Tarah's Digital Voice

This is an important and poignant discussion about how social and search algorithms have begun to filter our content, based on what it thinks we want. While this might be great when you're shopping on Amazon, it has dangerous implications on our awareness and understanding about what's happening in the world and our communities, outside of our most immediate or most frequented spheres. Pariser makes the point that when the Internet first launched, we had human editors; the problem with algorithmic editors is that they don't have the ethics, the moral compass to ensure that people are seeing what they NEED to see, not just what they might want to see.

I have to agree. I geek out on what tech can do for us every day, but this is exactly why I curate all of my own feeds on my social networks - it lets me choose the voices I want to hear, rather than letting a machine decide which content I should see, based on my past behaviors. Consider that if you do not curate your own filters, you're not seeing posts from a number of your connections, but you're also probably not seeing everything that the people you interact with the most are posting; you're only seeing the types of stuff you've interacted with from them before. That's a problem, in my opinion.

One of my favorite parts about the Internet has been serendipity, discovery and the expansion of my worldview. If we remove that, we might as well abandon the web and go back to insular, local communities.

Watch this TEDTalk and let me know what you think. It's only eight minutes, but it's eternally important.

viaTED.com

Session 2: Unanticipated Affinity

Gavin Starks, founder of amee.com (@ agentgav): codifying sustainability - a purpose for the Internet of things.
- more and more data available from more and more sources, making it easier and more reliable to determine and track energy consumption
- adding social features allows people to compare activity against friends'. Add some gaming features and maybe people will become more sustainable.

Shohei Shigematsu, partner at oma, architect: graphs of GDP, images and other visuals interpreted through the eyes of a funny, insightful guy, plus a few projects. Summed up with his fear of homogeny and templatization taking over in architecture.

James Smith, Hilarious comedian

Nancy duarte, presentation expert (an inconvenient truth): ideas can change the world, but how to communicate? Stories cause emotional reaction, but presentations flatline, so how to infuse story into presentation?
- 3 part structure with hero journey
- freytag dramatic story structure. 5-part structure. Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, dénouement.
- her shape of great presentations: what is and what could be, gap between, repeating over and over. Moving back and forth, like sailing. Ends with "new bliss".
- mapped steve jobs first iPhone keynote with er structure, with content type and emotional/physical responses. Jobs models emotional response he wants to evoke (e.g. excitement). Ends with new bliss - promise to always innovate.
- mapped mlk's I have a dream speech. Graphed repetition, use if metaphors and other techniques. Brilliant analysis.

Cecilia Beltran: why do we believe in myths? Comparison of human brain to religious myths...interesting.

Tim Wu: how to build an information empire. The power that comes from monopolization of information and communications. Fascinating presentation, although his speaking pace was a bit off-putting. If we want choice and openness, we need to create the options. By choosing convenience, we are creating monopolies.

Iyeoka, musician/poetess: gorgeous voice. Inspirational words.

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Session 3: Life At Large

Kurt tofteland: a reading from Shakespeare and a video of an inmate encompass the story of his work using Shakespeare with inmates to try to find redemption, cone to terms with crimes.

Morley, musician: incredible voice and what soul!
-2nd song about her work with youth on conflict resolution in war-torn countries.
3rd about women in war-torn countries - Rwanda, Tibet, Burma. If you're feeling helpless, help someone.

Dennis Crowley, founder of foursquare (@dens): making real world into game, people change behavior, use world in different ways...can you manufacture serendipity? Not sure it was too smart to end with idea if finding objects and taking them sonewhere else and dropping them...sounds like gowalla.

Sunny Bates: learning to be able to hear everything.

Panel, BBC's Katty Kay, moderating: Gavin, sunny, Raghava, Shohei, Dennis - does interconnectedness foster creativity? Kind of rambling, unfocused panel...not really worth watching.

TEDxEast - incredible again.

Raghava kk: unlearning the world. - iPad book about indian independence - shake & changes to Pakistani perspective. Shake again - bagladeshi version. - Walk in footsteps of someone that didn't think like you - learn something you didn't know you didn't know.

Jason Johnson - social books. Next Gen e-reader with social connections. Community, on page, around books. Friend comments on page, etc. Authors participate. Books more dynamic. Sharing book, excerpts.

Dana Kurtz musical performance.
- "Venezuela", a story of a dream of love and heartbreak...laced with some good humor.
- "Love gets in the way"

Debbie Berebichez, phd: What large hadron collider should learn from Facebook. 

Rick guidotti: Fashion photographer got sick of being told what and who is beautiful, so now on a mission to create beautiful photographs of people with albinism. Photographs them like models...transforms their perception of selves. Incredible international activism around protecting children, changing perceptions, educating about misconceptions. Then, took on chromosome abnormalities.

15 minute version of 1-act play - parallel of child with autism and black child. Race as stigma, like disease.

Chef Thomas Keller: cooking = ingredients + execution.
- Ingredients: The people from whom he gets his amazing ingredients, wines, even the linens for The French Laundry and their stories. True Interconnectivity. Now, I'm hungry.
- Execution: desire trumps passion. Training, education, mentorship. Have the right tools. Leadership to create environment of confidence and courage. Teamwork. Do a little better than yesterday. Changes menu every day.