TED is one video site that seems to have gained instant respect from everyone I know who has checked it out. A fair few prospective clients have said they want their site to be like this one. It as a fine example of quality in terms of online video. What makes this site excellent is its high production values, and its combination of very intelligent speakers and a straightforward remit, raison d’etre, or whatever you want to call it. And what’s more fantastic is that every talk they publish is covered by Creative Commons licensing too, so you can download content, embed it, link to it and use it for good things.
The organisation started out in 1984 as a conference about Technology, Entertainment and Design, but they have expanded to great heights and now simply tell us their mission is spreading ideas worth spreading. Getting a huge number of inspiring people together is an undeniably simple but wonderful idea in the first place. Using this as an opportunity to film them and make their talks available to the masses is just brilliant really. I especially enjoyed a recent post from Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world – truly enlightening for any funghi lover. Also I love the revelations of ape expert Jane Goodall (being a fan of making random monkey noises myself); Bhuddist monk Matthieu Ricard on habits of happiness is also a great one to watch.
Can Mushrooms save the world?
Another video site which does similar good work and has won accolades and awards is BigPicture.TV. It was founded and is still run by Marcus Morrell who saw the possibilities for online video years back, when not many people were doing it. He told me that he started it up with some inheritance money and was amazed by how willing people were to contribute their thoughts or skills to make some really interesting content. He’s currently looking at various business models and exploring opportunities – from my point of view there’s no doubt it will survive in this age of corporate social responsibility – and in light of our ever increasing awareness of green issues and the fact that we all need to do something positive to survive on this big blue beautiful planet! Check it out.
