Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.
"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."
The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.
"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.
Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.
"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.
But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.
"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.
Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.
"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."
For more on the film and future screenings, visit http://beyondassignment.org.
{extended} ]]>Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.
Portions of Beyond Assignment were screened to School of Communication faculty and students during a Brown Bag Session this past fall where Virga talked about the making of the film and working with the three women photographers.
"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."
The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.
"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." ??Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.
Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.
"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.
But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.
"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.
Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.
"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."
For more on the film and future screenings, visit http://beyondassignment.org.
{extended} ]]>At ONA, UM School of Communication alumni, Paul Franz, M.A. ’10 in multimedia journalism, tied for first place in the Online Video Journalism student category for his thesis project, “Haiti’s Lost Children” (http://www.haitiedstories.org/). The project deals with Haiti's struggle to build an education system following the 2010 earthquake.
The Society of Professional Journalists presented the School of Communication, Transitions, a nonprofit, independent online news organization, and UM’s Knight Center for International Media with a Sigma Delta Chi Award and Bronze Medallion in recognition of distinguished service to the American people and the profession of journalism through outstanding accomplishments in Digital Media Presentation for “Colorful But Colorblind: Roma Beyond Stereotypes” (http://roma.glocalstories.org/). The project delves in age-old prejudices about the Roma people by featuring personal insights into the daily lives and struggles. The SPJ competition did not have student categories, and the University of Miami was the only academic institution to win an award this year.
"I am extremely proud of our students and the award-winning work they are producing under the guidance of our exceptional faculty,” said Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of The School of Communication at the University of Miami. “And it is important to note that these awards are for work in new and digital media, as we intend to be a leader in the rapidly changing world of communication."
UM Professor Rich Beckman was “Colorful But Colorblind’s” executive producer, UM Professor Kim Grinfeder, the design director and Daniel Cloud, the programming director. Alumnus Trevor Green and Candace Barbot, an adjunct UM faculty member, also worked on the project as story coaches and trainers in conjunction with 10 multimedia graduate students and 50 journalists from Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
“At the Knight Center we set out to become an epicenter of excellence for compelling multimedia storytelling on global issues and to give voice to the unheard and unseen on underreported issues,” Beckman said. “Our graduate students have embraced these worthy goals and their work continues to bring recognition to the School, the Center and our international partners.”
UM had six finalists competing in three categories at the 2011 ONA Awards. This is the second year in a row that a UM student project has won this prestigious award. In the eight years that student categories have been judged in the competition, 15 projects by Prof. Beckman’s students have been named finalists and this is the fifth to win a top prize.
Launched in 2000, the Online News Association Awards, administered by ONA in partnership with the University of Miami’s School of Communication, are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media and international news sites.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.
{extended} ]]>Mariella Furrer, one the of three photojournalists featured in Beyond Assignment, has been working for eight years on a body of work on the subject of child sexual abuse in South Africa. She is currently working on publishing this material as a book entitled My Piece of Sky: Memories of Child Sexual Abuse.
Furrer's book is a testimony to the young children who have survived the experience of rape, and those who have lost their lives to it. It is a book that will visually seize the attention of reader through the use of photography and artwork, and will capture their minds through in-depth interviews, journals, essays and poetry by children who have been abused.
In bringing forth this difficult subject, the book will encourage governments to advocate for effective legislative protection, survivors to provide community understanding, and departments of criminology and psychology to conduct research to enhance academic understanding on the subject of abuse. In the film Beyond Assignment and in her book,Furrer's drive to bring to light the sensitive topic such of child abuse is evident. By exposing the harsh realities of abuse in her home country of South Africa, Furrer hopes to shed light on what can be done to help prevent abuse, assist those who have been abused in finding help and, in the process, save lives in a part of the world where the topic of child abuse is taboo.
Currently, Furrer's project is eligible for funding from Kickstarter.com, an organization that allows project creators to gain funding from independent donations as a means to test out their projects and ideas without financial risk and without losing any rights to their projects. If you would like to learn more about Furrer's project, please visit her Kickstarter page at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1862412233/my-piece-of-sky-memories-of-child-sexual-abuse. To watch the trailer and for more information on Beyond Assignment, please visit http://beyondassignment.org.
