As a computer nerd who remembers a time (just barely) before the Internet was accessible to virtually any home that wanted it, I have long enjoyed the myriad opportunities for communications, entertainment, and productivity that the Information Superhighway provides. What has been especially interesting over the last 5 years or so is seeing how much the Internet has provided enrichment opportunities for those who would not proudly refer to themselves as nerds, geeks, or dorks (oh wait, I guess "dork" is just something Amy calls me from time to time). Blogs, podcasts, and legally downloadable music, to name a few, provide useful services to many, and with the ongoing march towards faster Internet connections supporting higher bandwidths, online video has continued to grow. Now you can watch many of your favorite TV shows online, even if you missed the broadcast, through the networks' sites or affiliated sites like Hulu.com.
This all brings me to my recent discovery of TED. I had heard of TED for some time, but never had a notion of what it was other than some kind of event or conference where people would gather. I just read about a Des Moines native who organized a TED event in Iowa's capital recently so decided I should just head on over to www.ted.com to see what it was all about, and in a very short time I was fairly blown away.
To sum up my understanding: TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and through series of events the organization hosts, speakers give roughly 18 minute talks to an audience about a subject of their choosing that generally falls into one or more of these categories. The talks are recorded for subsequent viewing through the TED website, and the videos are free (both money-wise and copyright-wise, they use a Creative Commons license), and can be viewed on-demand at TED's website or on YouTube.com.
The first video I watched was Steven Johnson giving a talk on "Where good ideas come from." It was an engaging presentation, he related some interesting ideas to both history and current events, and it made me think that this kind of stuff would have been great to have when I was in High School. It seems to me a good example of content that would make for an interesting classroom discussion, or even just something to encourage kids to watch in their own time.
After seeing this video I found TED's list of Top 10 Talks as of June 2008, and started working my way up from the bottom, watching talks about how Nintendo Wii remotes can be used for cheap tech experiments, Al Gore giving an updated talk about averting a climate crisis, and Tony Robbins talking about motivation (relating a powerful story about 9/11 in the process). A word of caution, the talks are not censored (I noted a few expletives in the Tony Robbins talk) so you may want to preview before sharing with any impressionable youths.
I'm looking forward to watching more TED!
1 comment:
In the interior design world the acronym TED stands for Tele Electrical Data box in a raised access floor system. Thanks to you, I'm going to expand my acronym horizons and check out some of the TED videos you mentioned.
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