TED: Ideas worth spreading

Most streaming videos can be summed up into two categories – YouTube and advertising. Perhaps entertaining, these videos are not particularly thought provoking, and are most often time wasters.

TED isn’t YouTube. This streaming media delivers lectures recorded at TED conferences around the world. They are all inspiring, sometimes funny, sometimes mind-blowing.

TED is run by a non-profit foundation, with the goal of spreading ideas that stir people’s perspectives. These talks allow people to cross-pollinate ideas with stories that inspire innovation and broaden the plane of understanding, encouraging “out of the box” thinking.

For instance, many lectures in the Art series demonstrate the innovation that occurs when art and science meet. In one story, an engineer was inspired by modern origami, and began to use computer programs to construct incredibly life-like origami creatures. Then, he became involved in applying the concepts of origami back to engineering in order to put big things into small packages, including air bags and space telescopes. (Robert Lang: Idea + square = origami)

TED Talks begin firmly in the real world. The TED foundation seeks out speakers to attend four-day conferences several times each year. These speakers include highly recognized thought leaders who have won Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, as well as emerging thinkers who have not hit the mainstream. The speakers are not paid, and the entire conference is recorded. Some of these recordings are posted online for free.

This is when TED.com goes Web2.0. People are highly encouraged to link, embed, email and show these lectures. The TED website allows comment threads on each video, and also has a tagging mechanism so that users can help rank and identify talks. Beyond basic users, those who become members of TED.com (for free) can upload profile information and connect with each other in the TED community.

The goal of TED.com is to spread ideas that help people better understand the world. Their hope is that this deeper and broader perspective will lead to new thoughts, more discussion, and perhaps a better world.