Thursday, April 01, 2010
TEDx @ CMU: This Sunday!
Pittsburgh Art + Technology: "“What began as a gathering of the world’s most fabulous thinkers in the realms of technology, entertainment and design has spun into a parallel universe and taken a life of its own.”"
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3 comments:
I found this event to be interesting. The amount of technology that has made its way into the entertainment industry is astounding. Films like Avatar have set our industry into a place where we sometimes dictate technology development compared to past eras (and still true today) where we make use of the technology from other institutions. Communication between designers and technologists needs to exist in order for both parties to thrive; designers to know the full potential of what they can create, and technologists to see what they can develop to further push the limit of design. TEDx helps fill that niche, and it was an honor to see it come to CMU.
TEDx was very interesting to attend, I'd seen some of the videos that they post but attending one of the real TED conferences was way beyond my budget. It was an unusual environment for CMU, there didn't seem to be any competition, instead it was a spirit of collaboration and encouragement. It was also interesting to see how many people seemed to be attending from outside of CMU as well, I expected to see a room full of college students but there were a lot of faculty, staff, and others from outside the university as well.
I was the stage manager for TEDxCMU this year, and while I have my own opinions on the event's organization, I think the spirit of interdisciplinary sharing was experienced by the attendees in a way that CMU claims to encourage, but ultimately fails in many regards. Even at lunch, I found myself engaging actively with venture capitalists, creative writing professors, grassroots startup managers and students at the ETC. The speakers and performers came from very different backgrounds, but each had an incredibly engaging story to tell about a common experience: fear, and what it means to be fearless. I am incredibly excited to work on the TEDxCMU conference next year and to continue this practical outlet for diversity in a shared pursuit of enlightenment.
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