24 October 2008

The moral outrage of line-jumping for U2 tickets

From the BPS Research Digest: Researchers Marie Helweg-Larsen and Barbara L. LoMonaco have been studying the moral code of people who line up for tickets to see their favorite band -- and they've found some surprising news. It turns out it's just as annoying for a hard-core U2 fan to see someone jump the line behind them as it is to see someone jump in front of them. It's not so much about keeping one's place in line as it is about preserving the overall fairness of the line for the community, and thus sustaining the moral code of the U2 fan. Read the abstract or a PDF of the whole paper (3rd item down) >>

As the Research Digest points out, this research relates to some ground-breaking line-jumping research by Stanley Milgram in the 1980s. Learn more about Stanley Milgram in Philip Zimbardo's TEDTalk >>

And apropos U2 -- watch Bono as he accepts the 2005 TED Prize and makes a wish for Africa >>

Image: Ticket 47, U2 (2) at the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 14 , 2005, from steev-o via Flickr.

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22 January 2008

U2, 3D, and the rise of immersive cinema

The first of a new generation of digital three-dimensional films, U2 3D, is in limited release now. Already the entertainment world is abuzz: a rapturous reception at Sundance followed a smash-hit premiere at Cannes. TEDster and 3D evangelist Steve Schklair, founder and CEO of 3ality Digital Systems, drove the production and the revolutionary technology behind it. A don't-miss for music fans and the tech-savvy: Feel like you're on stage with (2005 TED Prize winner) Bono. -- Matthew Trost

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05 October 2007

"Rock star" Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala named to World Bank

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (watch her TEDTalks from TED2007 and TEDGlobal07), the crusading economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, has been appointed a Managing Director of the World Bank.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will oversee the World Bank’s work in Africa, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia. "Her commitment to the developing world is unparalleled," said Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank. She's been working with the Stolen Assets Recovery (StAR) initiative to help poor countries reclaim assets lost to corruption, and with Bono's DATA organization on historic debt-relief programs. Bono said of her last week, "She's the kind of leader we all want to work for." (And as Portfolio.com commented, she's as much a rock star as that Irish gentleman.)

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28 September 2007

Bono, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, local heroes honored

Last night at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, Bono (watch his 2005 TEDTalk) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (watch her TEDTalks) accepted the Liberty Medal, honoring Bono and DATA for their work in Africa. One of the local papers put together a fascinating section to go along with the event: "Philadelphia's Team Africa," profiling 10 locals in diverse fields -- teaching, health, entrepreneurial philanthropy -- working to build a stronger continent:

We have a 79-year-old nun who saves babies in Malawi and Uganda ... a middle-aged married couple from the Main Line whose day job is HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa ... a 27-year-old Drexel MBA who's her own personal Small Business Administration, with microloans out to 18 small businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Togo and Ghana ....

It's an inspiring reminder of the thousands of ways to be involved. Doing business in Africa is a big part of that equation: Also mentioned is "City Hall's own division of international trade (who knew?) who helped broker $6 billion in imports from Africa last year."

Photo by CLEM MURRAY / Inquirer Staff Photographer

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05 June 2007

Bono vs. Mwenda: Around the blogs

On the first day of the conference, the discussion between Andrew Mwenda and Bono electrified the audience and those following the conference via blogs. Here's what bloggers both inside and outside the conference had to say:

Felix Salmon's Market Movers blog for Portfolio.com gives an overview:

... the conference kicked off with [William] Easterly-by-proxy Andrew Mwenda. Ethan Zuckerman was there to hear Mwenda run down the standard Easterly talking points –- but at TED conferences, the points have a way of talking back. And when Mwenda challenged the audience to name a country where aid had led to development, Bono, of all people, stood up and named Ireland, in the days of the potato famine.

Bono was scheduled to speak [in Session] Two, and he devoted his time not to his own ideas but to rebutting Mwenda's. ...

And a report on the confrontation as it went down comes from fifthculture:

Andrew Mwenda [is] a journalist and social critic (read troublemaker – my kind of guy), and passionate speaker. ... [A]ccording to Andrew, all of us bleeding hearts from rich countries are doing the absolute wrong thing by giving aid to African countries. Andrew asked "has anyone in this room benefited or had a relative who benefited from aid?" A surprise answer came from Bono (all I could make out of the comment was "bullocks," but Bono would elaborate a little later).

Liz Dolan from the Huffington Post reports in detail:

Addressing the growing feeling that debt relief will not get African nations nearly as far as western direct investment, Bono said "You'd think somebody farted in here when the words 'debt relief' came up -- ooh, that's so uncool. Well, I will tell you that 20 million children in Africa are going to school today as a direct result of debt relief, 3 million right here in Tanzania alone.

