thinking: relating- celebrating :-)

Ever since Brian Sweeney and Remo Giuffre told me about TED back in the early 90′s or maybe before that (TED started in 1984) I have been a huge fan.

Brians 7×7 events in NZ were inspired by TED and they still resonate even though today we have TEDxSydney, TEDx Auckland, TEDxEQC Christchurch, TEDx Christchurch and other local TEDx events. (Disclaimer: I help out on the Auckland event)

My Architect is one of my favourite movies and that movie featured Richard Saul Wurman the TED founder - film makers documentary link here – Nathaniel Kahn.

For me the story of TED is very much like the story of My Architect.

It combines personal insights, amazing stories, incredible people and giant ideas – all things with the power to transform our lives and just like in “My Architect” we are taken on a journey through an amazing life as reflected by the buildings that Louis Kahn built and the people he knew.

People keep asking me to update my about page but really I work across a wide range of disciplines and projects and while I wear many hats my background job is always the same.

“In short I live to change everything for the better by thinking differently about ideas that matter for people I like. If your project excites me than I will move heaven & earth to get results you can’t pay for but they are the ones you really, really want. “ Go over to TED.com to see my full profile

Recently I completed organising the 4th WordCampNZ. Ostensibly it is focussed on WordPress and what a very fine bunch of WordPress users get up to but in my world if you have to explain a software interface it is not as good as it thinks it is.

WordPress back end usability is in my opinion the best out there but personally I’m far more interested in what the users (many subject matter specialists) are able to achieve as outcomes for their various causes and projects.

Besides architecture (& quite a few other subjects) I am very much still a musician at heart. I have a personal theory of music where   the universe is explored via music. Song-lines for navigation are very real for me. I love the way that music can take us to a different place and open us to new ideas and incredible serendipitous moments.

I love Daniel Levitins book “This is Your Brain on Music” and have written about that several times here. I also love Daniel Kahneman’s more recent book Thinking, fast and slow but I know that most of you won’t read the Kahneman book despite it deserving to be compulsory reading for all adults, all educators and anyone who is remotely curious at all.

I have watched hundreds of TED videos sometimes more than once. They are fun AND good for you. Civilisation as we know it is screwed – business as usual is over. Yet despite all of that of that I completely believe that we can still reinvent, remake, restore and rebuild and that starts with ideas and a willingness to change.

So where to start?

So what about if the first TED video you watched was the “remix version from 2012-Time for TED” see below.It has some great music and a few quotes. Wonder – insight, ideas. BTW – TEDx Sydney is on Saturday 28th of May. TEDx Auckland 2102 is coming in August  (watch this space.)

John Boswell, of the “Symphony of Science,” came to TED2012 and made this remix of the speakers onstage (and on TED.com). Symphony of Science is my new favourite website if you are a musician or an educator skip right on over there. I look after Science Media Centre and Sciblogs with about 60 bloggers but unfortunately none of them break into song or publish remixes.

Boswell has made a series of other clips that you might like. Here are some Q &A s with Boswell on how it was done.

“What software and tools did you use?

I am using Reason 6 to put together the music, then Adobe Premiere to edit the video. The song is done independently first, then the video editing once the song is finished.”

For the geeks out there – you know who you are – and of course I want to do this for some local events. Wouldn’t that be amazing. The future of music has long been video related but with crowd sourced (very selective) lyrics and great energy why wouldn’t you want one of these clips on high rotate at breakfast time.

Here is another one called ode to the brain – enjoy..

You may also enjoy the TED Blog Video channel over here

On a more sobering note – if you live in Auckland, New Zealand there is a documentary film called Finding Mercy that has a  Fundraiser Screening next Monday 14th May 7pm at the Bridgeway Theatre , Northcote Pt.

A heart-wrenching search for a childhood friend becomes a dramatic guided tour through Zimbabwe’s Mugabe era.

I worked on the website for this project a few weeks ago and I hope to be at the screening to hear from film makers Robyn Paterson and Leanne Pooley.

Got some sad new today. An young friend has passed away. He had been sick for a long time and it wasn’t unexpected but still a shock when it happens.

I had been looking at this video of Bruce Feiler who had a cancer and wanted to pass on some fatherly advice from his council of fathers.

The video is below. One of those pieces of advice was along the lines of.

“Everyone dies – but not every one lives. Live”

It sounds like a bit of a cliche but slowing down and smelling the roses, walking the turtle, soaking up every piece of enjoyment in the now – is a big deal; precisely because we don’t do that.

Having cancer and recovering is a very big deal and it brings life sharply into focus. I encourage you to watch the video. By the way my buddy who died this week – he lived well.

It is still very sad for his family and friends but he made the most of each day which is as it should be.

“Diagnosed with cancer, Bruce Feiler worried first about his young family. So — as he shares in this funny, rambling and ultimately thoughtful talk — he asked his closest friends to become a “council of dads,” bringing their own lifetimes of wisdom to advise his twin daughters as they grow.”

The other event of the day was a visit to a music recording studio in the country.  I’ve been meaning to visit the owner for a while and today was that day.

We used to work together 25 years ago and about 20 years back he realised his dream of having a creative space for musicians to record their songs and their stories.

The studio had been in the city for a few years and when the lease on that space came up the opportunity to move to the country was too good to pass up.

However  moving a whole range of handcrafted fixtures and fittings is not simple and when it is a recording studio it is more like a never ending puzzle.

Relocating has meant a huge amount of work and in that process the owner has come to value life even more.  It has been a labour of love where everything has been recycled, reused and re-instated.

Without going into details that rebirth of the studio is a triumph for him and his family and now a fantastic music recording space for musicians from around the world.

This was a reminder to me that you can have all the toys but there is no substitute for slowing down and taking stock of what we have.  Revolver Studios is a creative space in the country where time and relationships are valued beyond measure.

I reckon we will hear that in the music that is recorded and created there.  More than  ever when I reflect on these two lives I want to make every moment count and really live each moment in a way that counts.

Stephen Knightly is going to be presenting at TEDxAuckland on gaming for good.

One of the games that he will probably mention is called MyFriendQuest.

MyFriendQuest is an animated PC application created by the BrightMind LABS team to teach children to recognize and respond appropriately to emotions.

Initially designed for the specific needs of children with high functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome, MyFriendQuest also achieves great results with children with ADD, ADHD, dyspraxia, learning difficulties, social anxiety and severe shyness. 

MyFriendQuest is designed to engage children on a gaming level while making sense of a part of everyday life that many struggle with.

Stephen is a Director of video games consultancy InGame and technology and innovation marketing consultancy Pursuit PR, but has turned his longtime passion for creating video games into an income and a positive contribution. Recent posts by Stephen include Case Study: Autism game for kids and TED talks about gaming.

One that caught my attention was this talk on a the gaming layer idea by

Seth Priebatsch: Entrepreneur (21)

Prresented recently At TEDxBoston JUly 2010  12:02 minutes Posted: Aug 2010

By now, we’re used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web — building a “social layer” on top of the real world. At TEDxBoston, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the “game layer,” a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce.

He is currently (more about Seth Priebatsch)

“working on SCVNGR, “a massive experiment in building a mobile game together.” Backed by Google Ventures, SCVNGR is part game, part game platform.  Players play SCVNGR by going places, doing challenges and having fun — outside of the office, beyond the screen, in the real world. Organizations use SCVNGR by building on the game layer by adding their own challenges to the places they care about.”

About Seth Priebatsch

“Proud Princeton dropout” Seth Priebatsch runs SCVNGR, a mobile start-up trying to build the game layer on top of the world. Full bio and more links