TEDActive Projects
Get involved in a TEDActive Project: explore, collaborate and -- most importantly -- act on the vital issues raised at TED. This year we’re exploring the topics of Education, Mobility, Sustainability, Public Art, Social Networks and Travel with the goal of delivering a set of micro-actions that anyone can do to move a project forward.
Projects news from the TEDActive Blog:
01 March 2012
From robot twins to buggy brains: TEDYou Session 2
Laurence Kemball-Cook on his Pavegen at TEDYou during TEDActive 2012, March 1, 2012. Photo: Michael Brands / TED
Leigh Rowan, “The Zaniness of the Frequent Flyer”: Leigh Rowan, COO of Moderne Communications, tells a personal story of skies, smiles and sweetness, and reminds us: “A smile is the ultimate cheap currency to share with those around you.”
Bernhard Riecke, “Moving You, in and through Virtual Reality”: Simon Fraser University assistant professor Bernhard Riecke shows research from his iSpace lab and highlights developments in improving spatial orientation in virtual reality.
Shannon Downey, “#GetOverIt”: Shannon Downey, owner of Pivotal Production, traces the rigorous physical and mental training which helped her prepare for the Tough Mudder competition, which is created by and made for military men. She concludes by urging us to tweet our experiences of moving through fear using #GetOverIt.
David Bismark, “The Mathematics Behind Cryptography”: David Bismark, CEO and publisher of Recito Förlag AB, uses history and mathematics to give a brief lesson on how, especially in times of war, cryptology is the key to freedom.
James Piecowye, “From Rags to Shirtology”: All shirts are not made equal, and we should not treat them so, says guerilla educationalist James Piecowye. He shows that your fashion choices are far more effective ways of communicating than you may think.
Kate Nichols, “Contemplating Color”: Artist and TED Fellow Kate Nichols talks to us about structural color, which is not about what an object is made of but how it’s made, and shows how it influences her art.
Kes Sampanthar, “Debugging Error 42”: Director of Media Strategy at Cynergy Systems, Kes Sampanthar applies methodologies for debugging software to debugging the “error 42s” we have in our very own brains.
Richard Move, “Stigma, Dancing Bodies and GIMP”: TED Fellow and MoveOpolis! artistic director Richard Move shows us footage from his documentary film GIMP, which seeks to de-stigmatize disability through dance.
Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, “Reforming Reform”: Sarah Elizabeth Ippel talks about her Academy for Global Citizenship, and encourages us to adopt a different lens through which we can understand the purpose of education.
Martin Hassel, “Finding Your Way with Celestial Navigation”: Are technological devices and GPS causing us to lose our common knowledge? Safetec Nordic Safety Engineer Martin Hassel warns that it could be happening and gives a brief but informative lesson on how to get it back — simply by looking at the sky and stars.
Trevor Maber, “A Key to Experiential Awareness”: University of Saskatchewan assistant professor Trevor Maber expounds on the Johari Window — designed to help people understand their own mental instabilities — and applies it to our personal and professional relationships.
Tino Chow, “The Scientific Method to Follow Your Dreams”: TED Fellow and Big New Ideas Community Designer Tino Chow compares and contrasts the process of performing scientific experiments and following your dreams.
Laurence Kemball-Cook, “Transforming Our Cities Into Power Plants”: Laurence Kemball-Cook, managing director at Pavegen Systems, shows a deceptively simple but incredibly functional innovation called the Pavegen, which converts the bounces from our everyday footsteps into energy.
Duan XinXing, “Personalities of a Kung Fu Master”: Duan XinXing, director of City Symbol Cultural Exchange Center, weaves two tales of the ancient martial art of kung fu — and even shows us a little.
Jennifer Indovina, “Pardon the Interruption”: “Interrupting Cow wh—Moo!” In a breezy talk, Tenrehte Founder and CEO Jennifer Indovina asks why we are so averse to interruptions, because in her eyes they’re really just “idea urges,” and should be encouraged.
Dan Latimore, “Strange Bedfellows: Halloween Candy and Economics”: Dan Latimore, director at Deloitte Research, explains economic concepts like marginal utility through something even children can understand: Halloween candy.
Scott Gass, “Family: The Adaptation”: SeaWorld zoologist Scott Gass draws on examples from the animal kingdom to demonstrate how families makes sacrifices for one another in order to survive. He concludes, “If other animals take extraordinary action for their young, will you as a member of the human family do any less?”
Henrik Schärfe, “Robo-love”: Aalborg University Professor Henrik Schärfe previews his incredibly lifelike robot twin, Geminoid-DK, before it premiers on the main stage at TED2012. During his TEDYou talk he tells us that the most important lesson from his research is “stay human where it’s really important.”
