Grow your own clothes? Wait, growing material is possible! Now, that is something I am fascinated by. These clothes are not extremely attractive. You would not see them in a target or any other common retail store. They are basic shapes and do not have much color. The appearance of Lee’s clothes might not be top notch right now, but the idea she is presenting is. The self grown clothes open a new realm of creating.
Suzanne Lee explains how growing clothes can reach beyond just the fashion world and move into furniture, cars, and houses. Making lamp shades or upholstery chairs from tea can make this world more efficient and less pollutant. Suzanne is very direct in how she uses her product and what she needs to fix or change.She does not directly open up her idea until the end, at this point she shows different ways she can use her product. For example, she shows that one could make a car, lamp, and house. This led me to think about other things to make out of home grown material. I started at how each person or family could grow their own house and all their belongings. Being a more self efficient world would allow us to have time to create, invent, and play. If the nation’s corporations where not working on shipping cotton or other materials into the states, they could be creating and working forward. Overall this idea of being self efficient will help create time for other things than trade. On contrast, I wondered if being self efficient could hurt the world. If each country did not rely on each other there would be no need for foreign relations and relationships between countries. This would present a barrier of ideas and create a more of a”one for himself and not anyone else” aspect, creating a more competitive environment.
I liked how Lee was wearing one of her home grown garments. This action showed that she had pride in her topic and that it was usable. Matching her clothes to her topic also kept her in context and was not distraction from the presentation. We talked about wearing appropriate clothes for your presentation in class; Lee did this perfectly. She showed confidence and belief in her idea. Wearing her garment showed the audience that it can be used well and that she is not afraid to use it.
This idea still amazes me. They way Lee presents her idea helps the idea form in the listener’s head. She tells you the flaws because she knows how much potential her idea holds and how her idea will change the world.
Mike Matas introduced a next-generation digital book. This type of book is like no other. The reader can manipulate the book as wanted. If a certain page has a picture or video the reader can make it full screen or keep it smaller and still be able to see the other text. This allows the reader to further analyze the text. There are interactive pieces in this new book too. Matas used the wind turbine as an example. When Matas blew in the direction of the Ipad the turbine started to move and it showed how the energy was stored and transfer. This certain interactive piece of the book tells a story. As mentioned in Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, this story will be triggered when trying to recall information. The software used in this book opens up new possibilities in education and leisure.
In Mike Matas’ TEDtalk he only explains how the next-generation digital book works. He does not go into any detail about how to incorporate it in your everyday life. This leaves a lot of area for creativity. He does not explain where this will/can be used or how it is used best. People had to think how they would apply it to their life rather than just being told how to. This creates a more personalized experience. His open-endedness about the use of the digital book differs from the styles of the other TEDtalks. Usual the speaker will present the use of their idea. For example Dave Eggers had a TEDwish. Matas’ approach allowed his talk to reach into the world of the listeners. Striving for the speech to be somewhat personal in the audience’s lives has run parallel through all the TEDtalks I have listened to. Although, Matas did not seem super excited or overly passionate about his idea, the newness of the book over shinned that in some ways. If he did express more passion in his voice I think his software would have come across better.
Since the book is interactive, students will become more engaged in what they are reading. Also a non-fiction book can provide even more information on the subject without adding lengthy articles, which tend to get boring and interrupt the flow of the book. Being the person who cannot read more longer then fifteen minutes before having to take a break or look at something else, I think that the next-generational book will keep me interested. All of the pictures and video clips will allow my eye to be “entertained” by something other than just words. The extra items in the book enhance the visual beauty as well as its content. The short clips of video or a picture will also enhance the readers understanding of the topic.
The interactive book could also take a step into the fictional world. There could be a small clip showing what the character is doing. The technology put into this book could take the reader beyond their seat. The reader could be “inside” the book. The video could be from the main character’s view point. The reader/watcher would never see the main character because the reader would be the character’s eyes. Reading a book will change drastically if this new technology becomes main stream.
