Thanks to Angela Turner for her presentation on education and creativity during our inset on Friday. I was pleased to see her using Sir Ken Robinson’s talk — as I had heard it before on one of my favorite websites, TED Talks.
TED stands for Technology, Education, Design – and since 1984 the annual conference has been bringing together “the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)”. Over 150 talks are now available online. Yes, you’ll find famous names like Al Gore and Jane Goodall, but also talks by people famous only in their own field.
Try some of these TED talks:
- Toys that Make World – Will Wright, the creator of video games such as The Sims and SimCity, demonstrates his latest evolutionary game, Spore, and “shares his thoughts on Montessori schools, Darwinian theory and long-term thinking, emphasizing, throughout, that Spore is not so much a game as an opportunity for discovery — an imagination amplifier.”
- Cultures at the Far Edge of the World — ” With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures, now disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate.”
- How does Technology Evolve? Like We Did — “Kevin Kelly uses evolutionary theory to discuss the purpose and value of technology. By asking, “What does technology want?” he shows that its movement toward ubiquity and complexity is much like the evolution of life.”
- Debunking Third-World Myths with the Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen – by Swedish Professor of International health, Hans Rosling. In his hands, “global trends — life expectancy, child mortality, poverty rates — become clear, intuitive and even playful.” (I just love the man’s passion for the data and what it reveals…)
- New Insights on Poverty and Life Around the World - a follow-up talk by Hans Rosling, speaking about global poverty, HIV, and carbon dioxide emissions in a developing world — utilizing amazing graphical analysis.
Going back to the subject of creativity… if you haven’t come across the book “A Whole New Mind: why right-brainers will rule the future” by Daniel Pink, you might want to get your hands on it. (Yes, it will be in the library shortly!)
Daniel Pink argues that because of 3 As
- Asia (or the outsourcing of ‘good jobs’ overseas)
- Abundance (or rising affluence)
- Automation (the computerization of our lives)
we are shifting from the 20th century “information age” to the 21st century “conceptual age”. He claims the winners in the future will be those who use both sides of their brains and recommends attention to six senses:
- Not just function, but also DESIGN
- Not just argument, but also STORY
- Not just focus, but also SYMPHONY
- Not just logic, but also EMPATHY
- Not just seriousness, but also PLAY
- Not just accumulation, but also MEANING
It fits right in with the need to encourage creativity, identified by Ken Robinson.
p.s. By searching the Internet to see if Robinson has published that book he mentioned he was writing (no, he hasn’t — we need to wait until early 2009 for “Element”), I came across an interview in which he mentions some work he did for the Singapore government:
My relationship with Singapore was that they had determined a few years before to develop themselves as the creative hub of Southeast Asia. Their deputy prime minister put this forward as a plan; and they had created a strategy called Creative Singapore. So, as you said, I and three other people were brought out a couple of times to meet the key players there to look at the strategy. To look at the institutions there and to advice them on how they might move forward with it.
Susan Bratton: Did they act on it?
Sir Ken Robinson: Well, I wouldn’t like to say that people always do as I tell them to do, though I would like to think they do. I think they did, I thought they found the advice helpful and the strategies that we provided were useful. Of course, it’s a complex process.
