Cognitive surplus

In Clay Shirkly's video, he mentioned two types of cognitive surplus, communal and civic. Communal surplus would be something created by a small group of society for that society, and civic surplus would be something created by a small group for the world to take part in. What I don't understand though, is why communal and civic surplus is important. They both are of the same kind of idea, one is just varsity while the other one is junior varsity. Why does there have to be a distinction between the two cognitive surpluses? Why should it matter that civic surplus could help the entire globe instead of a part of it like communal?

He also talks about creativity and how there is a spectrum between mediocre ideas and good ideas. Who's to decide what kind of an idea is mediocre or good, I mean it had to become an idea and eventually a creation for some reason right? Did Mr. Shirkly decide for himself when he said that the infamous LOLcatz was a mediocre idea for his TED topic? For all we know his entire presentation could've been mediocre and just scratching the surface of a brilliant creation, the difference is that he at least created an idea and turned it into something instead of wondering what could have happened if he had.

Clay Shirkly had some of the same ideas that Daniel Pink had in writing his two novels, Drive and A Whole New Mind, like human motivation, and an age of abundance. Since humans have natural motivation, they should put it to use and become aware of different things going on in the world so that maybe they can help raise awareness and help out. In an age of media abundance and a trillion hours of free time, why not educate adults and children in becoming aware and using their own resources to help out and give a hand to those less fortunate than themselves. This relates to me personally in the fact that there is always somebody less fortunate than myself, and in the 21st century I can become more aware at who that person is via cognitive surplus.

Mr. Shirkly's presentation of cognitive surplus was itself kind of boring to listen to but after talking through it, it was easier to grasp the concepts he was teaching. I think that his examples for communal and civic surplus were complete opposites, because one was a resource used for serious matters and spreading awareness, while the other one was just humorous and had easy concepts to grasp.

If Clay Shirkly's purpose for his TED talk was to help in the process of changing the world, I would have to say that he is well on his way to doing his part.