Monday, April 30, 2012

William Kamkwamba


William's Ted Talk was very inspirational from start to beginning. His presentation set up and delivery was very similar to ours. Throughout the Ted Talk he used a set of running photos to give the audience a simple yet affective visual description if what he was talking about. Just because of the fact that William isn't from the U.S and has broken up English does not stop him from sharing his idea with the world.  That alone shows how much passion he has about his topic. He spoke as if he was having a conversation with tge audience including some jokes to give his stories some character. The audience was really interested and I could tell because even though his English wasn't the greatest they still could make out his jokes. The story he shared was about how when a famine broke out in Malawain and him and his family were barely eating a small portion of food he was determined to make a difference. After reading a couple of books that explained how useful a windmill could be he went to a different town to fine materials to build a windmill. The windmill provided electricity for Malawain and a way to start building an irrigation system. The thing a took away from his idea was that if you want to get out of a bad situation you yourself have to be willing to put the work in to get the result you want. Such as putting in the work needed to get an A or B in class. This should be important to everyone because everyone is always working towards a goal and William's story shows that hard work and determination what it takes to be successful.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Michael Norton Money Can Buy Happiness

Michael Norton's Ted Talk revolved around the idea that money can buy happiness if spent in the right way. At first I thought that the simplest way to buy happiness was to spend money on yourself. But as he began by sharing a story about those who win the lottery my opinion on how to boy happiness quickly changed. Norton said that the majority of those who win the lottery end up living a life that is less happy then the life they had before winning. He said the main cause of this is after others such as relatives and friends hear that you have won the lotto everyone tries to ask you for money. But if you reply no to most of those who ask then your relationships with more then half of everyone you know will weaken and maybe break. Throughout his presentation Norton delivers a Ted Talk that he truly believes in and captures the audiences attention by sharing some very interesting stories and statistics about happiness. He talks very educated about his topic and never really has a dull moment. This ted talk was very useful to see because the presentation style is very similar to the one that we must do for our final. Michael uses his voice to convey his idea and only uses pictures that relate to what he is saying. Spending money on others is the way you buy happiness says Norton and proves it in a couple of ways. In the beginning he shares how in a couple of countries he gives a number of people an envelope with money in it and tells them to spend it on either themselves by a certain time or on another person. After calling them and asking what they spent it on and how happy are they after spending the money the results are clear. Those who spent money on themselves were less happy then the people who spent their money on others. Norton explains that this is true because if you tell someone to spend a certain amount of money on themselves it doesn't matter how much you give them because they are used to buying personal things on a daily basis. But if you spend money on some one else then you are happier because this is something that you are not used to and everyone likes having a positive impact on others lives. The main thing that I will remember from this Ted Talk is that even though it may seem that a phone or an accessory will make me happier it may be more beneficial to give money to a charity or to someone who really needs the money. Everyone including businesses should be interested in Norton's idea because if we are all happier then we are all spending are money to improve everyone instead of everyone focusing on them self. The one thing that businesses should notice is that money should be used in a way that helps improve relationships among employees if they want workers who work well together and have a positive affect on the business.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Clay Shirky

Clay starts of his presentation with a story about a website called Uhahidi. This website is an automated way of showing deployments such as rescue deployments and can be used to mark anything. His main topic is cognitive surplus which is the free brain time and talent that we all have to make a change in the world. Cognitive surplus is made up of the worlds free time to commit to new products and the media landscape is the second factor in cognitive surplus.He mentions that the stupidest creative act is still a creative act there for they can improve what ever they have put out to the public which is what counts. Mainly because it is better to be someone who is willing to do something the someone who does not want to do anything. He explains how both ushahidi and wall cats were created by people who were intrinsically motivated to do so therefor they are using that cognitive surplus to make a change.Relating to cognitive surplus communal value is everywhere which is a large amount of shared information that is created for only several to enjoy. Civic value on the other hand is created by a few people and is shared enjoyment and motivation to everyone. Clay explains that there is a trillion hours of cognitive surplus time available every year that will never change and may grow. When he explained what is going to determine how much of this time is used by individuals. I think he was hinting towards the fact that in this day and age there has to be some kind of extrinsic motivation for individuals to use their free time to create something that could be enjoyed by all. His presentation was very boring and not really to creative. Even though I believe his idea of cognitive surplus was very meaningful I did not really enjoy his presentation because it was very boring and vague. Also he did not have any urgency in his voice that really wants to make the audience go home and do something creative weather its communal or civic. The one thing that I will take away from this Ted Talk is that it is important to have intrinsic motivation to be creative and create something worthy of sharing with others, and it does not matter weather it is communal or civic because both are better then doing nothing. I believe that this is important to education because every student must intrinsically motivated to do well in school and may be useful if some students were to create something that could be used by all students to make school easier. Everyone should be interested in this idea because if everyone could pitch in and help use most of those available cognitive surplus hours then the possibility of what could be created in those hours every year is unimaginable.