I cannot stop imagining how this technology can go further than just reading books. This could expand to text books and lesson plans. With an interactive more portal text book, learning would be at children’s fingertips. They would be able to manipulate and use their text book as they feel needed. This software could also become a key part of teacher’s lesson plans. Each student could buy their teacher’s book the first day of school. Each page would represent a new day. On that page there would be the pictures and videos you had to watch that day. Along with that if you needed read out of a text book or other text it would be in that chapter or page. Instead of paying taxes for going to school, they would be for buying your personal Ipad. This Ipad would have the text books and teacher books you needed. The software could lead to a new type of education beyond reach right now. This would allow the student to personalize the way they learn and comprehend. There would be no limits or setbacks. It would a person and their wish to learn.
Mike Matas’ TEDtalk opens a world of possibilities. His software can be put to use in many different fields. His idea was defiantly worth sharing.
Dave Eggers' passion just shined through his whole TEDtalk. You could tell that he was nervous and not use to public speaking, but his message overpowered this. His natural humor built into his speech helped the speech flow. Even though he was nervous, Eggers let himself go. He did not hold anything back. Eggers spoke with a raw tone in his voice, making his speech very passionate. From the beginning the audience could tell that Eggers cared that his message would make a difference. He wanted so badly to help the children he talked about. This really reached out to me and would keep me listening. When I came home to type this up, the first thing I remembered was how happy he was to share his world and what he does. This really makes his speech pop and leaves a lasting impression with the listeners. The element of passion is very important in his message. Without passion his message would be questioned. He applies his passion well in his speech.
I was amazed about how he created this idea and how Eggers fixed an office, tutoring facility, and store all together. It’s such a brilliant and creative idea. All of the other stores/tutoring facilities are also designed so creatively; I just wonder how the mesh so well. The randomness of the storefront and the altruism of the tutoring automatically put a smile on everyone in the class’s face.
The way that the two unrelated subjects come together and help kids learn and be excited about can change the world in so many ways. First, it can add to the turnaround in education. Most of my blogs talk about how the speakers’ messages can change the face education. Eggers' will not necessarily add to the technology piece, but it will bring a sense of fun to education. Since Eggers'tutors help kids for free it allows the child to know that they matter. Eggers shows that he wants to help kids excel in school in a fun way. Adding the piece of fun into education will make the world we live in today a more exciting, beautiful, and constantly changing world. Eggers'passion is contagious; it makes me want to do something fun and creative to help the world.
One of the subjects that stuck in my mind was when Eggers start to talk about how not putting “Tutoring” across the front of the store helped business. The kids coming in there felt dignity in asking for help because there was no obvious sign across the door saying “I do not know what to do. Help me!” Eggers essential took away the stereotypes of a tutored child; he made it fun and exciting.
Dave Eggers also talked about reasons why students work hard. He said that students will work harder when the whole world can read their work. This automatically made me think of blogging. In English class Smith always stresses the idea of our blog post and some essays will be posted for the world to see. My class is creating a technological footprint, which will be there far after we die. Smith has mixed technology with what Eggers talked about. Since the whole world can see your blog posts we try to make them the best that we can.
His TEDwish was an interesting spin to the end of Eggers' talk. It fit in perfectly with TED’s mission. TED wants to spread ideas worth sharing so when Eggers explained what he wants the audience to do with his message shows how this idea can spread and help the world. The TEDwish helps the audience apply the message to their personal life and “take home” his wish with them. To connect his message back to TED and his listeners was good technique of closing his speech and allowing it to become more personal.
Caroline Casey knew exactly what it meant to live without limits. Growing up blind and to not know it must have been a journey on its own; but the aftermath of her 17th birthday blew me away. I watched this TEDtalk because I heard classmates talking about it during class and thought it sounded really interesting… and I was right. Casey had been legally blind since she was born and did not know it until she was 17. She pushed past all of the hurdles she encountered and kept going on in life, which would not change after she turned 17 either.
This is a story that anyone can learn from.Casey went through life like everyone wants to. She never has any regrets and she would not let anyone stop her. When she finally could not see father than a few inches she asked for help, which was one the hardest things to do for her. This is when she had to figure out what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Did she really want to work in a big company anymore? No. She started a fund-raiser for cataract surgeries. Casey rode an elephant and raised money for others with eye problems.
