This last Wednesday, we were able to attend TED @ State—a US State Department sponsored TED conference.  The one-day conference is the result of the Global Partnership Initiative, which is, in the word of Hilary Clinton, designed to reflect the State Department’s “opening its doors to a new generation of public-private partnerships.”  Basically, the conference was the government’s recognition that innovation will likely not be found inside the Beltway (a sound judgment in our opinion).
TED brought out their heavies to address an audience primarily made up of folks from NGO’s, the US government and diplomatic circles.  The presenters focused mostly [...]

In March, PSFK gave the reigns of its Good Ideas Salon to Brett McFarlane and Matt Nelson over at DDB Canada in Vancouver.  Brett and Matt hosted a great event focusing on good ideas in media, with expert panelists Rob Newell, Director of Planning at DDB Canada, Steve Pratt, Director CBC Radio 3, and Grace Carter, Media Specialist at Invoke Media.  Check out video footage from the salon:

Be sure to check back soon for Brett and Matt’s thoughts and findings from the salon.
Janet Jones, in association with Capitol C in Toronto will be hosting their own Good Ideas Salon April [...]

There was a portentous tone at this year’s Greener Gadgets Conference.  Right out of the gates, scientist/DIY guru/inventor and keynote speaker Saul Griffith minced few words about global warming.  He presented a dizzying array of graphs, charts and figures about our current energy consumption habits and the dire consequences that will almost certainly ensue if we continue at the rate we’re going.  One such figure showed how the average American would have to carry 23lbs. of oil to fuel his or her daily energy habit.  He stressed, in earnest, that we couldn’t persist in this way without inducing a global [...]

For those seeking simplicity in a world of ever-increasing technological and societal complexity, what better role model is there than the Amish? In his blog, Kevin Kelly offers a fascinating article about these pioneers of DIY culture.  He explains that the Amish are master tinkerers and far from being unanimously opposed to technology; that technological adoption—like using electricity, GMO corn, etc.—is commonplace.  Depending on one’s parish, the Amish have different policies regarding technological adaptation.  What he says is a big difference between us and them (assuming you’re not Amish), is, “In contemporary [Western] society our default is set to say [...]

“Here’s a brand strategy: care.” So said WineLibrary.TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk at the concluding panel of NYC’s Social Media Week called “Making the Brand: Social Media For the Long Haul.” The discussion included Vaynerchuk, Ian Schafer (founder/CEO of interactive marketing agency Deep Focus), Brian Morrissey of AdWeek, and moderator John Adell of Wired.com. 
The consensus at the talk seemed to be that many companies treat social media as a tool divorced from branding strategy. They bring on social media ‘experts’ who help use it without addressing the underlying corporate malady: that unless a company cares more about listening to its customers’ [...]

From 2005-2007 The Homeless Museum of Art, aka HoMu, was housed in Director Filip Noterdaeme’s Brooklyn Heights walk-up apartment. When the landlord found out about the museum, and the visitations became as intrusive as a homeless person camped out in the front door well, the museum, fittingly, found itself without a home.
HoMu was created by Noterdaeme—a trained artist and curator himself—to critique an art world where artists often pander to the rich and art museums become houses for larger and larger gift shops and corporate logos. As he told the New York Times, “I am not anti-museums. But [...]

Asked what inspires him, Mitchell Joachim answered with things that started with G: Goethe, Gilliam, Gaudi, Gehry and his coming baby girl. But taking a look at the tall, dreadlocked architect & urban planner’s repertoire, you realize he has many other (alphabetically diverse) sources of inspiration.
With partner Maria Aiolova, Joachim founded Terreform 1, a nonprofit organization for developing “philanthropic architecture.” He sees himself largely as an architect activist: “I give a voice for people and things that can’t necessarily speak for themselves like trees and wildlife,” he told PSFK. “Or the residents of Harlem,” he continued.
With [...]

Yesterday marked the unveiling of the TED prize, an annual award given to 3 ‘world-changers’ granting them each $100K to fulfill their philanthropic wish.

We attended the Chelsea, NYC screening of the event, sponsored by TED, to (remotely) take part in the live unveiling as well as get a sense of the local TEDophile community. The community, however, was distinctly missing.  Whether it was NYC’s brutally cold weather, low interest or poor promoting, only about 15 people showed up to the large theatre (the crowd at the award ceremony seemed kind