Julian treasure

Julian's Ted Talk was focused on the four main ways that music and sound can affect your body. Which includes physically, psychologically, cognitively, and behaviorally. The way he presented was very unique and something I have never seen before. To interact with the audience and show what sounds may have an impact on your body he would play the sound while talking about a topic it related to. For example when he was talking about how some music could calm the body he played the sound of a bird chirping because it was calm and has been proven to have a positive affect on the body. Throughout presenting his idea he talked as if he was in a serious conversation with everyone in the audience which kept me more interested because it let me know that he was very serious about what he was talking about. One thing that I will definitely never forget is what he said about sound/music in a working environment. What scientific studies have concluded is that if you work in an environment that is very noisy and one that you can not really concentrate in. Then your productivity goes down by sixty six percent. Compared to if you are listening to music you like while working your productivity increases by three hundred percent. Everyone should be interested in this topic because everyone is around sound and listens to music on a daily basis. To me this Ted Talk was important because I learned how sound and music can have negative and positive affects on my daily life. This is important to education because it may encourage some teachers to play soothing music during classes or may encourage some to not allow music in their class at all. Looking at  it from a business stand point in his Ted Talk Julian mentioned how music that stores play can have an impact on store sales. When a store plays music that appeals to specific consumers their sales can drop by twenty five percent. Every waking minute we are all around sound so everyone should be interested in this idea of sound and the affects it has on our body.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Daniel Pink

Throughout Daniel's Ted Talk he is very enthusiastic and extremely into his topic and what he is talking about. Daniel uses facts and statistics to get his point across. When he says that there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does he is refering to what business people think about insentives and what science studies have showed about insentives. I completley agree with Daniel Pink when he says that when you offer an insentive in getting the job/task done it makes everyone think the same and narrow minded. This mainly is proven to be true because when you are trying to complete something the fastest you often look for the simplest solution therefor you do not think out of the box. I like the way he uses various stories to get his point across and get the audience interested in his idea. Not only are these stories he shares very ineteresting they are all directed to his point and are stories that involve big names such as MIT therefor they are taken very serious. Antonomy, mastery, and purpose are the building blocks that Pink says businesses should be built upon. I love the way he says that money should not be a goal for the employees of a business and should be atonomy. ROWE is the biggest and most interesting example to me of how antonomy is being utilized because it shows that when a worker is not worried about how long they work, how hard, or how productive they are. They are a lot more productive because the worker is doing his or her job because they are self driven and do the job because they love and enjoy what they do. All of these points that Daniel Pink talks about should be important to everyone because the way workers and people think should not be based completely around money. The worker of a company should not do there job well just for rewards but also because they are self motivated and like doing there job well.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Sir Ken Robinson Ted Talk

At first Sir Ken Robinson started off the talk with a very casual introduction. He introduces his topic as education because he has noticed that everyone has an interest in education because education has is supposed to pave the future for us but yet no one can grasp what the future will look like. His style is very formal and opinionated, it is almost as if he is having a conversation with the crowd. The thing that really struck me as a good fact that all kids are not frightened of being wrong there for no matter if they no the answer or not they will give it a go. But as you get older and age everyone begins to not take that risk because in the world we live in today being wrong is one thing no one wants to be. Sir Ken Robinson brings up a valid point when he mentions that every school on the planet has the same common higher Archy of needs which revolve around math and English. Subjects like these are placed by importance of which classes are used the most in jobs. The main question that makes me ask myself is why are these classes more important then singing, dance, art, etc? He explains how intelligence is made from experience and interactions. I really enjoyed the story how everyone's intelligence is distinct and that those who find their talents find them in a way that no one could imagine. Such as the girl named Jillian who discovered her talent well at a doctors office. This story is so important because he mentions that normally a kid who cant focus or fig-its in class would be considered to have ADHD and if they were put on medication to treat their condition she may have never realized her talent for dance. Throughout the presentation he interacted with the crowd and made them feel really engaged into his topic and ideas. Robinson used various stories to explain his idea and provide proof of his idea which could persuade his audience to believe in what he is proposing. All of the topics that Sir Ken Robinson talked about are very valid and should not be taken lightly for they are part of our every day life. To me his ideas are very important because I believe that the school system is not for every student and shows sometimes by students who excel in some classes and fail in others. Most of his ideas are directed toward education and the flaws that need to be adressed because as we all know education is the one thing that is considered to be necessary to succeed in life. The world should also take interest in the matters that he brings to the table because education does not just relate to the U.S but to every country in the world, and because every school has the same higher Archy of classes then they are probably facing the same problems as the U.S. The way Sir Ken Robinson uses real life stories, humorous jokes, and various ways to connect with the crowd makes his idea that much more important and exiting to listen to.