TEDx Leeds

On the 10th September 2009, Leeds Metropolitan University™s Rose Bowl hosted Leeds’ first encounter with the independently run TEDx event. Organised and introduced by Imran Ali (Carbon Imagineering), nti Leeds, and Codeworks, TEDxLeeds was one of five TEDx events to take place in cities across the north of the UK in a venture entitled TEDxNorth, who™s main organiser Herb Kim, gave thanks to the hard work and time given to what would be a challenging and exciting evening for all in attendance. Sponsors included the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network and Screen Yorkshire as the main funders of the event.

A short film from the TED community began proceedings with an opening talk from Kevin Kelly entitled ˜The next 5000 days of the web™. Kevin began by outlining how far we have come to depend on the web. Specific facts described the internet as a human brain that contains 55 trillion links, 100 billion clicks and a staggering 255 exabytes memory created over the last 5000 days. So what should we expect for the next 5000 days? A billion social sites online has transformed the way we use the web in linking to information about each other. With this in mind the future growth looks to create a semantic web 3.0 that would eventually correlate a physical world of data online that people would develop co-dependency with like never before. A thought provoking talk finished the presentation with the statement œThe One is us, we are in the One.

Dr Norman Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer for Wireless Grids Corporation presented next and recognised that Kevin Kelly had recorded at a time before the biggest recession in our history. The impact on growth and decision making will influence the outcomes of the future for technology. With this in mind, Norman chose to focus his energy on the concept and inspiring presentation entitled œYES WE CAN: innovating out of a recession. The biggest brand names struggling financially has brought attention to the amount of money that has been spent on research that would advance technology for the next generation of innovators. Norman spoke with discontentment about the lack of leadership that will inspire pioneering and unexpected outcomes to problems we now face. Using the example of the first man on the moon, Kennedy™s statement of œwe are doing it because it is difficult, was at the heart of discovering new knowledge and as an outcome, created new industry. Since then, there has been a lack of stepping out in faith to take humans beyond what they already know. In a way, humans are now the problem and not the problem solver. Norman highlighted the ambition to succeed was the failing to discover previous findings that have included penicillin and Viagra, outcomes to unpredicted mistakes. Norman brought a new perspective of belief to new developments that could only come from a new investment in research and development. So what is the vision for technology? What is the big idea that will transform the problems we currently face into a solution? An exclamation from Norman ended the talk with the final thought of œLet™s go to Mars. Why? Why not?. A high-impact talk that created much discussion continuing into the interval.

After the interval the audience heard from Charles Cecil, founder/managing director of Revolution Software and Clive Grinyer based at Cisco. Charles Cecil opened the second half with a presentation entitled “Gaming Revolution: rebuilding a direct link with audiences” which included a history of how gaming has developed over the last 30 years. There has been a staggering increase of 10,000 fold in development and production, since The Artic Soccer Spectrum released in 1983 made for £20,000, to the Broken Sword 3 in 2003 made for 2 million pounds. New technology like the iPhone has developed game applications that have started a new revolution. Sold for £2 a game, game development is even more accessible and highlighted what a dynamic industry games is to be in. The recession has brought a new generation of gaming developers to the forefront of the industry with vibrant ideas and high developed skills that would otherwise have stayed under the carpet. Encouragement was given to anyone thinking or wanting to get involved in games.

A short film by Jacek Utko entitled “Designs to save newspapers” was then presented as an introduction to what would follow. It explored the creation of the ˜Worlds Best Designed Newspaper™ that was circulated around the world after a redesign that developed the typography, illustration and overall content. The underlining concept that design improves a product completely, conveyed the need for designers to be empowered in the creative and implementation process from start to finish.

œThe Democratisation of Design was the title that would bring meaning to the changing description of what a designer is. Clive Grinyer began by associating designers with the superstar impression that has been created by celebrities, labels and brands. The new world of web 2.0, Google and new services is beginning to blur the boundaries of the personable design we have come to know and love. The next slide presented the title ˜Tyranny of Technology™ that to an audience so used to encouragement, the reality check provoked thought to the defining purpose, function and vision of technology development. Clive clearly projected that the direction of technology has misguided the user experience to be not what it could. Technology doesn™t think design, but with the role of design changing, what are the essential skills needed to facilitate the process? Clive answered that the ability to visualise easily and quickly was becoming more and more important to aid the decision making for ideas. With design at the centre, facilitating the whole process of implementation from start to finish. Increasing the importance of horizontal communication throughout all the parts of a process, will again enhance the end user experience. This is an uncomfortable time for design, but having a sense of the future that tells a story for a brand is all the more important. The attitude to take forward was of leadership, for designers to be in positions of power that influence processes that lead to change. Clive™s colleague once said to him œDesign is too important to leave to designers.

Overall the event provided an informative and useful evening to listen to and engage with current concepts that would influence technology outcomes in the coming year, as well as providing a great networking opportunity. nti Leeds was proud to be involved in TEDxNorth and hopes to aspire to an even greater evening next year.

If you attended TEDxLeeds this year, please click here to give us your feedback on the event.

Leave a Reply