Z Parker's blog

1) What is the TED organization about?

TED is a small, nonprofit organization that is devoted "to spread ideas worth spreading".

2) What is the purpose of their website and how does the functionality of their site support that?

The purpose of their website is to direct you to videos or web articles from the people they have come in to spread their ideas. And the website helps to support that by making it easy to find the videos. Cause they are ssperated into catagories. And same for the articles they have.

3) As Engineers and Problem Solvers, which topic areas (the choices from the "Show talks related to:" section on the sidebar) are of most interest to us? Justify your answer.

I think the topics that would be most interesting to us would be, Things involving computer, Engineering ideas, Or just thinking in general. Cause many people here are able to think like engineers. And we are able to come up with ideas and also overcome problems that might otherwise block us.

4) Based on your previous answer, what are 3 talks (videos) on the site that appear like they would be of most interest to you as an Engineer/Problem Solver? Justify your choices.

Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from
Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools
Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide
These would interest me because i care about out school system, and Bill Gates who we all know to be one of the most famour people in the world is talking about how it could be breaking.

The steve Johnson video was interesting because it is cool to know that most good ideas might takes year, even decades to form. And when they do it is usually not done in solitary Eureka moments, but when you are being affected by some outside stimuli.

And lastly the Year open data went wolrd wide sounds interesting because with the internet we are now able to share and talk with most everyone on the planet in almost and instant. And only 20-30 years ago that was a lot harder.

5) Each student will watch a unique video. Select a video to watch and inform Mr. Olson of your choice. If no one else has "claimed" the talk, you will be allowed to proceed with it. If someone else has already chosen the talk, you will be asked to pick another one. Watch the video. Create and post a bulletized outline of the key issues presented in the talk.

6) How could you get involved in the field/technology/issue you chose to hear about? What experience/skills/training/education would you need to learn to get involved with this field?

I am not sure about how i could join this guy in this field. But i imagine it might not be to hard. You would just need to go to a decent collage and choose the right majors. And if you do well you could try to apply for what ever organization he is part of.