by Jillian Leigh, Ampersandology
Nowadays, I've been told we have short attention spans. I'm not sure if that refers to the collective or the individual, but it's not hard to suggest that our society was raised by the potent killer hybrid of media, advertising and instant gratification. Stats suggested to me by Google (via Simon Fraser University) puts the average general attention span of a literate human at 10 - 12 minutes.
Ouch. Godot my friend, you are out of luck.
...okay? If you're still around, and haven't been distracted by a rival website, TV commercial or shiny ball of tinfoil, read on for the latest in short attention chic.
Through curious coincidence, I was recently exposed to Ignite, a little slice of the media pie started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. The concept? 5 minute talks on an impressive variety of subjects -- from the intricacies on the economy to how to buy a car without being ripped off. And that five minute time span is strict -- each presenter is given a maximum of 20 slides that last no more than 15 seconds.
The enterprise has grown to support Ignite communities and talks popping up in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC. The charm of Ignite is a good idea packaged well -- you can learn a little about a topic you're unfamiliar with in as little as five minutes. They gather people from all sorts of disciplines to
In essence, it's a extremely bite-sized version of the infamous TED talks -- which, if you're not familiar, are a terrific and actually fruitful way to waste an afternoon. TED -- standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- is a small non-profit that broadcasts their conferences online, boasting such notable attendees as Al Gore, Bill Gates and James Geary. Their motto slash mission statement? "Ideas worth spreading."
Oh TED, I could write you a love song. TED is a succulent dish of innovative thought, sleek presentation and genuine, passionate intelligence, a dish which tends to make your brain fat and heavy (last month, I was tempted to ban the site for a few weeks while my frontal lobe recovered). Everything you'd like to sample from our great, abstract postmodern menu (ranging from music to science to philosophy to new media) is available -- not in the quick nibbles of Ignite, but more moderate, filling portions. Like an intellectual course of French cuisine.
But then again, most TED talks run a WHOLE 20 MINUTES. This perceived inconvenience (to some) is what makes Ignite a remedy to short attention spans. In truth, Ignite is sort of the Showtime to TED's HBO: most of Ignite's content is built on novelty, digestibility and flash, while the older, more established name of TED is built on reputation, big names and innovation.
But really, at the heart of Ignite beats a pretty great idea. I don't know about other people, but whenever I finished one of these talks, the subject matter usually drives me to acquire more knowledge on the topic. It might be a handy way to retroactively warm minds up to old-fashioned research. And isn't anything that inspires more learning, in any capacity, a really quality enterprise?
I'll leave you with two samples from each: from Ignite, we have Jeff Veen, a designer, on my favourite old axiom: Pablo Picasso's "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." Worth noting: the concept of the "cargo culture." Fascinating.
And from TED, James Geary on that old human language standby: the metaphor.
And hey, just for kicks, my old flame Dave Eggers, on literacy, tutoring and children. As a former tutor and current writer/English lover, this almost made me emote. Hey. I said almost.
Nowadays, I've been told we have short attention spans. I'm not sure if that refers to the collective or the individual, but it's not hard to suggest that our society was raised by the potent killer hybrid of media, advertising and instant gratification. Stats suggested to me by Google (via Simon Fraser University) puts the average general attention span of a literate human at 10 - 12 minutes.
Ouch. Godot my friend, you are out of luck.
...okay? If you're still around, and haven't been distracted by a rival website, TV commercial or shiny ball of tinfoil, read on for the latest in short attention chic.
Through curious coincidence, I was recently exposed to Ignite, a little slice of the media pie started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. The concept? 5 minute talks on an impressive variety of subjects -- from the intricacies on the economy to how to buy a car without being ripped off. And that five minute time span is strict -- each presenter is given a maximum of 20 slides that last no more than 15 seconds.The enterprise has grown to support Ignite communities and talks popping up in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC. The charm of Ignite is a good idea packaged well -- you can learn a little about a topic you're unfamiliar with in as little as five minutes. They gather people from all sorts of disciplines to
In essence, it's a extremely bite-sized version of the infamous TED talks -- which, if you're not familiar, are a terrific and actually fruitful way to waste an afternoon. TED -- standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- is a small non-profit that broadcasts their conferences online, boasting such notable attendees as Al Gore, Bill Gates and James Geary. Their motto slash mission statement? "Ideas worth spreading."
Oh TED, I could write you a love song. TED is a succulent dish of innovative thought, sleek presentation and genuine, passionate intelligence, a dish which tends to make your brain fat and heavy (last month, I was tempted to ban the site for a few weeks while my frontal lobe recovered). Everything you'd like to sample from our great, abstract postmodern menu (ranging from music to science to philosophy to new media) is available -- not in the quick nibbles of Ignite, but more moderate, filling portions. Like an intellectual course of French cuisine.
But then again, most TED talks run a WHOLE 20 MINUTES. This perceived inconvenience (to some) is what makes Ignite a remedy to short attention spans. In truth, Ignite is sort of the Showtime to TED's HBO: most of Ignite's content is built on novelty, digestibility and flash, while the older, more established name of TED is built on reputation, big names and innovation.
But really, at the heart of Ignite beats a pretty great idea. I don't know about other people, but whenever I finished one of these talks, the subject matter usually drives me to acquire more knowledge on the topic. It might be a handy way to retroactively warm minds up to old-fashioned research. And isn't anything that inspires more learning, in any capacity, a really quality enterprise?
I'll leave you with two samples from each: from Ignite, we have Jeff Veen, a designer, on my favourite old axiom: Pablo Picasso's "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." Worth noting: the concept of the "cargo culture." Fascinating.
And from TED, James Geary on that old human language standby: the metaphor.
And hey, just for kicks, my old flame Dave Eggers, on literacy, tutoring and children. As a former tutor and current writer/English lover, this almost made me emote. Hey. I said almost.
No comments:
Post a Comment