The most amazing part of Casey’s story is that she never gave up. Even after learning that she was blind, Casey still lived her life to the fullest. She appreciated the small things in life, which lead her to finding the true meaning of the big picture. This big picture ended up being absolutely truly you. The courage Casey found inspired me so much. She saw the beauty in being your very best self and nothing less. I have no idea what it would be like to be blind, but I do know that I would see life in a totally different way than how I see life now. Casey told everyone that she did not need eyes to see. I interpreted this as she beyond the physical beauty in things and grasped the meaning full beauty. This aspect of Casey’s TEDtalk relates a lot to mine. I have decided that I am going to talk about appreciating the small things in life and how this relates to how we treat people. Caroline Casey replicated this perfectly. She appreciated the small things which as earlier mentioned slowly grew to the big picture.
Towards the end of her speech Casey talks about the need for change and how this change will come through not labeling people by what they can or cannot do. Caroline Casey's parents did not tell her that she was blind so that she would not set limitations on herself. From this experience Casey learned that she COULD go beyond the assumptions of what her limitations would be. Casey went above and beyond “what” a blind “could” do. Casey has changed the course of living for blind people. She has inspired people with disabilities to go beyond what they were told they could do. By breaking down barriers change will happen. Leaving limitations behind and allowing ourselves to be who we want without the labels and stereotypes.
Her message shows that believing in yourself will lead to great things. I think this can lead to building better relationships. If one believes in their self than they can believe in others and trust in others. If the world had better relationships, than there would be a more personal professional world. Relating to other people is the key to building good relationships. This all goes back to pink’s ideas about symphony and metaphors. Humans use metaphors in their everyday life and metaphors can be used in conjuncture with relationships between people. Casey’s story shows how be confident and breaking the limitations you give yourself can help you in the professional world.
I really connected to Casey's TEDtalk because of the message it taught. It made me think of what life would be being blind and how that would affect my over all personality. I could not believe the courage she had when it came to her disability. It is quite an amazing story.
When Clay Shirky talks about the Kenyan women’s website going global my mind automatically thinks about Egypt’s recent struggles over freedom.Both the women and Egypt’s people presented their ideas through technology. The Kenyan women used a blog account and Egyptians used twitter, facebook, and other online sources. The website, Ushahidi, was later created by the two men helping the Kenyan women’s blog account.If Ushahidi was used in Egypt to help protesters congregate would the crusade for freedom been more organized? Ushahidi creates a map where all of the commenter’s information is organized and tracked.
Ushahidi could be used in the education system. If each school has a website like Ushahidi, then each classroom is a different “city”. The classrooms information will hold what that class did that day, homework, and any other necessary information the children learned during class. Different schools could look at other’s Ushahidi websites and get ideas for their students. Opening the knowledge and information of each school to the world could create a new way of learning.
Shirky also talked about civic and communal value and how if we change the world based off of money the change will not survive. But, if the change is based off of feeling the whole world with contribute to their civic duty. Civic value helps humanity as a whole; on contrast communal value only helps the people interested. Ushahidi has civic value; it helped the people interested and went worldwide and helped humanity as a whole. Now if we take Ushahidi and expand it even further into education, the civic value of Ushahidi will expand making a stable change in humanity.
Shirky’s stories of cognitive surplus also reminded me of the book we just read, Little Brother. In Little Brother, the main character’s knowledge of technology helps him change his world. Cognitive surplus has helped the Kenyan women change her world and could possibly help the rest of the world to change.
In Drive by Daniel Pink, he talks about the motivations of people and how people perform better when they do something just because they like to and not because they are being paid. If each person contributes their free time and help with a large project, our workforce will change. This free time will use that natural motivation that Pink talks about to cognitive surplus. But, how much free time do we really have? Shirky talks about having trillions of hours of free time. I personally do not know where all this free time is and does this free time include homework or extra work from one’s job? I want to know more, so I emailed Clay Shirky. He has not emailed back, but if/when he does I will post his response.
Daniel Pink, an author of inspiring books that could change the world. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and their three children. He has been to law school and has write Drive, A Whole New Mind, Adventures of Johnny Bunko, and his first book, Free Agent Nation. Pink is a free agent and his last “real” job was working in the White House as the chief speechwriter for vice president Al Gore. He achieved a BA from Northwestern and a JD from Yale. His ingenious speech is defiantly backed up by the hard work he did during college.
