TEDBlog February, 2011 Archive
28 February 2011
TEDTalks on Hulu: “An idea worth spreading (to your living room)”
We’re excited to announce, on the eve of TED2011, that you can now watch TEDTalks on Hulu. Starting with a set of 50 TEDTalks you can browse, we’ll soon (after TED) grow the collection to match the 800+ talks online at TED.com.
Hulu’s Andy Forssell wrote a nice blog post welcoming us to the incredibly popular video site (that’s where the headline above comes from). He writes:
Hulu’s mission is to help our users find and enjoy the world’s premium content when, how, and where they want. And we think you would be hard pressed to find content more premium than the TEDTalks from the prestigious TED conferences. Incredible people. Amazing ideas.
28 February 2011
Meet the TED2011 house band
The TED2011 House Band, six students from Berklee College of Music's City Music program. Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
Sunday was the first onsite rehearsal for the TED2011 house band, six young stars from Berklee College of Music’s City Music program. These musicians, most still in high school, come from New York, New Jersey, Boston, Philly and Cleveland, and they’ve been getting together every weekend for a month to get ready for this gig. The band is … Wallace Roney IV, trumpet, a sophomore at Mont Clair High School in New Jersey:
… Solomon Samson-Hicks, guitar, a student at the Music & Performing Arts High School in New York City:
… Langston Maxwell, drums, a junior at Orange High School outside Cleveland, Ohio:
… Jordan Isaiah Williams, keyboards, a sophomore at Cheltenham High School near Philadelphia:
… Antonio Robinson, bass, an 8th-grade honor student at the Spruce Hill Christian School in Philadelphia:
… and Gregory Groover Jr., sax, a senior at the Boston Arts Academy:
Below, the band’s artistic director and lead teacher, Winston Maccow, left, talks with TED’s musical director, Thomas Dolby, at rehearsal:
27 February 2011
Q&A with TED2011 portraitist Siegfried Woldhek
The bright, useful TED2011 Program Guide (download it for iPad or for desktop) draws a good helping of its personality from 50 extraordinary drawings, from the pen of illustrator Siegfried Woldhek. (If his name sounds familiar, watch his TEDTalk.) Charming and incisive, the portraits of TED2011 speakers and performers speak volumes about who they are.
The TED Blog asked Siegfried a few questions about his work on this guide and his thoughts on the art of making faces.
For this assignment, TED asked you to draw 50 portraits in a fairly short amount of time. What was your first reaction when you got this assignment?
Great excitement — it was wonderful to draw 50-plus portraits, especially for TED. And anxiety, not so much because of the short deadline, but because of the restrictions: no background, photorealistic rather than some exaggeration, all more or less in one style rather than letting the personality determine the style, etc. It was very different from my usual way of working, and therefore interesting to see if I could pull this off for 50 portraits in a short period.
How do you approach drawing a portrait of someone you haven’t met in person — what’s your research process?
I’ve been drawing authors and politicians for newspapers for many years. I try to read up on the person; in the case of authors, read one of their books. I watch interviews via YouTube and collect pictures via the internet. I did the same for TED.
(Portrait of Carlo Ratti by Siegfried Woldhek)
What makes a great portrait of the human face — how do you know when you’ve “got it”?
That’s a big question, and it’s been the subject of much debate over the centuries. I spend a lot of time on it during my workshops in portrait drawing. Three elements are important for me:
+ Likeness: There’s lots to be said about that. It depends on the time, on the viewer.
+ Idea: The portrait should be intriguing — it should make your eyes go back. I should portray something more than the surface, something about who the person is. This can refer to their latest work (whether an author, scientist, politician, artist, etc.) or to the person’s character.
+ Execution. The portraits should be pleasant to look at and well done. If it hurts the eyes, it’s not good.
What are the tools you use for drawing and sketching?
Paper, pen, watercolors.
