TED Talks

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). Their website makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 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.

Here is a lecture of a really animated Richard Dawkins talking about Militant Athiesm, or if that's not your cup of tea browse their speakers for one you'd prefer:

Technology: Michael Wesch - The Machine Is Us/ing Us

This is the final version of an experimental documentary by Michael Wesch exploring the ideas behind web 2.0. The original version has had over 2.5 million hits on YouTube. Michael is a teacher of "digital ethnography" which is the study of the digital culture, at Kansas State University. He made this video using screen captures of different actions he would type or perform on the computer. He then did some pans and zooms and cut it all together with an electronica soundtrack. He is also part of an interesting looking web project that is designed to turn visitors into their own webmasters.

Just when you thought you were beginning to get a handle on how the internet all works. . . they go and add a new upgrade that makes it super awesome but unfamiliar again. I was just beginning to remember little bits of HTML code and now we are off on a new tangent.