01 March 2012
TEDActive 2012: Day 2 wrap up
Leap Year: In honor of leap day 2012 attendees jump on trampolines during the morning break, and off — into the future!
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
FlagTag installation: TEDYou speaker Jacob Soboroff tags a tree as part of artist Megan Geckler’s FlagTag installation, which is currently transforming the Riviera from a desert resort into a rainbow wonderland.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
eyeCan: Attendee Jinyong Chung shows his project eyeCan invention, inspired by Mick Ebeling’s TEDActive 2011 talk on his eyeWriter. eyeCan enables Lou Gehrig’s patients to use certain computer functions and connect to the world without the help of others.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
JR Skype Q&A: TEDActive attendees speak with 2011 TED Prize winner JR in a Q&A Skype session about his Inside Out Project.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Session 7: The City: After the announcement of the TED Prize wish for The City 2.0, attendees dance on stage to the inspiring voices of the Mama Foundation Gospel For Teens choir as they close out the final session for the day.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Project Dinners: The House Party Project dinner takes place in three historic Palm Springs estates including the Elrod House (here), the Boat House and the Steve McQueen House.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
See more on our collaborative daily photo album.
29 February 2012
TEDActive 2012: Day 1 wrap-up
Hooray! Soiree!: The gloomy weather didn’t damper anyone’s moods; TEDActive opened its first official night with a psychedelic welcome reception, fit with holographic glasses, miracle berry cocktails used from desert plants, and a set by TEDActive resident DJs dublab, with a special appearance by LA-based Daedelus.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
TEDYou Session 1 Amy Krouse Rosenthal urges us to rethink “Wandering” as attendees take the stage to give their TEDYou talks.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
TED begins: TEDActive attendees watch TED live on comfortable bean bags and ergonomic chairs as they listen intently to Peter Diamandis’ talk on humanity’s amazing journey.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Projects Picnic Lunch: Between sessions attendees gather over a sunny outdoor picnic to connect and reflect on six questions related to giving, urbanization, health, color, progressive ideas, and community and commerce.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
“Before I Die”: Attendees are encouraged to contribute their thoughts to the “Before I Die” project, started by TED Fellow and artist Candy Chang, in order to share with one another our hopes and aspirations.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Bing Hack Lab: While everyone else is asleep, the Bing Hack Lab is wide awake from 9pm-7am with one mission in mind: to create a prototype mobile app for individuals with asthma. How will they do it? Only time will tell! Tune in on Thursday to see how it all unfolds.
(Photo: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
See more on our collaborative daily photo album here.
28 February 2012
Questions! Encouragement! Color! Action! TEDYou Session 1
Jessi Arrington, speaking at TEDYou during TEDActive 2012, February 28, 2012. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED
TEDActive 2012 begins the first day of TED sessions with vibrant and explosive TEDYou talks. Jason Silva says it well: “Gravity and antimatter shaped the early universe, but the future will be building toward an infinitely powerful mind.”
JD Schramm, “Leveraging Your Rookie Status”: Stanford University director and educator JD Schramm talks about the value of being a rookie through a story about his first date with his trapeze-swinging husband. Schramm urges us, “Embrace being a rookie! Take your own leap of faith! … And if you mess up, call it a rookie mistake, and move on.”
John Bates, “How to Accept a Compliment”: In his brief and breezy talk, theBlu.com evangelist John Bates tells us that we can become the most generous people in the world — very simply by saying “thank you” when receiving compliments.
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, “Wandering”: Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal gets a standing ovation for a sweet personal story on the importance of wandering, of “gentle meandering.” She concludes that we can either see all the moments of our day as ordinary and mundane — or: We can see them as miracles. She happily chooses the second and urges us to do the same.
Lucianne Walkowicz, “How Invisible Light Permeates Our World”: Astronomer and TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz explains that what we see is only a tiny fraction of what is around us, because the full electromagnetic spectrum is not only visible light but also things like x-rays and microwaves. Indeed, she says, we’re surrounded by the full spectrum all the time.
Scott Watson, “The Ancient Art of Karaoke”: Karaoke is fun, but is it functional? Yes, says Walt Disney Imagineering CTO Scott Watson, who tells us that evolutionarily, we’ve been singing longer than we’ve been talking. He brings the audience into a rousing chorus of the Cheers theme song, “Where Everybody Knows your Name.”
Jason Silva, “The Beginning of Infinity”: We need to reinvent how inspiration is packaged, says futurist and filmmaker Jason Silva. He hopes to do this through his films — “shots of philosophical espresso” — and ultimately to redesign the canvas of life.
