By Katrina Smith | Staff writer
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an organization dedicated to sharing ideas worth spreading. TED is a conference where fascinating indi- viduals give the speech of their lives in 18 minutes or less. What originated in 1984 on the West Coast — bringing people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design together— has since broadened its range of topics.
Speeches run the gamut from “Three reasons we still haven’t gotten rid of malaria,” which discusses why despite having the cure since the 1600s, hundreds of thousands of people still perish from the disease every year, to dispelling the notion that texting is destroying the English language.
TED has grown a lot since the ‘80s, expanding into not only a national an- nual conference, but also an international annual conference entitled TEDGlobal. Another facet of TED is the TED prize, where every year an inspiring individual is awarded $1 million. There are also other programs such as TEDx, TED Fellows and the TED Open Translation Project.
Despite all these projects, what’s really behind TED’s recent boom in popularity is TED Talks. TED Talks share the speeches that happened at the conference online. This allows people from all over the globe on-demand access to awe-inspiring speeches that challenge everyday aspects and notions of the world.
With all the buzz in the media, young teenagers and teachers alike have caught on and they are loving what they see.
“Yeah, I think TED Talks should be utilized in classes,” says Sandra Bleser, an instructor at Indian Trail High School and Academy.
All this enthusiasm towards TED Talks and what it has to offer might lead to more use of it in classrooms around the nation and here at Indian Trail. Who knows, maybe speeches on the importance of privacy and how to get leather and meat without harming animals might be shown in class one day.