Daniel Pink’s TEDtalk was about the science of motivation. He starts out his talk about how he went to law school and did terrible. This leads into how his idea is going to be in the form of a case backed by hard headed evidence. Pink is challenging how society today runs business. His main argument is that we are all wrong in the way we motivate our workers.
Pink’s first piece of evidence is the “candle problem” created by Karl Duncker. The “candle problem” looks like this:
The object of the experiment is to attach the candle to the wall so that the wax does not drip on the table. There are two solutions people try first. One is some people try to tack the candle to the wall, and second is to melt some wax on the candle and stick it to the wall. Both do not work.After a few failed attempts many come up with the solution:
The key is to overcome “functional fixedness”. This is when the participant looks at the box as something that only hold the tacks. But, when the participant exhausts all other options they see that the box can be used as the platform for the candle as well.Sam Glucksberg did this same experiment but gave one group rewards and gave the other group nothing. The group that received incentives preformed the task three and half minutes longer. This is because rewards narrow the groups focus. The group that received nothing for their work performed the task faster because there was nothing blocking their creativity.
The overall message learned from this experiment is that incentives work well for a set of rules and a clear solution. But, when the tasks become creative incentives hurt the workers’ productivity. Daniel Pink provides more examples of this in his book Drive. Some of these include, Swedes donating blood and parents picking up children at a daycare. A more broad analysis is that everyday life does not have clear rules and one solution there are many rules with upon dozens of solutions. Incentives will not help a person’s overall work, as we though it has for years. This puts stress on need the more right brained life where there is not physical incentive and people just complete task for the joy of doing them. The more right brained world relates back to Daniel Pink’s book A Whole New Mind.
Today people are doing more creative work and we are still giving incentivesthat do not work. Our world has known this for years and has ignored it. Daniel Pink is trying to across that we NEED to change what we are doing in order to flourish as a society.
Pinks talk about how Dan Reilly puts MIT students through a series of games that included creativity, motor skills, and concentration. What happen is if the tasks involved only mechanical skill bonuses and incentive worked (higher the pay, better the performance), but if the task involved any cognitive skill a larger reward resulted in poorer performance. They tested this in India and in London and the same result was reported.
If we want high performance we need to have a new approach. The new approach revolves around intrinsic motivation- the drive to do something because it is interesting, fun, challenging. He believes that this revolves three main things, which are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He begins to explain further on autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives.
There is a movement towards letting employees to do what they want for a certain amount of time a day. This gives people more autonomy. Through this productivity goes up and new things are created that effect us in our everyday life.
Pink finishes talking about the two different encyclopedias. The one that gives no incentive to its workers has out lasted the one that gives incentive to their workers. There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.
Daniel Pink is so passionate about his topic. He is jumping around the stage and using hand motions. He is always moving and changing his facial expression. Pink has hard cold facts and examples of why incentives are not working. His approach to his subject implants the message into the audience mind without a doubt.
Pink’s speech is mostly of the information from his second chapter of his book Drive and ties back to his idea that right brained people will take over the job force. Daniel Pink’s idea can strength business and change the world today. When the world accepts that people are not motivated through money and material means, the business world will change forever.
5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. Quite a catchy title! This TED talk drew me right from the beginning. Gever Tulley, the author and presenter of this TED talk, is a contract computer science and the founder of The Tinkering School. The Tinkering School is a summer program that helps children build the things that they in vision. In Gever Tulley’s “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do” there is the message of allowing your children to do these dangerous things they will learn and use their natural instincts.
The first dangerous thing is to play with fire. How dangerous! To some it might seem the last thing you would let you child of any age do, but Tulley makes the argument that children will learn about how to control and use the fire in a safe way. He believes that the children will learn more things from playing with fire than watching the regular children TV show. People have been using fire since the cavemen and now to become so cautious of something that drove evolution is insane.
The second dangerous thing is to hold a pocket knife. This shows children how to handle a knife and empowers the child. The pocket knife will also teach one’s children how to hold a knife. If the parent lays down a few rules, such as always cut away, the children will know what to do from there.
