TED2008: The Big Questions

I'm down in Monterey at the TED conference about to plunge into a visualization challenge of expansive proportions. The agenda goes like this: Who are we?—What is our place in the universe?—What is life?—Is beauty truth?—Will evil prevail?—How can we change the world?—How do we create?—What's out there?—What will tomorrow bring?—What stirs us?—How dare we be optimistic? Fifty speakers will talk 18 minutes each about these subjects, in four courses of talks, with lots of networking and entertainment woven in between. Can you guess how much fun this is going to be!!!

The Grove's client Autodesk, is supporting this year's event with a BigViz project where two of us, Kevin Richards and myself, led by Tom Wujec, an Autodesk Fellow leading their visualization initiatives, will be documenting the ENTIRE conference.

We'll be doing this using the latest Wacom Cintiq tablets and beta versions of Autodesk's Alias Sketchbook Pro. Our drawings, some 5-15 for each speaker, will be saved and accessible on a huge portfolio wall using a prototype combination of Perceptive Pixel and multi-touch technologies If you've seen the movie Minority Report,or used an i-phone, it allows that kind of manipulation of imagery. You can pinch-reduce pictures, rotate them, sort them, move them around -- all by touch.

I don't know what we will produce, but it will be integrated into a book about this year's TED, focusing on the theme The Big Questions. We're calling ourselves "visual cartographers," and I'm focusing on making not only the big questions, but the patterns that connect these ideas visible.

If you want to follow the conference, it will be blogged and accessible at the TED.com web site. I probably won't be posting much during this period, but will inevitably reflect on our learning afterwards. Click on to see some of my practice warmups.

Comments

[Nancy White]

Wow! I can't wait to hear the stories after it is over, see the images and hopefully listen to the audios that inspired the images.

I hope you write more about "visual cartographers." I'd also like to get geeky about the tablet and the drawing program.

[Amy Lenzo]

My thoughts exactly (thanks, Nancy; well said!)

Congratulations, David!

I'm glad to see your interest in focusing at the level of pattern - what it is that connects the big ideas - and bringing those patterns forward in your visual cartography.

The 'collaborative sharing' of their incredible wealth of content/material that TED has been openly exploring in the last few years is amazing; first all the videos on their site and now this! They are going to LOVE working with you.

And we are all going to benefit! Not only from the opportunity to share in this year's TED experience, which is of considerable value in itself, but what you're exploring has the potential to impact the way we go about connecting people and ideas on a meta level, for all sorts of people and organizations.

Like Nancy said, I can't wait! :-)