TED is a non-profit organization known for its extraordinary conferences and professional speakers. Originally intended to bring together the brightest in the fields of Technology, Entertainment, and Design, TED has expanded to include talks on ethics and social justice issues, as well as science and the economy at large.
It’s this variety and quality of content that keeps me coming back, and their award-winning site makes it all the more accessible. Featuring the ability to browse talks by subject, what’s been most rated with various adjectives (jaw-dropping, funny, etc), or by various indicators of popularity, the site encourages users to constantly explore new content. And although the official TED Conferences only occur 2-3 times a year, their TEDx Community program – which allows local groups to use the TED logo under license to host their own independent events – has helped to further increase the amount of new content flowing through the site.
We posted a video earlier this week by TED-talker Derek Sivers. His was one of the first videos I saw on TED, along with a speech by Aimee Mullins. She is a model, an actress, and an athlete, and has three amazing videos on the site, the most recent of which was uploaded this month. In “The Opportunity of Adversity,” she addresses the way our language limits the ability of our society to evolve in the way we think about things – particularly ‘disabled’ individuals. It’s a concept that has relevance in many contemporary issues (sexism and racism come to mind), but I’ll leave that discussion for another post and leave you with the wonder that is the TED world.
Enjoy!
Great post!
As an organizing committee, we're thrilled to see so many groups in Calgary so interested in TED/TEDx content, and want you to be aware that TEDxCalgary is coming to the city on April 29, 2010. Our theme is Humanity 3.0: Leadership the World Needs Now, which includes issues of engaging youth and elders in our societies to address problems such as conflict and poverty.
Visit us on our website at TEDxCalgary.ca and add your voices to our social media channels, nominate a speaker for our event, or submit an application to participate in our day of Ideas worth spreading!