The content and sense of community generated by TEDxBloomington exceeded all expectations. The interaction with the national organization, however, made for a bittersweet experience. Future TEDx events need to better integrate with the ecosystem of local events.
Being Human
The Web Ecology Project recently completed a two-week social experiment where Twitter bots tried to pass as human. This reminded me of a couple other projects related to fakery on Twitter, Truthy and Cyc AI.
Funding the Community Arts
The Wisdom of Play is a suite of community engagement activities taking place in May 2011. We are trying to raise at least $2000 to cover the material costs using Kickstarter.
TED Conversations
Conversations will take three forms (Questions, Ideas, and Debates) and have the option to be tied to up to 10 video talks. The posts will also include an important setting: a time limit.
Why Paywalls Are Bad For (Most) Communities
For a local newspaper like the Herald-Times, financial sustainability has to be one of the big goals that their policies and actions must support. I suspect that isn’t their only goal.
Four Valid Old Insights About Community
From the archives of my drafts, I mined four compelling insights about community engagement.
Igniting Community
Ignites are great opportunities for members of a community to gather and share their passions. Usually, the night ends with the audience buoyed by the energy the event brings and thinking about something new. With my 10-year-old presenting, it’s even more special.