{extended} ]]>My Story, My Goal teamed 14 UM multimedia students with students from seven Knight Center for International Media partner schools in Africa and Asia to tell stories that personalize the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The students' work focuses on issues such as poverty, maternal health, environmental sustainability, universal education, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, and children's health. The website http://mdg.glocalstories.org/ features seven short videos and a compilation documentary.
Another group of multimedia students recently returned from Africa, where they continued working on the project.
My Story, My Goal was co-produced by Professor Rich Beckman, the school's Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, and Tom Kennedy, a former Knight Center Professional-in-Residence. It was produced by UM alumnus Ami Vitale.
The project has received international attention. Last November, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon presented a segment of the project at a G-20 Summit event in South Korea. My Story, My Goal is linked to the U.N. website's Millennium Development Goals section.
"Historically students have led some of the world's great revolutions," said Beckman. "By empowering students to produce local stories that have global impact, we are helping to start a communication revolution. Compelling stories shared through social and online media outlets can motivate change, and we can make a difference in the world one story at a time."
{extended} ]]>Originally from Patna, Bihar in eastern India, Chatterjee will be working with students at Jadavpur University to create a multimedia website that will bring better public understanding of urban waste utilization and recovery.
The East Kolkata Wetlands are located east of the city of Kolkata and cover about 77 miles that include salt marshes and salt meadows. The wetlands are used to treat Kolkata's sewage, and the nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture that feed surrounding communities. A city of 12 million inhabitants, Kolkata does not have a sewage treatment plant and the wetlands act as its “kidneys,” naturally cleansing the 160 million gallons of urban waste daily. The East Kolkata Wetlands were named a Ramsar site in 2002. The class will interview scientists, fish farmers, neighborhood consumers, government officials and other stakeholders.
“I’m excited about this Fulbright Award because it will allow me to engage with students in a process of discovery in India about a key urban issue,” Chatterjee said. “These students will be learning outside the classroom and will be sharing information on a very important issue.”
Chatterjee embarks to India on July 18.
Chatterjee is no stranger to issues that affect our global environment. During his recent role as director of UM’s Knight Center for International Media, which is committed to producing compelling visual media to solve the world's most difficult issues, he co-directed One Water, an award-winning documentary about water challenge around the globe that was broadcast on the Discovery Networks Planet Green Channel.
The Knight Center also supported Aguas Negras, a multimedia website about wastewater farming in Mexico City that first introduced Chatterjee to this issue and gained his interest to explore it further.
Chatterjee is currently working on One City, a non-verbal short documentary film that explores imminent threats to contemporary cities around the world.
“To have a teacher and filmmaker of Prof. Chatterjee’s stature is going to greatly benefit students of Jadavpur University, which has a strong commitment to environment issues,” says Abhijit Roy, an associate professor of Film Studies at the School of Media, Communication and Culture, Jadavpur University. “Together we will be creating a vibrant inter-disciplinary group of young people who will continue to work beyond this project in the field of multimedia documentation of water issues to meaningfully shape environment policies in India.”
{extended} ]]>The winner of the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in the Digital Media Presentation (Independent) category is Colorful But Colorblind, by the School of Communication, University of Miami, Transitions and the Knight Center for International Media.
Colorful but Colorblind is a project aimed at remedying anti-Roma stereotyping through the creative use of multimedia in reporting minority issues in new member states of the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) and internationally.
The training and production components of the Colorful but Colorblind project were designed and implemented by Rich Beckman, Professor and Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication at the University of Miami. The project director was Tihomir Loza from Transitions. Trainers included Jim Seida, Senior Producer, MSNBC.com, Candace Barbot, CEO / Founder at Pulp2Pixel Media Inc. and Ben de la Cruz, Emmy Award winning documentary video producer and reporter at The Washington Post. Story coaches included Travis Fox, Emmy Award winning freelance videographer, NYC, Trevor Green, Senior Video Editor & Operations Assistant, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami and Seida. Kim Grinfeder, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, University of Miami and Daniel Cloud, Senior Programmer, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami, directed the web design and programming teams.
Ten multimedia graduate students: Danny Bull, Paula Echevarria, Paul Franz, Nick Harbaugh, Charles Ledford, Lauren Malkani, Nick Maslow, Lauren Santa Cruz, Lauren Whiddon and Chi Yang participated in the project.