The third dangerous thing that one should let their children do is to throw a spear. Throwing objects is a natural instinct and action of a human. This exercises muscles which we strengthen one’s brain. Also, it helps enhance their visualization skills and predictive ability.
The fourth dangerous thing is to deconstruct appliances. This allows the child to grow interest and will the child a sense of know-ability. By taking apart appliances the child will feel accomplished and have confidence that they can figure out how anything works.
The last thing one should let their child to do is break the law. Tulley’s first example of this was to break the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).This shows the child that laws are sometimes broken and they need to be interpreted. The second example of breaking the law was to have your child drive a car. This gives the child a sense of handle and grasp on the world.
Tulley had some valid points. One of the most apparent ones was that children have a nature instinct on to handle things and parents should let that flourish. Another one was that even though children can be hurt by some of these objects, they will gain more from experiencing them. I really enjoyed this TED talk because it was out of the norm. Watching your children’s every move and keeping them as safe as can be has become a trend in the present world.Tulley’s talk brought another opinion and point of view into the minds of parents.
This TEDtalk also reminded me of Sir Ken Robinson’s one about creativity. Tulley talks about the five dangerous things that one’s children should do. He states that these can help one’s children grow and develop different attributes. Sir Ken Robinson talks about how children should be encouraged to achieve what they wish and no form of creativity should be squandered. Both of the talks relate back to each other in the context of new thinking. Both Tulley and Robinson’s ideas could change the world and how we teach and bring up the next generation’s children. Each speech had similarities too. As I learned in A Whole New Mind laughter, irony, joking, and humor are all right brain activities. Tulley’s and Robinson’s speech both incorporated some type of humor into their speech. Tulley’s humor is brought out through his chosen photos and Robinson’s humor was brought through his stories and jokes. Both of these keep the audience on their toes and engaged in the speech rather than zoning out half of it.
Tulley’s speech techniques affected me in two ways. One he had great points to back up his overall topic, but if he talked with more confidence and urgency in his voice I think his ideas would come across stronger. On the contrary, his topic could be put to use in so many households that there was a large personal connection. I have always thought that younger children have a natural instinct for handling things; this personal connection to Tulley’s TEDtalk helped keep me engaged. I think that his topic is relatable to anyone that knows children, allowing the audience to create the images in their heads of the children they know doing “the five dangerous things”. With the majority of the audience relating to this topic, Tulley’s message came across better and with more effect.
This video could impact the world and how children are raised in the future. It defiantly creates question and wonder in the viewer’s mind, which is one of the main ideas of TED talks. If the society in this world did not have an over obsession of safety, the world would have been on a much different path. But, we can still achieve this more creative path through “the five dangerous things”. This movie could be the start for the movement away from safety regulations and closer to going back to the routes of natural instinct. Gever Tully wants to show the audience that children will be hurt by these things but they will bring them for knowledge than pain.
Suzanne Lee explains how growing clothes can reach beyond just the fashion world and move into furniture, cars, and houses. Making lamp shades or upholstery chairs from tea can make this world more efficient and less pollutant. Suzanne is very direct in how she uses her product and what she needs to fix or change. She does not directly open up her idea until the end, at this point she shows different ways she can use her product. For example, she shows that one could make a car, lamp, and house. This led me to think about other things to make out of home grown material. I started at how each person or family could grow their own house and all their belongings. Being a more self efficient world would allow us to have time to create, invent, and play. If the nation’s corporations where not working on shipping cotton or other materials into the states, they could be creating and working forward. Overall this idea of being self efficient will help create time for other things than trade. On contrast, I wondered if being self efficient could hurt the world. If each country did not rely on each other there would be no need for foreign relations and relationships between countries. This would present a barrier of ideas and create a more of a”one for himself and not anyone else” aspect, creating a more competitive environment. 
I liked how Lee was wearing one of her home grown garments. This action showed that she had pride in her topic and that it was usable. Matching her clothes to her topic also kept her in context and was not distraction from the presentation. We talked about wearing appropriate clothes for your presentation in class; Lee did this perfectly. She showed confidence and belief in her idea. Wearing her garment showed the audience that it can be used well and that she is not afraid to use it. 