I don’t use names or captions for my many portraits of politicians and authors for newspapers. The drawing has to be self-explanatory, so I spend a lot of time sketching to find an idea and an angle that is clear. Once I have the idea and general composition, I make a rough sketch and start painting or do some drawing with ink first. I usually work on 140lb arches paper and love the feeling of a good brush on it. All the TED portraits are done on this paper and measure about 8 x 10 inches.
I do play with digital drawing tools (iPad, tablet) and am excited about the possibilities, but I prefer the physical sensation of paper, pen and brush.
Who are some of your inspirations as an illustrator and portraitist?
Hans Holbein Jr., David Levine, Axel Zorn, Ralph Steadman, Georg Grosz, Rik Wouters …
(Portrait of Ai Weiwei by Siegfried Woldhek)
Can you update us on your research into the face of Leonardo — have you learned more since your 2008 TEDTalk? What has the reaction been like?
National Geographic Magazine published a one-page story about it. The talk was viewed several hundred thousand times. Dutch TV and newspapers picked it up, so the story is out there, which is what I wanted.
My brother and I have sculpted the head, to facilitate comparison between the portraits that surfaced in my study, which differ in size and technique. The reaction from artists is very positive. It’s fascinating that art historians refuse to engage.
You also do amazing illustrations of birds. What have you learned from drawing birds, that enriches your drawings of people (and vice versa)?
Thanks for the compliment, but others are much better. I can’t hold a candle to, for instance, Lars Jonsson, Darren Woodhead or John Busby. The common element is that you need to look, really look. Even the dullest bird or face becomes interesting when you give it a good look in the wild/flesh. The way the shadow drops across the cheek, the light hits an eyebrow, etc. … there are many more angles, positions etc. than you can ever imagine. My heart always makes a little jump when I see things in birds or faces that surprise me.
Rather than trying to figure out a face or a bird while it moves and moves, you can learn to watch intently, close your eyes and “take a picture.” This works for faces as well as birds.
Imagine TED could invite anyone from history to speak. Who would you most like to draw?
No-brainer: Leonardo, of course!
Download the TED2011 Program Guide for iPad >>
27 February 2011
Lo-fi photography at TED2011
Usually when I’m photographing at TED, I’m using heavy digital SLRs with lots of lenses. This year, however, I’m also making a few fun photos with the most modest of cameras, my iPhone using the Instagram app. Here are a few of my favorites so far as the team gets the venue ready for TED.
Duncan Davidson is the main stage photographer for TED2011 and has been working on various TED events and projects since 2009.
26 February 2011
Get the TED2011 Program Guide for iPad and desktop
The TED2011 program guide — containing short speaker bios and sharp portraits by Siegfried Woldhek, plus a magazine of info about TED projects — is available in a couple of electronic forms this year, for the first time at a Long Beach TED.
First to drop: the TED2011 iPad app. Using some new software, Adobe helped us port the program guide over to iPad, for a zippy and interactive way to learn more about TED. You can scroll easily through pages, take notes on each speaker onscreen (and mail them to yourself), fill out a wish card to support a TED Prize project, and play with some fun animated and interactive ads that take advantage of the iPad’s large screen and some new Adobe technology.
For desktop, the TED2011 Program Guide offers a smooth and easy browse. The Air-based reader is searchable and clickable, and a real pleasure to turn the pages of. Download it here — note that it’s a large file.
If you’re watching TED on a webstream, joining the TEDxLive viewing party on March 2, or following news from the conference on the TED Blog and Twitter — this app and desktop file will be very handy. We’d love your feedback, either in comments below or at contact@ted.com.
Download the TED2011 Program Guide for iPad >>
Download the TED2011 Program Guide for desktop >>
25 February 2011
Fellows Friday with VK Madhavan
Interactive Fellows Friday Feature!
Join the conversation by answering Fellows’ weekly questions via Facebook. This week, Madhavan asks:
Does everything have to be measured in quantitative terms? If it can’t be measured in quantitative terms is it not worth doing?
Click here to respond!
Tell us about the work you do with Chirag.