Other winners in Online Reporting categories included WebMD, Las Vegas Sun, ProPublica, NPR, CNN.com, The Washington Post, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Politics Daily, FactCheck.org, The Flint journal and The Bay Citizen/New America Media.
Judges chose the winners from more than 1,400 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online. The awards recognize outstanding work published or broadcast in 2010.
Dating back to 1932, the awards originally honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the Society granted the first Distinguished Service Awards. The honors later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well- informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.
{extended} ]]>Knight Center Update My Story My Goal,
{extended} ]]>The event will be streamed online at http://knight.miami.edu.
During the forum, The Knight Center, based at the UM School of Communication, will show an excerpt of its award-winning documentary on the subject of the world’s water crisis, One Water.
Florida faces many complex challenges around water quality and regulation; natural systems and restoration; and planning for growth, distribution, and treatment. During the first Water Choices Forum, leaders and experts from across the state called for expedited formation of a water ethic. The second forum, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 28, will examine and discuss the challenges and implementation of the EPA Nutrient Numeric Criteria and an exploration of the use of water credits across the state.
Other divisions of the University of Miami are engaged in the forum, including the Leonard & Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem and Science Policy.
“The Abess Center is honored to support this event. Water resource management is a critical issue on a global scale, particularly as the effects of extraction for agriculture, industry and human consumption are exacerbated by pollution and climate change. It will take a concerted effort across disciplines and stakeholder groups to confront the challenges we face,” said Abess Center director Kenneth Broad, associate professor of marine affairs and policy at UM’s Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science. “This conference is an opportunity to bring diverse perspectives to bear on the policy issues regarding appropriate criteria for allowable nutrient levels and allotment of water credits.”
The mission of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy is to create innovative, interdisciplinary initiatives that bridge the gap between science and environmental policy. The Abess Center is the nexus for flexible undergraduate and graduate programs, which gives students the opportunity to learn in a problem-solving context and gain substantial hands-on experience.
The Florida Earth Foundation, a collaborative partner with UNESCO and center of training and best practices in sustainability, has committed to a think tank approach to the forums. Participants will take an active role raising questions, testing definitions, and setting the agenda for emerging conversations.
“Our Foundation is committed to respond to calls for discussion and international best practices as we approach a period of big water challenges in our regions, in the courts, and in the industry,” said Florida Earth Foundation Board Chair, Ernest A. Cox. “Leaders and experts from all fields that deal with water want a place to draw on the best possible data, express their concerns, and seek consensus. Our board has made these forums our 2011 priority.”
The conference will include a diversified audience of water system managers, public officials, international experts, attorneys, law students, scientists, educators, videographers and documenters, and engineers. Their counsel will impact the Florida Earth Foundation’s compendium of online best practices and recommendations on the future of water in Florida. The Employ Florida Banner Center for Water Resources will also provide an update on the strong job and career connection to technical training and certification in the industry.
Fairfield Index, Inc. President Don Upton, a nationally renowned expert on regionalism and collaboration, will moderate the discussion. Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, will help frame the issues for a think tank setting.
Thanks to sponsors, the event will offer international audiences the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.
Registration for the event costs $195, and includes lunch. Students with ID can register for free for limited seating. To register, or for background and notes from the first Forum, and details on CEU credits visit http://www.floridaearth.org or call the Florida Earth Foundation, 561-686-3688.
{extended} ]]>Top business leaders and policy experts will discuss these questions at a panel discussion, “Views from the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy,” at the University of Miami Global Business Forum at 9:30 a.m. Friday, January 14, 2011, in Shoma Hall, Room 3053, at the School of Communication, 5100 Brunson Drive, Coral Gables, FL. This panel is moderated by UM President Donna E. Shalala and sponsored by The School of Communication.
“We will be looking for a lively, interactive conversation that hears directly from our audience of business experts,” says J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director of the Center on Global Health Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Washington D.C.-based research institution that works to develop actionable recommendations for long-term U.S. strategy on global health.
“We are very excited to pull together this dynamic panel, led by President Shalala, to talk at this important moment about where US leadership on global health is heading. These experts each bring a remarkable perspective on this question of the business sector’s role in global health,” Morrison adds.
