Cognitive Surplus and Dyslexia
According to Shirkey, ‘Cognitive Surplus’ is the way people spend their excess time. He claims humans are inclined to do any of these three things: “people like to consume…like to produce, and to share.” Essentially, since time began we spent our free time doing these things. Making crafts, painting, drawing, shopping, writing – many creative pursuits are a result of cognitive surplus.
While browsing various Wikipedia articles I found one titled “Reading for Special Needs” discussing how various learning disabilities impact a person’s ability to comprehend text and various reading problems that are common in people. This article is an interesting link to the concept of cognitive surplus. Firstly someone (or multiple people) had to use their excess time to write said article. Another rather abstract point connecting the two is the idea that many people may enjoy reading during their free time, which is more difficult for those with reading disabilities and thus those with reading difficulties may try to find a different way to spend their cognitive surplus time.
A Kickstarter campaign that caught my eye is a project called “Dyslexia-Ville.” This campaign is for an interactive website for those with dyslexia that will allow these users to improve their reading abilities through fun games and movies and will also include a blog section and a comment board so that kids with dyslexia can interact with each other through this website. This gives these children struggling with reading an outlet that they can visit during their own times of cognitive surplus, and Dyslexia-Ville will provide an outlet that will help these kids learn and have fun during their free time.
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