Lost in Participatory Culture

In a talk in 2010, Clay Shirky defined cognitive surplus as “the ability of the world population to volunteer and to contribute and collaborate on large, sometimes global projects”. New media is not only reliant upon this cognitive surplus, but also a contributing factor, as cognitive surplus is dependent on both human motivation and modern media tools that “let us do more than consume..we also like to create, and we like to share” (Shirky). Like many other forms of television, movies, or music reliant on new media, the culture of Lost relies on cognitive surplus and is “design[ed] for the assumption that people like to create and we want to share” (Shirky). 

As a result, Lost, like many other shows, has a “communal value, created by the participants, for each other” (Shirky), resulting in the creation of many parodies, spoofs, and fan fiction and art that makes up the participatory culture within not only fans, but pop culture itself, as references to Lost has appeared in many popular streams of music, movies, television, and magazines today.