Ideas, Reflections & Feedback

From Participating SGBIS Staff

“TEDxTransmedia 2013 is about making ethics sexy. I believe that tackling the ethical questions

and challenges we face today is one of the routes to a better future for us all. The speakers in this

year’s programme all approach ethics and transmedia from fresh and interesting angles. We’re

going to have some fascinating debates and discussions about how to change the world!”

TEDxTransmedia Curator Nicoletta Iacobacci

Humankind has come to rely on ever more sophisticated navigation tools for moral guidance, from

Moses and his Ten Commandments to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But do we still

possess an adequate moral compass to guide us through the ethically turbulent times in which we

live? Politicians are mired in allegations of corruption, governments hack their citizens, athletes

use drugs to enhance their performance and journalists are under fire for forgetting the basic rules

of ethics. The internet has transformed communications and redesigned the media landscape.

We’re now digitally empowered to contribute to a more just society. Climate change and terrorism

threaten our future, while bioengineering, gene therapy and cosmetic surgery pose other ethical

challenges that are unique to our times. A dangerous world calls for dangerously ethical solutions.

What are your solutions?

Click the image to watch our GTV report including interviews

with some of our participating students’ favourite speakers

TEDx Transmedia 2013 SPEAKERS

Click images for further information

SIMON COHEN

ROBIN DUNBAR

KEREN ELAZARI

DALE HERIGTSAD

JAMES HUGHES

STEFAN LORENZ SORGNER

FRANCESCO MOSCONI

ANDREA PHILLIPS

ANNA REEVES

ROBERTO SARACCO

ANDREA SAVERI

JÖRGEN VAN DER SLOOT

FEDERICO PISTONO

PAT YOUNGE

ALESSANDRO RIGNANI LOLLI

KATHARINA SAND

LINA SRIVASTAVA

All talk videos now

available HERE

St George’s ‘CHANGE MAKERS’

GRAHAM MARTIN

CEZANNE MORTEO

LIVIA BRESCIANI

CHIARA MONTAVON

WILLIAM GRIFFIN

DENNIS GERDTS

LINK

Chiara, William, Livia, Cezanne & Dennis presented a 7 minute mini debate on the ethics of

remotely or autonomously piloted drones. The purpose of their performance was to demonstrate

how, in events such as the European TOK conference in Maastricht or Model United Nations, they

sometimes had to immerse themselves in the ethical models of organisations, mind-sets or

countries that were diametrically opposed to their own beliefs.

LINK

Graham presented a talk on the ethics of graffiti that stemmed from his own experiences and

moral codes as a young street artist that were sometimes in conflict with his work with the urban

clean-up project: Retake Roma.

LINK

TEDx Transmedia 2013 also included two musical performances by St George’s students as well

as an thought provoking opening ‘questions’ performance by Georgina Barber and Arvid

Nordstrom in Y12. Claudia Menin, also from Y12, was on site for rehearsals and the main event as

the artist in residence. She drew the performers and presenters. A reporting crew from St George’s

own TV station ‘GTV’ consisting of Amr Nabeel & Rafi Van der Mensbrugghe from Y9 and Olivia

Racionzer from Y13 interviewed most of the speakers and documented many behind the scenes

aspects of the event.

Ideas, reflections and feedback from participating SGBIS staff

Over the following pages, the 7 members of staff who attended the event from LSSS

suggest key talks and ideas from the day that might be of particular relevance and interest

to colleagues and students working in their own subject area.

Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature

Adam Oliver

1. Roberto Saracco (President, European Institute of Innovation & Technology) VIDEO

Interesting discussion of our ‘digital shadows’ – the footprint we leave not from our physical

presence but from the technology we use.