David McQueen reports on the talks and the reaction:

... Talking to a number of people afterwards there were many mixed messages. Most believed that trade should be the primary focus but with incumbent governments still very dependent on aid that the focus should change. Personally I lean more to the position of Mwenda. Here is a man looking at the situation from the ground, and with possible prison sentences hanging over him from his native Uganda. OK he may not have all the solutions but his disdain for people looking down at Africa trying to solve issues from the outside in definitely resonated with me and many others.

Ecorica-Blog offers some more background on Andrew Mwenda's analysis:

One important remark: He admits that aid can bring humanitarian relief and can save lives, but he does not believe in the idea that aid can support long-term development of a society.

Live-blogging hero Ethan Zuckerman writes at length about both Mwenda's and Bono's talks. (The title of this blog post is borrowed from his indispensable blog.) White African also offers a good look at the talks, as does Ramon Thomas.

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05 June 2007

Preconference tours show TEDGlobal bloggers the new Africa

Before the official start of TEDGlobal 2007, some attendees joined us for preconference tours, to get a visceral experience of the new Africa. Hosted by businesses and NGOs working on the ground in Tanzania, TEDsters visited schools, farms, businesses and other projects. A few reports:

ClassV took a tour led by DATA and shot some breathtaking photos:

The days ... in Tanzania have been inspiring, breathtaking, potentially life changing. Spent time engaging directly with the community through DATA and its founder, Bono. The term hero should be reserved for the kind of people I met during these visits, offering their love to the most unfortunate among all of us connected on this planet.

AfroMusing posted a long entry on the DATA trip, plus photos:

Early monday morning I was among a group of TEDsters for the DATA morning field trip before the conference. DATA is the organization founded by Bono of U2 to raise awareness about the issues facing Africa, namely Debt, Aids, Trade and Africa. DATA is mostly associated with the lobbying for debt forgiveness for the developing countries such as Tanzania. It was an incredible day, started out at the Artemisia farm of Mr. and Mrs. Loshie of Sambasha in Arumeru district. ...

Mweshi posts more stories and photos from the DATA tour:

The farm was only the first part of our half-a-day long trip. Following the farm visit, we saw how debt relief has helped to bring about improved health care and education in a clinic that provides ante-natal and post-natal services to mothers and would-be mothers as well as two schools located on the outskirts of Arusha. ...

Hugo Schotman helped hand out Lapdesks before the conference, and took pictures.

Technorati tags: TED, TEDGlobal, TEDGlobal2007, DATA

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30 May 2007

TED.com's new discussion space: Africa: The Next Chapter

As the TED Conference team departs for Tanzania and TEDGlobal 2007, the TED.com team is beginning the conversation online, with our latest theme: Africa: The Next Chapter. We start with an observation: That while we're all familiar with Africa's challenges -- famine and disease, conflict and corruption -- it's less known that across the continent, change is afoot. A new generation of Africans -- entrepreneurial, optimistic, inventive, undaunted -- are shaping a very different future for the their homeland.

Ingenious solutions are being applied to tackle some of the toughest health and infrastructure problems. Businesses are being launched that can transform the lives of millions. New communication technologies allow ideas and information to spread, enabling markets -- and governments -- to be more efficient. The numbers suggest that real growth is on the way ... A new Africa beckons.

Next week, we hold our first conference in Africa (also titled "Africa: The Next Chapter") to learn all we can about the profound changes sweeping the continent. Thought leaders from across Africa will gather with counterparts from the west in hopes of building new and lasting collaborations. But the meeting in real time is only the beginning: It's the conversations and connections that continue online which will have even deeper reverberations.

Though the talks from TEDGlobal won't be online till midsummer, we've started the conversation off with several relevant talks from TEDs past, including Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the pioneering Nigerian Finance Minister, who captures the zeitgeist of the moment with a talk on rethinking the African economy. It dovetails nicely with Jacqueline Novogratz, who promotes a new approach to philanthropy, based on investment rather than traditional aid. Both those thoughts were echoed by Ashraf Ghani, former Finance Minister of Afghanistan, whose rousing talk on his country's future resonates with this theme, despite geographical distance. And then there's Bono, whose memorable 2005 TED Prize acceptance speech was the original inspiration for the conference (though many there may disagree with his approach).

Click here to go to TED.com's new Theme, Africa: The Next Chapter >>

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19 December 2005

Congratulations, Bono

Time magazine gives the inaugural TED Prize Winner their big annual award. (Well, he has to share it with a Mr. and Mrs. Gates.)

And if you missed the talk Bono gave at TED last year, there's a transcript here, and link to Bono's TEDTalk here. Well worth hearing.

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