Chel O’Reilly, “Value of Things We Cannot Comprehend”: Blogger Chel O’Reilly weaves a beautiful story about her deaf grandmother who begat a multi-generational family of musicians, and shows us the world is full of valuable things we cannot comprehend.
Jacob Soboroff, “Why Vote Tuesday? We Shouldn’t”: No one seems to know why we in the US vote on Tuesdays. Director Jacob Soboroff emphatically answers the question: “Absolutely no good reason whatsoever.” Soboroff believes that if we moved this national day to a weekend day, we could get the results we wanted: More people voting.
Jessi Arrington, “This Is Your Brain on Rainbows”: Color lover and graphic designer Jessi Arrington’s favorite color is rainbow. In her bright and energetic talk she show us how she will be remembered as someone who was “never afraid of color.” Arrington wants us to feel color the way she feels it and helps us do so by leading the TEDActive audience in a full spectrum rainbow parade.
28 February 2012
TEDActive 2012: Pre-conference wrap-up
View a colorful recap of Monday’s TEDActive pre-conference experiences! See more on the daily photo album.
TED Prize Workshop with Insight Labs: A three-hour intensive TED Prize workshop takes place with Insight Labs.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
The Integratron Trip: Attendees take a journey to the Integratron in Joshua Tree to cleanse their ears and minds with a sound bath.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
Wind Farm Tour Hosted By TEDActive Urbanization Project: The TEDActive Urbanization Project visits the Windmill Farms in Palm Springs.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
Color Thrifting Excursion Hosted By TEDActive Color Project: Jessi Arrington leads the TEDActive Color Project on a bicycle tour to a series of second-hand stores in Palm Springs as they scavenge for vintage finds.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Decorate and Donate Hosted by the TEDActive Giving Project: Michael Radparvar decorates a pair of TOMS shoes that will be delivered to a local boys and girls club in Palm Springs.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
Everyone’s an Architect Workshop Hosted by the TEDActive Progressive Ideas Project: Artist Kiel Johnson poses for the camera in front of the TEDActive city made entirely of cardboard. Over the next 4 days the city will grow with the help of attendee participation.
(Photo: Feb 27 – March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Marla Aufmuth / TED)
27 February 2012
Translate! 翻译! Traduire! !ترجمه
Translator Workshop at TEDActive 2012, February 26, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED
A day of stories, passion and etymologies led by TED’s volunteer translation community made for an exciting start to TEDActive 2012. Last Sunday, the Open Translation Project held its second workshop in Palm Springs, California, where translators discussed the joys and challenges of translating TEDTalks and conferred on the future of the OTP. TEDGlobal 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland marked the first Translator Workshop, in which representatives from this community of 8,500 volunteers met face to face for the first time since the inception of the project in May 2009.
This year’s workshop focused on the next phase of the OTP, which most prominently includes an improved subtitling platform that enables more transparent and collaborative peer review, roles for language coordinators and better quality control. The workshop began with presentations by six of the 20 translators, who represent over 15 countries from Syria to Sweden, on topics like accessibility and intercultural education. Representatives from Smartling and Universal Subtitles spoke with translators about new projects on the horizon: localizing TED.com and translating 13,000 TEDxTalks into 80+ languages. In the afternoon, translators divided into groups to tackle ongoing issues and dream big about the next evolution of OTP.
Roughly half the translators present participated in last year’s workshop and half were first-time attendees. Among those present were Anwar Dafa-Alla (Arabic) and Els De Keyser (Dutch), who in combination have translated over 1300 TEDTalks; Mahmoud Aghiorly (Arabic), who was invited to attend TEDGlobal once and TEDActive twice, but whose visa was denied all three times (until now!); Unnawut Leepaisalsuwanna (Thai), who left Asia for the first time to attend the workshop; and Per Klemming (Swedish), whose thirteen-year-old son’s secondary school class is already translating.
During the presentations many old and new questions about translation arose, such as: How do we adapt subtitles to the simplified online language used by young people? How do we maintain design and meaning when translating a website from English into left-to-right languages, like Hebrew and Arabic? How can we contextualize concepts like “nature vs. nurture” in countries and cultures which have no linguistic equivalent?
In a way, what the translators face is a challenge we all face, not just at TED but on a global scale: How can we continue to connect across the world while preserving the unique aspects of our own cultures and languages? The members of this vibrant and passionate community act as ambassadors to their local linguistic and cultural communities to spread important ideas — by understanding the subtleties of language and by finding the words that we lack.
27 February 2012
TEDx day in the desert: brainstorms
Over 250 TEDx event organizers from over 45 countries met in the California desert on Sunday to discuss the next steps for this already-prolific community. After presentations by TED staff and fellow organizers, everyone dispersed to nine stations for brainstorming sessions on speaker training, PR and social media, university events, youth events, storytelling, sponsorships and more.