In March of 2010, The CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health, which includes President Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, released a report calling on Washington policymakers to embrace an agenda for global health. The Commission understood promoting global health not only advances our basic humanitarian values in saving and enhancing lives, but adds a broader value in bolstering U.S. national security and building constructive relationships.
“Views from the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy” panelists are:
Please note that participation in the entire three-day Global Business Forum in a paid event. However, if you would like to attend this panel discussion at no charge, please RSVP to socevents@miami.edu, indicating: “
The University of Miami Global Business Forum is a multidisciplinary event bringing together some of the world’s most influential corporate and policy leaders, as well as hundreds of other experts and professionals, for three days of forward-thinking discussion on the business and delivery of health care. Topics include enhancing wellness, healthful aging, and creating health care facilities that promote vibrant communities while nurturing patients and families. To register and for more information about the University of Miami Global Business Forum, visit: http://www.bus.miami.edu/events/gbf2011/index.html.
*In 2009-2010, CSIS and the Knight Center hosted “Our Global Challenges,” a series of dialogues held in Washington D.C. that examined progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The series featured University of Miami professors, our country’s top officials, and leading experts in industry fields who discussed topics including the fair resources trade, the advancement and empowerment of women around the world, and meeting the challenge of the Millennium Development Goals in Haiti — just months before last January’s earthquake. Keynote speakers included Robert D. Hormats, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs; Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State; and Joshua Bolten, former White House Chief of Staff and member of the Board of Directors at ONE, a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.
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{extended} ]]>The setting was Professor Joseph B. Treaster’s classroom on “Reporting Global Environmental Issues.” The speakers were Nobel Prize winner Steve Running, professors from the United States Coast Guard Academy, the founder of an ocean study center in New England, a radio reporter from southern Africa and environmental specialists from the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.
Professor Treaster, the Knight Chair for Cross-Cultural Communication, brought the experts into Miami from around the world with the televideo conferencing facilities of Skype and the high-tech equipment of the University of Miami’s School of Communication.
Professor Treaster gathered the experts for classroom press conferences with his students before video cameras in Stockholm, in New England and at the University of Montana, where Dr. Running, who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for his work on the environment, teaches. Professor Treaster, who is also the editor of OneWater.org, the university’s environmental magazine on the Internet, organized the press conferences while traveling to write articles and recruit writers and photographers for OneWater.org.
In the press conferences, the experts around the world flashed onto a big movie screen in Miami. At the same time, a huge, live feed of the students in Miami popped up on a screen in front of the experts. With Professor Treaster as the moderator, the experts gave opening statements. Then students in Miami jumped in with questions.
Professor Treaster developed the press conferences in carrying out his work as the Knight Chair in Cross-Cultural Communication and his mandate from the School of Communication to bring the world into University of Miami classrooms and to take the School's programs out into the world, raise its already high profile and develop international collaborations.
In Stockholm, Professor Treaster laid the ground work for an intensive three-week summer course on the environment, journalism and business that he will be co-teaching in late May and early June of 2011. Some spaces in the summer abroad class are still available.
Professor Treaster organized the first of his televideo press conferences in Istanbul and Buenos Aires. The televideo press conferences were a first for the School of Communication and added a new dimension for students. “I never expected to meet all those people,” said Veronica Perez, one of Professor Treaster’s students. Heather Carney, another student, said Professor Treaster’s class had given her “an unusual opportunity.”
Most of the students had never participated in a press conference. The experience was “extremely valuable,” said Lauren Shepherd. “It broadened our horizons,” said Nicole Pamani. “I never really thought of using Skype as a professional tool. I just thought of it as something for myself and my friends.”
{extended} ]]>Dia is a filmmaker and media artist who has created films about artists including Carmen Herrera, Anna Valentina Murch and Jose Bedia, among others. Her works have been screened at festivals, museums and galleries around the world including Rome, Venice at the Art Biennale, New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in Montreal at Art Fifa.
