Legal Commentary

This Wed. evening I am giving a TED-like talk in Los Angeles. It?s called BINA ? a fast-paced, thought-provoking evening? with talks that are later uploaded here. I love watching TED talks. Even though it takes longer to listen to the ideas transmitted by video than by the written word, the is something powerful about watching people describe their own work and ideas. In the academy, we of course are well aware of the irreplaceable quality of live interaction and talks. We can read 50 books on a topic but we still want to attend the weekly faculty colloquium. TED as a conference of great ideas has been around for over two decades. But only in 2007 it launched its website making available its talks under a Creative Commons license. Recently, TED?s own curator Chris Anderson gave a TED talk about the rise of web video and how it is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation ? ?a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print.? Anderson claims that since TED introduced its videography, speakers have stepped it up ? the stakes are higher ? many more viewers will be able to watch you for ever and ever. And in turn, ideas themselves flow more rapidly and are built upon when millions of viewers have instant access not only to the written article, but the spoken word, the power point, the gestures, the facial expression and the body language. The video drives up our game exponentially.