After two topic sessions, Organizers broke out into regional groups to build avenues for collaboration and connect on local issues.
(Photos: Feb. 27–March 2, 2012 Palm Springs, CA. Michael Brands / TED)
Read more about the TEDx experience >>
27 February 2012
TEDx day in the desert: knowledge sharing
Reblogged from the TEDxBlog:
On Sunday, February 26th, 250 TEDx event organizers arrived at the Living Desert in Palm Springs for a full day of learning, brainstorming and, of course, fun!
TEDx Director Lara Stein kicked off the day by thanking the amazing global community of organizers for their work, and addressed TEDx projects of the future, including the TEDxSummit, taking place in April in Doha, Qatar.
Hosting the event were TEDActive hosts Kelly and Rives, along with two interns: two university TEDx event organizers who “shadowed” the pair for the day.
Twelve organizers then took to the stage to present on the amazing innovations that they had executed through their events: TEDxEdmonton organizer Ken Bautista presented on stage design; Ruth Milligan, organizer of TEDxColumbus and TEDxKids@NBCC, spoke on her experience organizing an event for 5-8 year-olds; Diana Enriquez of TEDxYale addressed how to work with university administration. These were just a few of the TEDx innovations; you can find out about the rest of the talent from the session below.
TEDxDU’s Carole Kitchell presented a “where are they now” of her speaker Aaron Huey, whose talk is on TED.com.
Niki Siropoulou of TEDxAcademy in Greece spoke on branding and showed an animated step by step video.
Sarah Lewis of the Gates Foundation spoke on the goals of TEDxChange 2012.
Steve Garguilio of TEDxJNJ spoke on how he has structured corporate events globally at Johnson & Johnson.
TEDxRanier’s Phil Klein discussed the issue of structuring volunteer teams.
Ellen Cheng of TEDxFactory798 and XinXing Duan of TEDxNanjing — both in China — spoke on regional collaboration through social media.
At TEDxTokyo 2010, Hiroko Sumikura and her team uploaded videos from the event almost simultaneously, and she spoke to how exactly it was done.
Arthur Zards of TEDxNaperville showed images of amazing TEDx event badges from around the world, and emphasized their importance in fostering interaction between attendees.
After TEDx organizer presentations, Head of Global Partnerships Ronda Carnegie presented on TED’s unique way of approaching partners, and took questions from the audience, as well as a few from the almost 100 TEDx-ers watching the workshop livestream.
25 February 2012
This is how our story begins …
With only one day to go until pre-conference activities begin at TEDActive 2012, attendees are sending in their travel photos in anticipation of the sunny and explosive start of the conference:
Photo: Adam Croom
Throughout the conference, TEDActive attendees will be submitting their “Full Spectrum Story” photos for the daily albums to be shared you!
23 February 2012
The countdown to TEDActive 2012 begins!
We’re 3 days away from TEDActive 2012, where 700 of the world’s doers, thinkers and activators will gather to participate in multi-disciplinary experiences and immerse themselves in TED2012: Full Spectrum. During both conferences you can find full coverage here on the TEDActive Blog and on the TED Blog, and livetweeting at @TEDActive and @TEDNews.
TEDActive pre-conference activities begin on Sunday with the TEDx Workshop and Translator Workshop. On Monday our partners will kick off project experiences in the second phase of the exciting TEDActive 2012 projects. (The conversation has already started, and you can join in regardless of whether you’ll be in Palm Springs!) On Tuesday morning, a handful of amazing attendees and past TED Fellows will speak at TEDYou, a TEDActive event in which attendees take the stage to deliver their own talks. In the past, speakers from TEDYou and TED University have produced some of our favorite TEDTalks.
On Tuesday morning, 11am West Coast time — it’s time for TED. Read the speaker lineup … watch Session 7 for free… and if you’re interested, become a member of TED Live to watch TED and TEDGlobal wherever you are.
Follow the TEDActive Blog for updates from the conference’s workshops, projects and most importantly, its passionate attendees. The result of this meeting of the minds is bound to reflect, in every way, the Full Spectrum.
Rediscover the wonder of TEDActive 2011 >>
(Photos: TEDActive 2011. Feb. 28-March 4, 2011, Palm Springs, CA. Credit: TED / Michael Brands)
Create your own TEDActive project: If you're registered for TEDActive 2011, you can apply to start your own project. We're accepting applications for projects that cover any topic, from food to robotics ... Apply now »
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Special thanks to our partner, IfWeRanTheWorld:
