Aproximando cidadãos
Posts com a tag TEDxSP
“It is the beat of the black, of the slums”
The actress Regina Casé went on stage at TEDxSP to talk about difference. For her, those considered culturally and socially different, may in fact be as good as those regarded as traditional. The actress spoke about musical production in the outskirts of the cities in Brazil, as the funk from Rio, the electronic forró, and also of cultural manifestations in other countries like Mexico, France and Angola. In the project “My Suburb is the World”, Regina shows that the different, or independent, also creates ideas worth spreading. And more than that, they deserve to be legitimized as successful projects, which generate income and quality of life for people. And as she could not help, her entire speech was filled with good humor, provoking smiles and laughter amongst the audience.
Yes, we can
In the moment of her presentation at TEDx SP, the journalist Roberta Faria was so excited that she couldn’t even speak after left the stage. Neither could the audience. Her history was not only surprising but also created questionings expressed in the eyes of every participant. It looked like that every person on the audience was thinking: “I can also do it, I can”, right in the very spirit of TED.
Sorria, a magazine created by the publishing house Mol, is a perfect example that good ideas can and should be accomplished. “They are difficult, demand efforts and creativity”, the journalist and entrepreneur states, making sure to be always involved with what she likes. “I need to do things which I believe”. And it was because of her belief that she has founded Mol, whose history you can check on the video below.
What a year…
The feeling I have is that I have been hit by 2009. From my viewpoint: world crisis, change of jobs, a whole bunch of new blogs, TEDxSP, WebCitizen being born, Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, Pri in Copenhagen, Votenaweb, Gotas, Ciclocidade, a thousand projects, a lot of movements rising, strengthening, gathering momentum.
I may be mistaken, but I have the feeling that 2010 will be one of those never-ending years (remember 1968?).
See you all there. But only after January 10th, until then I’ll be a hermit in the Atacama Desert. I advise you to take a breath before diving into 2010.
Regards.
Denis Burgierman
Tears and laughs
The engineering Osvaldo Stella Martins is coordinator of projects for the Programa de Mudança Climática from IPAM (Amazonia Environment Research Institute) and one of the directors of Iniciativa Verde, an organization devoted to the task to grow trees in ciliar forests to compensate carbon emissions. He also researches clean energy sources, as biogas, and he’s one of the Brazilian scholars acting more in the fight against climate change and in defense of Amazonia. He was invited by TEDxSP to tell about these things. But, when he stepped onto stage, Stella has warned he was so excited by the other speeches he didn’t even remember what he would talk about anymore. Moments before, he had told that, if someone would make him cry once again, he would dehydrate.
Stella, with his sincere behavior and the talent of a storyteller, he was one of the speakers that makes the audience laughs more at TEDxSP. He talked about climate changes, but his main subject was personal changes: the courage to dream, to change ways, to start again. To me, it was inspiring
Theory and practice
AIDS kills almost 1,000 people per year in São Paulo. Air pollution kills 4,000. AIDS is considered a public health problem, and doctors have a say on defining public policies. Air pollution isn’t – even though it shortens the life of the average person in the city of São Paulo by two years. Taking care of car pollution isn’t a subject for the public health system – it’s for the public transportation agency, for the traffic engineers, and nobody takes into consideration the impact caused in people’s lungs when designing more avenues. It is based on this paradox that the pathologist Paulo Saldiva began TEDxSP talk.
Saldiva’s a rare kind of Brazilian scholar. He’s a researcher, and a great one. Doctor, specialist on pollution, he’s worked in Harvard, publishes regularly in specialized magazines, and is respected in the entire world. But he’s also an activist. He tries to use the data he collects to influence public policies, to change habits, to improve people’s life. He speaks up against the car culture, criticizes the dominant point of view, is always discussing with politicians and business people. Not mentioning that he rides his bike to the hospital he works every day. In short, he connects theory to practice, thought to action. In addition to all this, he’s a fun guy.
It’s good to pay attention to the things he says. A nice opportunity to do it is by watching his talk at TEDxSP. It must go on air today on the TEDxSP site.
November 17th, 2009
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Hangover and Magazine
Hangover.
That’s the word to define the mood of everyone involved in TEDx SP in the last few days. Everybody has that blurry look, that slow reaction, that dull expression, a half smile on the face. Geez. TEDx SP was super intense. 12 hours of excitement, new friends, an evident feeling that everything is possible, and that the world will start to change, the easy or the hard way. Of course, when the flood of ideasin our bloodstream stops, the body feels the abstinence.
To whoever went there, a hug. To whoever didn’t go, a relief: there will always be a next year.
But time to go back to reality.
How is everybody doing?
Let me to introduce myself. I’m Denis Russo Burgierman, journalist, last week I said good-bye to Editora Abril in order to come to work for WebCitizen. From now on, I will visit this blog at least once a week.
My role at WebCitizen isn’t very clear yet. Some say I’m the Content Director. I don’t really like this name too much – I don’t think it is useful to separate content from channel, or content from form. In this new world, these things walk hand in hand. It doesn’t really matter what contains what – what’s important is the message, what matters is the information and what its user can do with it. I’d rather say then that I’m the Information Director. Besides being more elegant, it sounds like a secret agent thing. (The other day I met a guy who has a very cool project called Architecture for Humanity whose job in the company is “Chief Eternal Optimist”, for the acronym to be CEO. He thinks we should create more cool titles for our positions. It’s a first step to enjoy our job better).
Well, whoever attended TEDx São Paulo got a very big yellow magazine. That’s the first issue of Gotas, which was already born as one of the best yellow covered magazines in Brazil. (If you attended the event but didn’t get one, please let us know: some kits were distributed before the magazine came from the printer.) Gotas is Webcitizen’s magazine. To participate in the creation of this independent project was an amazing experience, which left me radiant and frightened, sometimes both simultaneously. Take a look at the cover below.
Transparency is like a trail in the woods on a sunny Sunday after lunch. Everybody is up to it, but nobody wants to start. (continues on page 4)
Pretty, right?
The issue is thematic, and the theme for the first issue is transparency. Number 2 comes in February, 2010. The theme will be “stop talking, it is time to do”. Take a look at the last page:
We’ve got an idea for Gotas issue 2, which will come in February of 2010. The theme we imagined was: “Stop talking, it is time to do”. Then we’d invent a magazine that does things, instead of only discussing them. We thought that, instead of simply filling pages, we could truly intervene in the things of the world out there, registering them and only then put them on the magazine. Did you like the idea? Do you want to participate? Do you have other ideas? Suggestions about where and how could we intervene? Ideas about what could we do it? How can a collaborative creative team, in a short time and with not much money, cause a real impact? Guesses, ideas, insults, suggestions, threats, comments are all welcome by email denis@webcitizen.com.br
The invitation is for this blog’s readers. Send us ideas, please. We want to create a historical issue, a magazine to make us proud, to make things that never have been done before in the world, to become a case study, to inspire people. Finally, we want a magazine to relieve us from the TEDx abstinence syndrome. Let’s get to work, guys?
Ah!
A little bird told me that the first TEDx SP lecture goes online today. And they will start rocking from the start.
A big hug,
Denis
What does Brazil have to offer to the world now?
TEDx São Paulo, Ideas worth spreading. WebCitizen is proud to sponsor the first TEDx São Paulo and to be part of this movement to change Brazil.
On November 14th, the first TED event in Brazil will take place: TEDx São Paulo. At the event, around 600 thinkers from various areas of knowledge and practice will get together to discuss “What does Brazil have to offer the world now?”, a theme that will guide the presentations of 28 speakers, each one of them lasting up to 15 minutes.
The meeting form surpasses criticism or contemplation. The breaks between the presentations will also be extremely important, for the approximation between the attendees. The intent is for the audience to be encouraged to materialize innovative ideas, from many perspectives. Therefore, the same care the organization board took to select the speakers, it is taking in the selection of the attendees, who can apply until October 31st, free of charge, through the community channel.
More than a conference, the date marks the formation of an community of achievers in the country, a link between the dissemination of innovative ideas and their practical execution. Always under the perspective of the collective benefit.
“The first motivation is always individual, but the compensation is collective. We have started to notice that there is a critical mass that seeks its fulfillment through something that reflects positively on society. This behaviour is transformational”, explains Helder Araújo, member of the international TED community, licensee for TEDx São Paulo, and co-founder of WebCitizen.
To be a patron of TEDx São Paulo is to participate actively of a shift based on the exchange of knowledge and the study of new educational formats. It’s our duty as citizens to discuss and practice transformational ideas, and that’s why it is our great pleasure to be a TEDx São Paulo patron.
About TED
TED started in 1984 as a yearly conference in California, and already has had among its speakers, names such as Bill Clinton, Paul Simon, Bill Gates, Bono Vox, Al Gore, Michele Obama and Philippe Starck. Despite the one thousand available seats, the applications are sold out a year in advance. Today, the official TED website streams free of cost more than 500 lectures performed until now, watched by more than 50 million people, from 150 different countries.
Through 4 actions: TED Conference, TED Talks, TED Prize and TEDx, the organization has been changing its motto “Ideas worth spreading” into real accomplishments. Every year TED Prize, for instance, elects a thinker and grants him or her 100 thousand dollars, helping materialize yet another “Wish that Will Change the World”.
TEDx São Paulo
Where: Moóca Theater
When: November 14th, 2009
Application: free of charge here.
