I know I’m supposed to swoon a little at the idea of being an Official TEDx Speaker, that doing this will rain down confetti and job offers and fame on me. But in the end it boils down to this: TEDx is just another organisation asking me to work for free.
-This rings true with me. I'm sure that the organizers of TED would agree that content creators are vital and important to our society and without them, TED doesn't exist. Even if the pay was something small, it would send the right signal imo. I think that too often the platform thinks of themselves as more important than the content and this is WRONG. I personally think that TED has been reckless with their brand. They're everywhere I turn.
This statement resonated with me: Science communicators in general are always expected to do work for free. It's annoying and heartbreaking and I hope more and more science communicators refuse. Just because you enjoy doing something doesn't mean that other people can make money off of you for just exposure in return. Exposure doesn't buy groceries.I can’t pay my rent with exposure and goodwill.
Sounds weird to say, but I found myself glad that this showed that it's not something that happens only to people involved with the arts. Hopefully more people will be willing to acknowledge that this isn't right. I really think that this is a bigger deal than people are making it out to be. In a capitalist society, where earning power is a prime motivator in determining professional pursuits, this kind of thing says, "what you're doing is good, but not valuable".