TEDBlog July, 2009 Archive
31 July 2009
Duncan Davidson: "It takes a team to photograph a TED"
One of the two photographers who worked this year’s TEDGlobal, Duncan Davidson, shares his notes on TED photography. If you’re curious about some of the “people not seen” at TEDGlobal, the backroom elves who make things appear on the web by magic, read on:
Let me tell you, I’ve seen my fair share of workflows and this one is right up there at the top as far as all the requirements pulling at it. Public web distribution via Flickr, team blog support, and news distribution. I wish I could say that some single tool just made this easy, but when it’s at this level, it’s not about tools anymore.
Read “It Takes a Team to Photograph a TED” >>
Above: Stefan Sagmeister and Gordon Brown at TEDGlobal 2009. Oxford, UK, July 21-24, 2009. Credit: TED / Robert Leslie
31 July 2009
The Market Maker: Eleni Gabre-Madhin
Following up on economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin’s 2007 TEDTalk on Ethiopian markets comes an episode from PBS’ award-winning documentary series Wide Angle titled “The Market Maker.” Anchor Aaron Brown traveled to Ethiopia and toured the country with Gabre-Madhin, where he witnessed the trials faced by her Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, and the effects of the system on the economy there.
The story starts with Gabre-Madhin’s outrage over the 1984 famine that left over one million Ethiopians dead despite the surplus of food that existed in the southern part of the country. Ever since 2002 (when another famine came), she’s been determined to eliminate food waste. So she moved back to her country of birth and set up the ECX to create a trustworthy market for local farmers, distributors and exporters.
In a country with millions of uneducated farmers whose knowledge of trading is undermined by centuries of old-costumed and unreliable policies, Gabre-Madhin has more than enough work cut out for her. Adding to the enormity of the task, ECX was only eight months old when the national government asked them to take over the market for coffee (Ethiopia’s largest exported crop by far), which threw the plan for slow expansion out the window.
This nuanced portrait by Wide Angle shows the complexity of ECX’s economic and humanitarian missions, from administrative and bureaucratic issues to the plight of farmers during rainless seasons. While “The Market Maker” has already aired on TV in the United States, you can catch the full episode on PBS’ website.
And don’t forget to watch Eleni Gabre-Madhin’s 2007 TEDTalk on this engaging subject.
31 July 2009
New Edge videos explore the staggering potential of genetics
What is life? Can we create it? Customize it? Edge has just published over six hours of video from their new Master Class on the future of biology, which attempts to answer those and other provocative questions. Featuring geneticists George Church and Craig Venter, the set is a a surprising, challenging look at what science has in store for our world, from the minds of two of the field’s most fascinating pioneers.
Summarizes attendee George Dyson,
In this future — whose underpinnings, as Drs. Church and Venter demonstrated, are here already — life as we know it is transformed [...] by discovering how to read genetic sequences directly into computers, where the code can be replicated exactly, manipulated freely, and translated back into living organisms by writing the other way.
Visit the Edge Master Class and start watching now >>
You’ll notice several familiar faces among the class’ pupils, including TED speakers Larry Brilliant, Larry Page, Nathan Wolfe, Nathan Myhrvold and Stewart Brand.
Photo: George Church (left); Craig Venter (right). Credit: Edge.org
31 July 2009
Did we evolve from aquatic apes? Elaine Morgan on TED.com
Elaine Morgan is a tenacious proponent of the aquatic ape hypothesis: the idea that humans evolved from primate ancestors who dwelt in watery habitats. Hear her spirited defense of the idea — and her theory on why mainstream science doesn’t take it seriously. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 17:13)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/25
Watch Elaine Morgan’s talk from TEDGlobal 2009 on TED.com where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 475+ TEDTalks.
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30 July 2009
Art that looks back at you: Golan Levin on TED.com
Golan Levin, an artist and engineer, uses modern tools — robotics, new software, cognitive research — to make artworks that surprise and delight. Watch as sounds become shapes, bodies create paintings, and a curious eye looks back at the curious viewer. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 15:33)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/24
Watch Golan Levin’s talk from TED2009 on TED.com where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 475+ TEDTalks.
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29 July 2009
TEDxBoston celebrates "Revolutionary Ideas," from folding cars to shining eyes
TED blogger Matthew Trost stopped by TEDxBoston on Tuesday. Here, he shares his notes on the proceedings.
