Slashdot Mirror
Next Week, 500+ Geek Talks Around the World
Brady Forrest writes "Next week, from March 1-5 there will be ~65 Ignite events happening around the world. Ignite is an opportunity for geeks to share their passions and ideas with local peers. Each speaker gets 20 slides that each auto-advance after 15 seconds for a total of just 5 minutes. The result is bite-size chunks of information that inform the crowd on new topics. Most of the Ignites will be streamed on the new Ignite video site."
;)
There are events in the US, Australia and ... that's it. Sounds like the World Series.
Fifteen seconds per geek? After the obligatory movie quotes and boastings about having a girlfriend/wife, that really doesn't leave much time for the tech talk.
"A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
Can they add the rule where its kept to a maximum of 140 characters as well?
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
Seriously. How pointless. Ideas are cheap. Ideas are free. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Ideas are [insert cliched metaphor about overwhelming abundance here]. What a waste of time. We have the Internet. We have freakin' Slashdot. Ignite is not only redundant, it's likely to be a freak show. Full of otaku and Timecube types.
Ideas are worthless without execution, and execution doesn't happen without money (with the sole exception of open source software). I could give a 20 slide 5 minute presentation about 40 different tech-related things but I'm not even going to bother to watch the online video of that event because I've heard it all before, just like all of you have, and I'm getting heartily tired of having my face pressed up against the glass of the candy store wishing I had a nickel in my grubby little hand.
I'll keep reading Slashdot, keep wading through all the stories about the advancing copyright police state to find the few interesting stories about hardware being built by people who do have a few nickels. But I won't listen to a bunch of losers just like me, full of ideas and enough technical know-how to be dangerous, but going nowhere fast.
So in other words, this will be TED without the elitism (used to be you had to get "invited", now you can't join at all except to pay $1k to get streaming video), astronomical ticket prices ($6000 to attend the conference!), etc?
Christopher Poole, founder of 4chan, was invited to talk this year at TED.
"Eyyyyy!" *splash*
Please help metamoderate.
"The result is bite-size chunks of information that inform the crowd on new topics".
No. Actually the result is a lot of shallow talk about some relatively unformed ideas.
IRC! ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Very well organized and lots of fun - here's the presentation I did on Antarctica at Boulder Ignite a few months ago.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
I've maintained for a while, that I am a nerd, into computers, and tech stuff etc.I Also say that I am not a geek, because "Geeks" are Star Trek, anime, and get dressed up as such characters (and other things I think are retarded) . I point to Slashdots title, news for nerds, as exhibit A. (A majority of stuff on the site is about nerd stuff, not geek stuff). Anyone agree/Disagree?
As in... PowerPoint format? Keynote format? PNG files? What is it?
...but at the ignite presentations in phoenix, we have everything from data visualization to food information to how to survive a zombie attack. It's not just for code monkeys, it's for people.
and the closest one is atlanta ? wow come on people actually live in here in the south.. cant you at least do one in miami?
15 slides for 20 seconds... this sounds like an unbranded knockoff of Pecha Kucha, which has 20 slides at 20 seconds.
I know the PK crowd is haunted by architects and designers and artisty Mac-using types... and maybe they're a bit tight with control of it... but why not just join/run PK events in your area, or create more? Why does the world need two names/brands for what's the same idea?
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
"It's kind of a myth to think that if we would only cut the price, everyone could show up and join in.
It's not a matter of how many people. It's a matter of who. Hence the term ELITIST.
We have an event that is sold out a year in advance, and we can't make it much bigger than the 1,500 who come now (plus 400 in Palm Springs) because it would get too impersonal.
They already limit the number of tickets sold, so this is hogwash. They could easily do a lottery.
Instead, a $6000 entry bar means that only the rich get into TED. Sure, they let a dozen or two "fellows" in the door for free, but that's out of 1500.
I'm sure the $9M in ticket sales also has nothing to do with it. Folks: it doesn't cost $9M to put up a website and hold a conference or two a year.
Please help metamoderate.
Finally, an event in my area (Salt Lake) that actually appeals to my interest. Maybe I'll actually leave the house for a few hours next week.
It figures: my town (and state capitol) has no Ignition event planned. Nope, the only ignition we have here is the variety that begins with a match and lighter fluid.
Did I mention our town had a Slashdot Meetup (meetup.com) some years ago, but it fizzled for lack of interest? *sigh*
Might I suggest Fova.tv as an alternative?
Fora has less of the 'look at my gadget|idea' but more 'panel discussion on topic X'.. and they aren't put on by Fova.tv themselves.. they just web-air panels from other organizations. Some videos are interesting, some not, but all are usually longer, and in more depth, then the ones on TED.
----- The internet has given everyone the ability to have their voice heard equally as loud.. even if they shouldn't be
Just what the fuck is the point of an arbitrary time limit when you're broadcasting via the web?