. Dr. Lin invented a technology, very much related to "cognitive surplus" that allowed interested individuals all over the world contribute to his teams mission to find the lost tomb. The technology, while complicated in its design, was simple in its mission. It gave the users around the world access to hundreds and hundreds of miles of land across Mongolia through virtual remote sensing. These users were then able to explore these lands from wherever the lived in the world. They then reported their findings to an open source where data was aggregated and validated. The project provided Dr. Lin with more data on the land that had been collected in over hundreds of years and has gotten him closer, as he would state, to finding the lost tomb.

Cognitive surplus, as in the example above, can lead to positive societal impacts. While not all examples of cognitive surplus are as noble as Ushahidi, as Shirky described, or the Genghis Khan exploration, all are examples of the creative use of technology and shared interests.

The internet is spying on us!!

What’s perhaps scarier than the fact that Amazon, Google, Facebook and other software giants track our every move on the internet is the fact that many of us are becoming compliant with this reality. It seems that we’ve come to accept the fact that the virtual big brother is watching us. This could perhaps be because many feel there is nothing they can or care to do about it. Others might actually enjoy receiving “tailored” search results and shopping items. The TED speaker, Eli Pariser, highlights the inherent problem with this customized web experience in that users are shut off to other ideas that are out there. We are therefore using the World Wide Web to connect with ourselves as opposed to forging a network with others.

I personally believe that we live in a new era of media and technology where almost nothing is unbiased, unaltered or uncensored. Perhaps billions of dollars are generated for companies for producing screened search results, etc. As this won’t likely change in the future, and perhaps even become more entrenched in electronic information, public awareness of the challenges that Pariser posed should be increased. This is where I feel we, as educators, have a responsibility for properly preparing students to learn in a 21^st century environment and to seek out objective facts through mediums that are becoming more and more subjective. This is no easy task since the nature of technology is constantly changing, but a challenge we must take on.