Archival Research

For my Archival Research paper, I have chosen to write about the rivalry between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison and the harnessing of electricity.  I will talk about how these great thinkers came up with their ideas, and what sparked their competition by means of Steven Johnson's argument about ideas.  The network between these great thinkers sparked an intense rivalry.

A Critique of TED

In class the other day, we discussed a blogger's critique of TED.com.  This blogger discussed how TED is more about makinng money, such as charging $500 for a ticket to the conference, than actually spreading world-changing ideas.  He talks about how the organization has become part of the corporate world instead of about the everyday individuals.  One of the ideas that he presented that caught my eye was the topic of whether or not TED's creation of an entirely women conference was the right thing to do.  Yes, this allows ground-breaking women a chance to present new ideas, yet it is also is putting these women into a separate category from men.  Is TED doing the right thing by giving these women an entirely different conference, or are they demeaning them by overcompensating the idea of gender equality.  In other terms, are they creating an environment of inequality by trying to create equality?