Hello Everyone:
Over the last year, I have come across an amazing number of conferences, etc. which have video recorded their sessions and made them available on-line for free. There are incredible riches of ideas on these webpages from all kinds of professions. If most of these predominantly US-based... Imagine all the other forums, dialogues and incredible thinking that is occurring around the world.
In the spirit of American Thanksgiving and as we head into the holiday season, I thought I would share all of these amazing resources for which I have been grateful and thankful for over the past year or so. I have included the descriptors from their webpages.
1)
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 150 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted. TED | Speakers
2)
Pop!Tech is a one-of-a-kind conference, a community of remarkable people, and an ongoing conversation about science, technology and the future of ideas. The conference brings together 500 visionary thinkers in the sciences, technology, business, design, the arts, education, government and culture. 3
) Aspen Institute Programs http://fora.tv/partner/Aspen_Institute?q=1&page=10&sort=date The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences, and leadership-development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership programs in Africa, Central America, and India.
4) 2007 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship March 27-29, 2007
Saïd Business School, Oxford University, England. This year's Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship attracted nearly 700 social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, policy makers, corporate representatives, financiers, philanthropists and students from more than 40 countries.
5) Clinton Global Initiative -CGI is a non-partisan catalyst for action bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
6) This next conference occurred two weeks ago at the NY Public Library and was very interesting as we go into this next elections.
THERE YOU GO AGAIN: Orwell Comes to America
On the 60th anniversary of Orwell's
Politics and the English Language, George Orwell described political speech as consisting "largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." Some six decades later, many symptoms of manipulation and propaganda diagnosed by Orwell persist on the American political landscape, along with new disinformation techniques enabled by modern technology.
Historians, scientists, philosophers, linguists, cognitive experts, journalists, image-makers, and public figures will debate in three separate sessions the current state of political discourse-and journalism's response to it- on the dawn of a bitterly contested presidential campaign.
Part I Propaganda Then and Now: What Orwell Did and Didn't Know
Part II Deceiving Images: The Science of Manipulation
Part III Solutions: The Future Political Landscape
Each session will explore the past, present, and future of deceptive political speech, and assess what can be done to bring more realism and honesty into the conduct of America's public affairs. This event is co-sponsored by the Open Society Institute
http://www.mapdigital.com/orwell/welcome.html
7) Harvard Classes by Tal Ben Shahar - All of which were wonderful
8)
Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve The Center for BAWB advances extraordinary business innovation and entrepreneurship by turning the global environmental and social issues of our day into core value-creation opportunities.BAWB provides solutions to the how of sustainable value and social entrepreneurship, helping companies become the leading-edge stars of their industries through applied sustainability, research, and education efforts. The Media library offers video and digital audio stories of more innovative business practices that bring benefit to the world, with the hope to expand the know-how knowledge around business as an agent of world benefit. Resources from various BAWB events, such as presentations and speeches are also included in the Media Library. http://worldbenefit.cwru.edu/mediaLibrary/
I will give this advisory... there are months of viewing above and you can get very lost in all of these, but I've gone into these sites when I needed a break or some new ideas and have heard some wonderful people doing many wonderful things, that give me lots of hope. So, Happy Thanksgiving for all of you celebrating it this week and may that spirit circle around the world for peace, hope and joy. To all, have a wonderful holiday season.
Warm regards,
Denise Lalonde
New York, NY