Today’s automobile weighs 20 times its driver, MIT’s Ryan Chin said. It takes up valuable urban real estate. It’s designed to go 100 MPH, while its driver often needs only a quarter of that speed. The supply chain for its petroleum-based fuels is problematic. In New York City, 40% of total gasoline used by cars is wasted on drivers looking for parking spots.
Chin outlined two possible remedies: highly individual transit and mass transit. He looks at Taipei as an example of the former: Scooters are extremely popular there. But a huge “sea” of scooters is cumbersome.
Mass transportation, on the other hand, does not cover an entire city; it’s inconvenient and inflexible. The “first mile, last mile” problem: How does one get to and from public transit?
Chin is designing a “Mobility-on-Demand” system of transportation, where users can rent electric cars, scooters or bicycles at hubs located all around a city.
Chin and his team are also designing vehicles. In his electric car, each wheel is a module that has independent steering, power and locomotion. Without a central engine or drive line, the whole car design scheme changes: you can now fold the car. Each wheel can turn 180 degrees, so the car can turn on its own axis, and move sideways.
These vehicles will be able to plug into renewable energy sources — and sell unused energy back to the grid. Each vehicle will have GPS, so we always know where available vehicles are, where they’re going. Chin proposed a variable pricing structure for his vehicle-sharing system — based on the number of people waiting for vehicles, the number of parking spaces nearby, and proximity to any local rental hub.
David Edwards asked, How do we develop ideas? His answer: We “translate” them to work in different cultural corners.
Humans dream, and develop hypotheses about those dreams. Even simple schemes to realize dreams encounter crises. Crisis results in confusion. We feel frustration, humiliation. But some people love those moments of disorientation, because disorientation is key to learning.
The thrill of figuring things out is fundamental to being alive. In this light, art and science fuse.
We need specialization in order to transmit what we’ve learned to the next generation. Specialization is supported by institutions. But specialization often forces creative people outside of institutions — because they have so many wide-ranging, non-specialized ideas they want to pursue.
He wants to create a network of labs to foster this creative process, so that the cross-disciplinary ideas don’t go to waste. He calls the idea “Culture Labs,” where blue-sky ideas are pulled into realization by the “gravity” of human passion.
Edwards has launched two “idea translation labs,” one in Paris and one at Harvard. In these labs, students do art and science experiments. One experiment gave people the experience of a stem cell becoming a neuron. Another experiment created a soundless composition based on the idea of infinity.
Changing culture, he said, makes you pay attention. He’s hoping to foster a new Renaissance through a $100K Art Science Prize.
Read more notes from TEDxBoston >> (more…)
28 July 2009
A kinder, gentler philosophy of success: Alain de Botton on TED.com
Fresh from last week’s TEDGlobal 2009: Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 16:52)
Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/21
Watch Alain be Botton’s talk from TEDGlobal 2009 on TED.com where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 475+ TEDTalks.
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27 July 2009
TEDsters trek to WOMAD
Immediately after TEDGlobal 2009, a group of TEDsters took off for WOMAD at Charlton Park — the three-day world music festival founded by TED speaker Peter Gabriel (watch his talk from 2006). Sleeping in teepees, rocking all night … the pictures tell the story. Above, twilight bubbles, photographed by TED’s Lara Stein, director of the TEDx program.
Below, Peter Gabriel dropped by the TEDGlobal Internet Cafe tent. (Photo: Gary Shainberg)
At the Internet Cafe tent, Lara Stein hangs out with Cara Muñeca (in the pink wig). (Photo: Laura Galloway)
And of course: the music! Youssou N’Dour, Rokia Traoré (who played at TEDGlobal 2007), blues legend Solomon Burke … Lara’s picks: “Rachael Unthank and the Winterset was incredible! Hypnotic Brass Ensemble; Rokia, the Black Arm Band, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra. And of course Peter Gabriel…. And many more. There were 4 stages with acts playing from 11am-12 midnight.” (Photo: Laura Galloway)
27 July 2009
Post-TEDGlobal: Roundups and reminiscences UPDATED
However you experienced TEDGlobal 2009 — live, on the web feed, or via Twitter and the TED Blog updates — this week is about reviewing, reliving and moving forward. As Arturo Ania tweeted earlier today:
First thought this morning: How can I inject my team with the inspiration and energy from #TED in Oxford?
We’re collecting roundups and reminiscences right here. Check out the posts below, and comment below or email the TED Blog if you’d like to add your work to the list.
