TEDxBradford – part 1

Culture comes in many forms, and I struggle to find any cultural event that is more now than TEDx. So, I eagerly anticipated the TEDxBradford event at The National Media Museum on 13th July 2011.

TED – Technology, Education and Design – began as seminars or talks for the rich, with attendance being by invitation only and costing a staggering $4,400. The brand and idea was bought by Chris Anderson, a Pakistan-born Brit with a history so diverse and interesting, I implore you to click here. It is now run as a not-for-profit organisation which aims to spread knowledge around the world. TEDx events are independently organised and give local talent a voice and a platform. TEDxBradford was organised by Imran Ali, Fozia Bano, Steve Manthrop, Ian Plamer and Tom Wooley, and all speakers and attendees are most grateful to them.

I couldn’t go to the full day which was, between 8.30 and 5, a simulcast of proceedings at the TEDGlobal2011 event in Edinburgh, but rushed from work to make sure I was there at 5 to see the local speakers of local topics discuss Bradford. A full list of speakers is here, and I’m sure the videos will be up soon (and I’ll add a link in here when I find it). What follows are short descriptions of the speakers but, mainly, my response to them. I hope this will give you an idea of the value of such events and, in my words, convey my thanks to the organisers and speakers, and maybe even convince you to attend a TEDx event near you.

First up, Julian Tait with We Are Sensors: Taking Control of the Internet of Things. Julian talked passionately about the internet and how its size is overwhelming. Although I struggled to follow some of the talk, simply as I’m not the technophile most of the audience was, the talk was engaging, interesting and thought provoking, just what a TEDx should be. I was shocked when Julian told us that the Asia-Pacific area ran out of internet addresses – they ran out of internet addresses! I was also taken aback by Julian’s discussion of how the internet and modern technology could create a world where technology does much of the grunt work and allow humans more time to play, and was immediately reminded of Snowball’s promises in ‘Animal Farm’, where the animals were told of three day weeks and heated stalls – was Julian saying technology could bring Snowball’s vision of Marxist-Leninism to fruition?

Second, Emily Kecic stunned us with pictures of her biggest work of art: lighting Undercliffe Cemetery, which she’d done earlier this year. A graduate of Performance Theatre, Emily is Bradford through and through. With a passion for our city, Emily riled against our knockers, riled against those who have stopped believing in us, and, to applause, riled against those Bradfordians who, shamefully, say they’re from Leeds. Discussing Bradford’s great history, she dismissed it, without malice or flippancy, but she dismissed it nonetheless: Kecic isn’t interested in Bradford’s past except in how it positively influences its future… which brought her nicely into her project: illuminating Undercliffe Cemetery. Emily’s passion for our city ran through her talk and her project, and my heart swelled as she spoke with such verve and passion, and
invited comment on how she could further influence Bradford in the media and in people’s conscious, especially those who are from our fair city yet choose to deny it.

 @Zoe_Parker: Emily kecic - bradford born n bread lass- illuminating cemetery s and bigging up the #positive #Bradford massive #hiddenbd #TEDxBradford

Next, Tom Woolley came into bat for the home side as he discussed The National Media Museum’s next big exhibition:
Curating the History of the Internet. Tom took us through the preliminary thoughts as to how such a difficult, near
impossible, task can be even conceived. How do you make it accessible to kids and technophobes? How do you curate something that’s happening and evolving now? How do you make those in the know feel that they’re not talked down to or that important constituent parts are not glossed over? [Of particular importance to the innovative, hands-on Media Museum] how can learning be fun and interactive? I, for one, can’t wait for the exhibition to open and I’d love for the people of Bradford to be a big part of it; in particular, I began tweeting my former colleagues at Education Bradford – if there’s going to be the internet-led home and workplace, surely Bradford’s schools should be there to show how they’re using technology to learn! I hope that Bradford’s schools and the Media Museum will team up on this. My enthusiasm was dented slightly by Tom: essentially an excellent speaker and communicator with a passion for his field and an obvious need to share it, said ‘kind of’ round about 100 times in his 15 minutes – annoying but, with his passion, forgivable… this time at least.

Do you know how many fake sounds we experience every day? The whirring sound the cash machines makes as it counts your money: fake! The clunk a (these days very light) car makes: fake! The shutter on a digital camera:fake! So why am I talking about this? The Cubby Broccoli Theatre as a beautiful, wonderful space, with plush seats and a luxurious, intimate feel… but the constant clicking and whirring of the cameraman’s fake shutter became more and more distracting, and the volume of tweets, and their promises of harm for the kodak-wielder, increased.

And that seems like a good place to leave it… please sign up to get the second part, or follow me on Twitter and I’ll let you know when it’s up.