Megan Garber: How TED Makes Ideas Smaller

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Megan Garber: How TED Makes Ideas Smaller · 2

mk · 4829 days ago

There have been a couple of TED talks that I have seen that come near my area of research and expertise. There was a bit of a cringe factor to it, as I had the impression that the speaker was over-simplifying and over-selling.

My guess is that this is the common feeling for anyone very familiar with the material of a TED talk. However, it does spread ideas and make them available to others that would not have otherwise encountered them. There is incredible good in that.

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GoatFood · 4829 days ago · link ·

I think TED does an effective job of spreading ideas. I can understand the criticisms of the article, but I think that giving ideas a face can help to make them accessible. The benefit of TED talks is that they present information in a digestible, easy to understand format. They may narrow and simplify concepts, but they make learning sexier and more accessible. I see it as a jumping off point that can introduce listeners to a broad variety of subjects they would otherwise not have encountered.

At the end, Garber talks about how information should be a public concept. I suppose Wikipedia would perfectly encapsulate this idea. It allows people all over the world to contribute knowledge to any topic without claiming ownership of ideas. To that end, I see no reason why TED and Wikipedia can't coexist.

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mk · 4829 days ago · link ·

We were making a list of the top 10 most positively influential events in human history the other day, and although it might be too early to call, I think Wikipedia could arguably be put on that list.

I use it every day. It is an incredible font of knowledge.

It is such a great thing that Jimmy Wales had a vision for it. I hope groundwork is being laid to keep it in the public sphere for a long time to come.