Category: TED

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Education Globalization Internet2 Milwaukee Network Technology TED WiscNet

WiscNet FTC 2008 – Internet2

WiscNet‘s 2008 Future Technologies Conference at Monona Terrace will feature two keynotes regarding Internet2.

Tuesday May 13th Doug Van Houweling, President of Internet2 will keynote the first day of the conference. Joel Mambretti, Director of the International Center for Advanced Internet Research at Northwestern will be addressing the FTC on Wednesday.

You can register here for the 2 day conference in Madison.

Tags: Internet2, WiscNet, Doug Van Houweling, Joel Mambretti, Madison, global education, trends

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Design Education Globalization Network OLPC OpenSource Technology TED

OLPC: Green beyond belief

Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of the OLPC project (and current President of PixelQi) was a keynote at the 2008 Greener Gadgets conference in NYC. This short address will surprise you regarding the types of green, advanced technologies built for poor students. Major consumer tech companies should pay attention:

This remarkable laptop for the world’s poorest students has so many green technologies that Apple, Dell, HP and every other laptop manufacturer should be incorporated into ALL laptops:

And why can’t I replace my Powerbook’s LCD strip for $1.00 similar to the replacement cost built into the OLPC? Well those same manufacturers want you to purchase another laptop…even when I search eBay for a solution.

Tags: energy, conservation, OLPC, Mary Lou Jepsen, globalization, trends

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Design Education Globalization Reading TED

Latest read: The Paradox of Choice

I watched a TED video of Barry Schwartz and was interested to learn more about his book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less and learn the downside (and unhappiness) of abundance.  Have you noticed as of late that almost everything is available…in too many overwhelming choices?

As Schwartz points out consider the types of choice in your local grocery store: 285 cookie options, 85 types of crackers, 95 types of chips, 75 iced teas, 29 chicken soups, 175 salad dressings and 275 boxes of cereal. Welcome to The Paradox of Choice. Try shopping for a new pair of jeans as he described in his TED presentation and the introduction to this book.

In my childhood things seemed simple. There were just three television channels…plus a PBS station. When the new school started I would receive two or three pairs of stiff denim jeans. Every kid in my school would wear the same dark blue demin and would not feel comfortable until the third week of school. By then our clothes were finally broken in via the wash cycle.

Don’t consider this book the opposite of Chris Anderson‘s The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. It would be more accurate to describe the book as what happens to individuals overwhelmed by choice.

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Education Reading TED

Latest read: Gang Leader for a Day

You’ve read Freakonomics…right? One of the most popular chapters Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms? is about Sudhir Venkatesh, a grad student at the University of Chicago who studied a crack cocaine gang The Black Kings in Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes (Building #4040) during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1990s.  I wanted to learn more about Sudhir. His book Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets is now available.

gang leader for a day

I recall my own orientation at the University of Chicago was exactly like Sudhir’s story — being warned by police where NOT to walk around campus and when. The tragic killing of a grad student last Friday, (January 25th) is such an example of the danger facing faculty, students and staff members.

My daily commute from Glenview via Metra to Citigroup Center, then to the Midway Plaisance (map via Google) via the University’s charter bus service passed the Washington Park Lagoon everyday. Sudhir mentions his exploration of the Lagoon and lessons learned from speaking with older black men about Chicago and its history. Sudhir allows readers to see another side of America.

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