I’m fortunate to work for Chirag, a non-profit here in the Himalayas, which leads an integrated approach to development. I see this approach as a strength, though we don’t claim to have that one single silver bullet that some organizations do. We work with diverse things that could potentially change the quality of life of a person living here in the mountains. We work on a number of issues, and my responsibility is to provide leadership to the organization.
We’ve been spending a fair amount of time over the last six or seven months rolling out a new livelihood initiative. We’re trying to pull all our experiences of working on agriculture, animal husbandry and other livelihood initiatives together, into a new structure. We’re creating six formal cooperatives of women in the first phase. These cooperatives will commence operations in April.
Most cooperatives tend to be single-commodity enterprises, or single value-chain enterprises. You could set up an enterprise on cotton. Or you could set up an enterprise around dairy.
Poor families tend to diversify risk as a survival strategy. So some of their land is set aside for horticultural crops, some of it is used for food grain, there might be some livestock on the land. Poor families do not rely on just one single thing for their income. So what we’re trying to do is set up livelihood cooperatives. Each cooperative will try and provide opportunities for improving market access.
The cooperatives will focus on agricultural goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk products or poultry … so it’s a complex mechanism. And we’re trying to make cooperatives of the poorest women producers. We’ve started off identifying who the very poorest women in each village are, and have picked those to begin with.
24 February 2011
New on TED Books: Cindy Gallop’s “Make Love Not Porn”
The amazing Cindy Gallop — whose 2009 TEDTalk was a powerful look at the effects of online porn on a generation of young people — has expanded the short talk into a thoughtful TED Book. In Make Love Not Porn: Technology’s Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior, Gallop talks about the personal experiences and research that inspired her to give the talk — and the explosive growth of the website MakeLoveNotPorn.com since the talk went viral. She shares stories of people who’ve learned from her talk and from the site, from people who’ve supported it and challenged it.
It’s an important read about the new realities of intimacy in the digital age.
Make Love Not Porn is part of the TED Books series available for the Kindle and Kindle Reader apps. Buy it on Amazon.com >>
24 February 2011
Understanding cancer through proteomics: Danny Hillis on TED.com
At TEDMED, Danny Hills makes a case for the next frontier of cancer research: proteomics, the study of proteins in the body. As Hillis explains it, genomics shows us a list of the ingredients of the body — while proteomics shows us what those ingredients produce. Understanding what’s going on in your body at the protein level may lead to a new understanding of how cancer happens. (Recorded at TEDMED, October 2010, in San Diege, CA. Duration: 19:55)
Watch Danny Hillis’ talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 800+ TEDTalks.
23 February 2011
Curating humanity’s heritage: Elizabeth Lindsey on TED.com
It’s been said that when an elder dies, it’s as if a library is burned. Anthropologist Elizabeth Lindsey, a National Geographic Fellow, collects the deep cultural knowledge passed down as stories and lore. (Recorded at TEDWomen, December 2010, in Washington, DC. Duration: 10:13)
Watch Elizabeth Lindsey’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 800+ TEDTalks.
23 February 2011
Playlist: TEDTalks from Fast Company’s influential women in tech
Fast Company just released their 2011 list of the Most Influential Women in Technology, and four women with TEDTalks made the cut! Watch their talks below.
At TEDWomen, director of MIT’s Personal Robots Group Cynthia Breazeal shares her designs for interactive, socially intelligent robots.
Natalie Jeremijenko, director of the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU, shows how we can fuse art and tech to rehabilitate the environment.
In our interconnected world, Alisa Miller, CEO of Public Radio International, points out the disconnect between U.S. news coverage and global awareness in America.
Open-government activist and Google’s recently-named Policy Manager for Africa, Ory Okolloh tells her personal story of building a website to track the performance of Kenya’s parliament.
Also on the list is game designer and TED2010 Fellow Kellee Santiago. Watch her TEDxUSC talk on why video games are art on the TEDx YouTube Channel.
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