As a professional film editor, Kontaxis has worked for Israeli film director Amos Kollek, and New York photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally. In a Q&A, she talks about a film editor's role, gives audiences a sneak peak of One City and shares what it is like working with husband Ed Talavera, director of photography of the film:
A. To articulate the vision of the director.
A. World Cities is shot on the Canon 5D. We decided on a workflow that allows us for a bit more control of color space by expanding with CineForm HD. The CineForm files are then linked through AMA and transcoded to .mxf files on the Avid Media Composer 5 for editing. So the short answer is Avid MC5.
A. We are working one city at the time. Right now I am working on India. There are two personal stories through which we experience life in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Mumbai.
A. No it is easier because I know how he thinks and how he shoots. He has this great ability of communicating through film and it is pleasure to edit his work.
A. Both [Producer/Director] Sanjeev [Chatterjee] and Ed have done a great job in explaining to me how things are on the ground and I use this information to try and edit these stories with as much respect to the subjects as possible. I think it is very easy to make a film that condemns a way of life when you do not have to live it, it is much harder to do justice to way of life that you have never before experienced.
A. A filmmaker is by definition someone who makes films. In that sense a filmmaker can be a director, editor, cinematographer, sound person or anything else required in the process of making a film. I enjoy equally producing, directing and editing. It ultimately depends on the project. But truly my creative process takes place in the editing room because I get the challenge and satisfaction of seeing a project finally come together.
The first phase of One City is scheduled to premiere in spring 2011.
{extended} ]]>TEDxMIA from KnightCenter on Vimeo.
Story by Bolton Lancaster, video courtesy of Simone BergerThe audience of about a 100 people sat in the dimly lit room and leaned in their seats, attentively listening as Sanjeev Chatterjee stood in the spotlight and told a story from his childhood that was animated in the slideshow behind him. It was a hot day in India as he turned on the ceiling fan and splashed some cold water on the floor so that he could lie in and cool down. Light poured through a hole in the skylight overhead and turned the room into a camera obscura, allowing him to see upside-down images from outside of the house. Before long, he started to hear voices of a crowd and explosions, seeing images of people running past his house as police chased them in the turmoil of political unrest.
Chatterjee, vice dean of the School of Communication at UM and Executive Director of the Knight Center for International Media, used this anecdote to open his speech at TEDxMIA, an event November 4, 2010 at The Wolfsonian on Miami Beach that aimed to spread and inspire new, innovative ideas through speeches and presentations.
Throughout his speech, Chatterjee focused on how the common language of visuals could be used to spread new ideas. He stressed that the world is gradually becoming more connected and that people are becoming increasingly interested in creating digital images. During his presentation, Chatterjee showed a clip from the video documentary that he helped make: One Water, which focuses on the importance of conserving fresh water around the world. The movie does not use any narration, making it ideal for spreading ideas to people regardless of what language they speak.
“There are almost 7,000 living languages,” Chatterjee said. “What I was looking for was what is some kind of a common language? And things like visuals and music are able to reach people at a very basic level for communication across borders.”
Isaac Prilleltensky, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education at UM, also delivered a speech at the event, critiquing different ideas rumored to increase community well-being and offering solutions to these misconceptions.
“We are very arrogant. We tell people how to live their lives when we haven’t got a clue as to what kind of lives they lead,” Prilleltensky said. “We should empower people. We should give them a voice as opposed to telling them how to live their lives.”
Other speakers covered a wide range of topics, from explaining how power harnessed from the Gulf Stream could power 7 million homes and businesses in South Florida to describing the importance of art in Miami. One of the speakers was Rodrigo Arboleda, chairman and CEO of One Laptop per Child Association, an organization aimed at promoting education around the world by providing impoverished children with a laptop as well as giving children a sense of ownership.
The curators of the first-time event, who followed general TED guidelines but independently organized TEDxMIA, were confident in their goal to continue holding the program once every six months due to its popularity.
“I enjoyed this event because there is a great opportunity to learn about what’s happening in the community,” said Mayur Patel, an audience member. “This is a great way to learn about the hidden talents and resources that are here.”
TEDxMIA started in 1984 as an organization that brought together people from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design in hopes of spreading new ideas. While the talks have expanded to cover many other areas, TED derives its name from those three areas that it initially covered.
The organizers of this inaugural event said they hope to hold the program every six months due to its popularity.
{extended} ]]>