Cognitive Surplus Discussion Topics

We'll be discussing the book cognitive surplus for the next couple of weeks. When you read it, you should be focusing on the main issues. What is cognitive surplus (CS)? Who has it and how do they utilize it? What are traditional domains we use it in and where do you think it will be used in the future? What are the necessary components to leverage CS? What types of groups are the benefactors of CS and what makes people choose one group over the other? As you notice, these are bigger picture questions that you should get from the book. I won't be testing you on names or specific dates, but you should understand specific concepts and marketing applications.

Now, this book can be used to discuss some interesting customer insight ideas and how they may deviate in the online space. I've come up with 4 discussion areas that I hope will carry us over the next two weeks (and remind me that we need to form groups and talk about the project on Tuesday!):

#1. Consumption: What are we actually "spending" and "consuming" when we consume? What are the currencies of interest? How do these currencies differ and what are the exchange rates? What does that mean for marketing decisions?

#2. Identity: What is our identity? How do social networks reflect this and how does online social networking affect this? Why do we care about identities in CI and marketing? You may want to think of consumption decisions this affects as well as products (such as Google+) and product categories (tattoos, luxury goods) or even brands where identity matters. Are there ones where identity doesn't matter?

#3. Aggregation: What is the value of aggregation? When are individuals better/smarter than groups and when are groups better/smarter than individuals? How does aggregation fit in to the innovation process, especially in idea creation? How does behavior change when it is aggregated (e.g. what happens when you de-individuate people and create anonymity)? What are the dangers of aggregation in the marketplace? Are there dangers associated with non-aggregation?

#4. Value: How do we figure out "value" in the marketplace? How do "market forces" and "winner's curses" work in aggregated markets? Who captures the surplus value in aggregated markets? Can we change this? What are other product aspects (besides typical physical product attributes) that drive consumer perceptions of value?

I'm so sleepy...

Obviously, I've been making too many decisions recently, so I'm going to go home, take a nap, and have a chocolate shake. In the meantime, I recommend you read this great article on "decision fatigue" that was in the New York Times Sunday Magazine this past weekend...

first post of a new year

I realize that 95% of material posted on the internet is probably just reposts of material that is already there. What I'm less sure about is if this a problem. Three aspects/properties of the internet make me feel that this lack of creativity (I'm using the word in the sense of development of original content - not as a judgment of the value of the information being repurposed) may not only be a detriment, but may actually be a good thing:

1. The Internet is really big. There is already tons of original content out there. And every day, people are still generating tons more; more than I or anyone can read/use. Every once and a while I think of a clever thought  or come up with a great example through the blind squirrel principle. These thoughts, while clever, are not usually that original - so it's nice that I don't have to invent the wheel and rewrite the thought but can just "borrow" the description from another source (just be careful not to try to take credit for someone else's work!)

2. And it's only getting bigger. We're not going to run out of space (although in theory, we've run out of IP addresses for domain names or something last year). So re-posting stuff that already exists out there isn't going to fill the thing. It just makes a messy closet a tiny bit messier.

3. So how do I find anything? Even if it only contained original content, there would be too much stuff to slog through. Therefore, one of the beauties of people reposting the good stuff is that it actually acts sort of like an aggregation agent. If more copies of the best stuff exist, you are more likely to stumble across the good stuff - especially if there are places that collect information that is more likely to relate to what you need.

So now I'm going to post a link to an article about aggregation, the internet, and creativity. I think it's a great place to start to see how the ideas in Cognitive Surplus can relate to all sorts of issues. In this article from the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Rob Walker discusses a website called Kickstarter. Prepare to discuss this in class (and think of other, similar crowd-sourced websites...).

Books for MARK 30243: Customer Insights

Here are the books we're going to read for class in case you want to get a head start. These books are much more interesting (and a whole lot cheaper) than a textbook! The first book we will read will be Cognitive Surplus. See you in a couple of weeks!