Jessica Griggs blogged TEDGlobal for the New Scientist:
So four days of TED — what have I learnt? What a card flourisher is, that Stephen Fry thinks it’s absurd when people ask where he watched the moon landing (either on his TV set or from the lunar lander, surely?), that even TED speakers like to drop a bit of dubious life-affirming psychology into their talks, and that the best theremin player lives in Oxford (Lydia Kavina, granddaughter of the instrument’s inventor. …
Carole Cadwalladr reports for the Observer:
It’s true, it’s addictive learning new things at TED. There’s Garik Israelian, a spectroscopist who explains why he believes that we will find signs of extraterrestrial life within 10 years. Then there’s Rebecca Saxe’s remarkable talk on the RPTJ region of the brain which, if targeted with a magnetic pulse, can actually change people’s moral judgments.
“Don’t you have the Pentagon calling?” Anderson asks her.
“I do,” she replies. “I just don’t take their calls.” …
The astonishing Maria Popova tweeted, blogged and photographed from the audience. (I sat next to her for one session and just watched the flow — wow.) Check out her gavel-to-gavel coverage on her blog, brainpickings.org, and her Twitter feed, @brainpicker:
In a surprising impromptu performance, crowd favorite Emmanuel Jal kicked up the afterparty with an electrifying act that transformed TEDsters into a mosh pit of dancers doing Jal’s signature dance in sync and singing his chorus for a phenomenal collective experience. …
Sound engineer (and TED U professor) Julian Treasure blogged all 4 days on his site, Sound Business:
Session 8 – In the Shadows A dark and scary session. Taryn Simon showed her superb but unsettling photographs of forbidden or hidden places and of wrongly-convicted people; Misha Glenny gave a tour (de force) of his amazing McMafia book, scaring the pants off me (organised crime is 18% of global GDP!!); Ed Burtynsky showed photographs of man’s effect on land; Loretta Napoleoni suggested that terrorism had indirectly caused the credit crunch (US flooded the market with bonds to fund the $7bn war on terror, so interest rates were artificially reduced to increase yields, leading to the sub-prime market); and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal rapped for peace and had the whole house dancing and in tears at the same time. …
Chikwe Ihekweazu has started the blog Multiple Stories to collect his thoughts about TEDGlobal 2009. The name of his blog is inspired by Chimamanda Adichie’s talk on Thursday night, where she talked about “the vital importance of multiple stories in making sense of our shared humanity”:
Okay..I’ll confess…I struggled with some sessions – Astronomer Garik Israelian’s talk on Wednesday about spectroscopy – the art of examining the spectral signature of a distant object in the universe, and inferring its qualities and behaviours – must have been excellent. But with my simple brain trying to figure out how to solve the apparently simple problems of the continent I call home….it was challenging.
Julie Lasky at Design Observer writes:
… Even better were presentations solicited with a view to the topic that might never have otherwise seen the light of TED: The astronomer Andrea Ghez positing the existence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy — and every other galaxy in the universe. The photographer Taryn Simon presenting images of off-limit facilities — a place where white tigers are bred, the rooms at JFK airport where contraband is stashed — then proceeding even deeper into the heart of darkness with a portrait series of men who were imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. …
And Elaine Morgan recaps her standing-ovation TED appearance for WalesOnline:
The talks were delivered in the Oxford Playhouse, and I kept thinking “This is my last attempt to get anyone to listen. If I can’t put my ideas across to this lively, open-minded young audience, I may as well throw in the sponge and take up flower arranging.”
Comment below or email the TED Blog (subject: “TEDGlobal Roundup”) to add your work to this list — and we’ll add more as we find them.
Photo: TED volunteer Karen Eng (left) watching TEDGlobal 2009 at the Oxford Playhouse. Oxford, UK, July 21-24, 2009. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson
26 July 2009
Thomas Dolby's notes on TEDGlobal music
On his lively blog, TED’s music director, Thomas Dolby, collects his thoughts on the music of this past week. From the post:
As TED’s music director I have the enviable task of selecting the musicians that appear here, and helping them tune their performances to fit the context. It’s an honour for me and for the musicians that play here to be able to add a little fairy dust that help these amazing ideas grow.
Photo: Imogen Heap at TEDGlobal 2009, Session 12: “Connected consequences,” July 22, 2009, in Oxford, UK. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson
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