TED

TED SPREAD

 TED began life in 1984 as a four-day conference held in Long Beach, California. Since then it's come a long way. As well as the annual centrepiece conference there's now a TEDGlobal meet held in Oxford every July and TED prizes which are given out to three people with world changing wishes. 

TED is a kind of supercharged version of Radio 4's In Our Time, offering a platform to people with intellectual imagination, creativity and a desire to make a difference. Any organisation that invited the magnificently silly They Might Be Giants perform a set to finish one of its conferences is worth its weight in the precious metal of your choice.

THE TED SITE

Launched in 2007, the TED website restores your faith in the possibilities of the internet. It's free to join and membership entitles you to create your own profile and engage in discussions. There are more than 500 TED Talks available for free download, which can be explored by theme, title or speaker.

The talks are of exceptional quality. They range from physicist Brian Greene's compelling discussion of Super String Theory to the wonderfully ebullient lexicographer Erin McKean riffing on the future of the dictionary. However, if you only have time to watch one of them, make sure it's Sir Ken Robinson's from TED2006. His witty and passionate talk on the way schools kill creativity should be required viewing for every politician and professional educator.

It has to be said that there are people here who will elicit groans. However, away from the Al Gores and Bonos of the TED world there is enough original thought on this site to keep you thinking for months.

15 February 2010