21 November 2008

TED's Chris Anderson honored by WITNESS

Update: Last night, WITNESS' 4th annual Focus for Change benefit honored TED's Chris Anderson. WITNESS was founded by Peter Gabriel to harness the power of video to fight injustice -- by putting cameras in the hands of oppressed people and helping them become firsthand witnesses. Watch Peter Gabriel's TEDTalk about his work with WITNESS -- a powerful, personal story. And watch Chris Anderson's own TEDTalk to understand his vision for TED.

Accepting the award on behalf of the TED community, Chris commented on some similarities between WITNESS and TED. Both sought ways to use technology as a force for good as the world gets ever more interconnected, he said:

"And we're both in the business of nurturing new kinds of heroes for the 21st century. You're turning technology-empowered story-tellers into heroic human rights activists. We're trying to create a new form of hero called, for want of a better word ... a teacher. One of the most thrilling aspects of the past couple years at TED has been giving a platform to people who have been doing amazing work all their lives, but who no one has really known about. Seeing their work and their ideas spreading to milllions of people around the globe courtesy of little 18-minute lectures captured on video and released on the Internet ... now that's exhilarating."

Image: Chris Anderson of TED accepts his award from WITNESS founder Peter Gabriel. Photo courtesy Tom Rielly.

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