Colin on Photography » video

Clay Shirky on Institutions vs. Collaboration

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:33:49 +0000

This video is now a half decade old – but is still every bit as revolutionary now as it was then.

Pranav Mistry on SixthSense Technology (TED Tuesday)

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:00:05 +0000

Welcome to TED Tuesdays on the blog. Each Tuesday, I will post a video from TED with a little commentary from me on why I think it’s worth sharing. I don’t want to compete with TED itself, so I’ll be reaching back several months for these.

This absolutely blew my mind. The video pretty much speaks for itself, so I’ll shut up now and let you watch.

Janine Benyus on biomimicry in action (TED Tuesday)

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:00:36 +0000

Welcome to TED Tuesdays on the blog. Each Tuesday, I will post a video from TED with a little commentary from me on why I think it’s worth sharing.

I thought I would kick off 2010 with a little science. It has always occurred to me that there were solutions to many of our problems all around us – but I have never seen this demonstrated as effectively as it is here.

Rory Sutherland on Life lessons from an ad man (TED Tuesday)

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:00:22 +0000

For this last TED Tuesday post in 2009, I thought it would be nice to lighten things up a bit. This hilarious presentation by ad-man Rory Sutherland is a nice counter to the sometimes overwhelming topics covered in TED Talks.

There’s also a GREAT Canadian advertising story about 2/3rds the way through…

http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html

A Pomplamoose Christmas Message

Colin Carmichael — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:42:03 +0000

One quick post before Christmas. Have you discovered Pomplamoose yet? No, not the fruit, the band! They are, in a word, amazing. They do really cool music video covers of really cool songs. Here are a few of my faves. But don’t watch those yet, watch the one below – it’s the coolest one yet and all Christmas-y.

Oh, and the goat message at the end? I have an alternative suggestion below the video – so watch it and then scroll down.

Giving a goat through World Vision is a great idea, but it isn’t the only way to divert Christmas spending to those in need. I humbly suggest the Gifts of Change catalogue from The Presbyterian Church in Canada. There are opportunities there to help out those in need overseasor here at home.

Alain de Botton on a kinder, gentler philosophy of success (TED Tuesday)

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:00:35 +0000

Welcome to TED Tuesdays on the blog. Each Tuesday, I will post a video from TED with a little commentary from me on why I think it’s worth sharing.

Staying with the career/work theme from last week (for no particular reason) Alain de Botton talks about philosophies of success and failure. Alain is a pretty smart guy (understatement) so anything he says is worth listening to, but I found this presentation to be especially engaging and relevant.

So what I want to argue for, is not that we should give up on our ideas of success. But we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas. And make sure that we own them, that we are truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it’s bad enough, not getting what you want. But it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want, and find out at the end of a journey, that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along.

http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

Dan Pink on Motivation (TED Tuesday)

Colin Carmichael — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:30:56 +0000

This first TED Tuesday features Dan Pink talking about the science of motivation and the surprises about what works and what doesn’t.

When I first saw this presentation, I had to resist the urge to send it to every boss I’ve ever had (save one) with a note saying: “You’re doing it wrong.”

the Results Only Work Environment that Dan describes is exactly what I’ve always felt made the most sense, so it was validating to hear an “expert” say what I’ve been thinking.

Please feel free to leave your own comments about the video below.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

The internet is NOT evolutionary

Colin Carmichael — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:42:49 +0000

It is revolutionary.

I have spent a fair bit of my time over the last few years explaining the web to people. The people I talk to are smart people but the internet is new – and it’s new in a new kind of way. It is a transformative presence in our lives in ways we have never seen from a technology – or collection of technologies.

This kind of change often leads to suspicion and fear and I used to try to allay those fears by framing the internet revolution as an evolution instead. “Don’t worry,” I would say, “this is no different than the advent of the printing press, telegraph, telephone and television. The web is merely the next step along the road of communication technology. It’s no big deal, you can relax.” To hear me tell it, this was a mere incremental advance in a long string of similar advances.

I was wrong, though, and I knew it. My desire to make my audiences as comfortable as possible with things like blogs, Facebook and Twitter trumped any desire to tell the truth. The truth is this: the the web is a technological revolution that has transformed, and continues to transform, our global society. Nothing will be spared the impact of the web. Our socio-political structures will change, our understanding of personal relationships will change (in just the last eighteen months a single website has made the word “friend” globally ambiguous), and, eventually, our churches will change too.

Don’t take my word for it, though, I’ve lied about this before. Let Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, tell you. In June of this year, Shirky spoke to the US State Department as part of the TEDTalks program. In just fifteen minutes and a handful of slides Shirky is able to distill the seismic shift we are experiencing into accessible language and concepts. This video skyrocketed to the top of my “videos everyone must watch” list:

Link to video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

[originally posted at BeingPresbyterian.ca]

CommonCraft in Plain English

Colin Carmichael — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:51:48 +0000

Explaining the Explainers

My friend and SMG colleague Zoe Siskos went all meta (hat-tip: Collin) on us this morning and unleashed a video that is sure tear a big bloody hole in the time-space continuum… She made a CommonCraft video about CommonCraft… “In Plain English” in plain English. My god. Brilliant.

Zoe’s BlipTV channel

Re-thinking things…

Colin Carmichael — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:03:52 +0000

I wrote a post over at SocialMediaGroup.ca linking the Mesh Conference with Professor Michael Wesch‘s “The Machine is Us/ing Us” video around the theme of “re-thinking everything.”

I’ve included Prof. Wesch’s video below – but I encourage you to go read the post. ;)