Activity thought – consider asking students to brainstorm their own digital shadows: Facebook,

email accounts, twitter… possibly give themselves a ‘visibility rating;’ how easy would it be for a

complete stranger to find you? How many aspects of digital visibility can they come up with? The

‘obvious’ ones, but also things like mobile phones as location-finders…

Activity thought – debate: ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’

2. Keren Elazari (Internet Security Analyst & former hacker) VIDEO

Exploration of the possibilities of 21st Century hacking – not just computers but any technology –

stock exchange; nuclear power plant; pace-maker

Activity thought – Debate the morality of ‘Hactivists,’ e.g. recent high-profile US military whistle-

blowers, Julian Assange & Wiki-Leaks. When to tell and when to bite the cyber tongue

3. James Hughes (Bioethicist & Sociologist) VIDEO

‘Cyborg Buddha?’ How technology may help lead us towards enlightenment

Activity thought – brainstorm examples of technology that help create the ‘quantified self’ (sleep-

meter apps on phones; bio-zen apps (bio feedback); pedometers;

Activity thought – research / debate: can technology replace traditional spiritual routes to

enlightenment?

Activity thought – discussion paper: ‘Capitalism wants to divide our attention as consumers, whilst

focusing us as workers’

4. Katharina Sand VIDEO

Pioneering new approaches to fashion.

Activity thought – flipped learning: research – human harp video; gaze-activated dresses prior to…

Activity thought – ‘Fashion is how we upload our minds into our bodies each day’ – debate as

starter activity. Consider dress as an aspect of language: symbolism; arbitrariness. Consider fashion

as expression of both high (‘haute’) & low culture

Group 2: language acquisition

Raniero Bei

These are the links to TOK and to Language/Literature that I found during the day:

- The third talk about Ethics of storytelling/fiction: dangers of saying what's true or not on line. How realistic

is it and what are the consequences and the harm for those that think it is real? Stories are truth. A clear

link to Ethics as a TOK AOK and what should or should not be said on line and also as truth, and how truth

cna be achieved and perceived. But also, when in Language classes (Lang and Lit) we talk about the

language of internet and stories/ information being biased and being perceived by different audiences in

different ways and how this affects the identity of the individual (topics: Language and power, Language

and the individual)

- For Lang and Lit very relevant was the talk by Pat Younge, the broadcaster media creator BBC, linked to

our Language and Mass Communication, and the topic of Media language and selection of platform, target

audience and links with technology. The interference between storytelling and technology shows how the

language of the media is adapting to that of internet and this has an impact on the audience, while shaping

its identity at the same time. His idea of Interactive- non linear-social media, TV especially, is fascinating

and will change the relationship between media and its audience.

VIDEO

- The whole mindfulness revolution broadens and develops the traditional TOK diagram, expanding the

WOK (although the new syllabus has already added new ones like intuition, faith...) with the idea of an

"augmented cognition"

- Also Francesco Mosconi's talk opens to a big TOK theme of quantifying happiness and also an interesting

link between science as an AOK and emotion/sense perception as a WOK

VIDEO

- Simon Cohen's talk about how to be wise sees a whole connection with TOK and Italian literature on what

we don't know, which is the starting point of our wisdom. The whole conception of knowledge starts with

what we have achieved so far, but also about the whole area of lack of knowledge which brings me to

Montale's poetry (but also the Existensialism, and the literature between the two wars) and his ricerca

gnoseologica del reale, all we know is what we do not know: "Codesto solo oggi noi possiamo dirti: ciò che

non siamo, ciò che non vogliamo" (Non chiederci la parola)

VIDEO

Group 3: Individuals and societies

Sonia Barber

Pat Younge – Chief Creative Officer BBC VIDEO

Biography

Responsible for BBC in-house production in comedy, drama, entertainment, factual, multiplatform and

some radio production. Leads largest team of content creators in the world, with around 3,000 staff and

freelancers, delivering hit BBC shows.

Talk

‘Media is where storytelling meets technology’

Changes now for traditional TV as now face competition from the internet as well as other TV channels.

Traditional TV using internet eg BBC iplayer but only as a ‘pipe’ for showing already existing programmes.

The internet offers other options;

Interactive – Microsoft

Non-linear ie choice of when to watch – Netflix. Removes some of the traditional constraints of TV

programme making because do not need every episode to be same length (restriction of TV

programming). So each episode /chapter can be a different length and no need to re-cap at the

start. Some programmes are made available all at once so people can watch exactly how they like

– hence less control from the programme makers.

Social ie Amazon. This is where the crowd can comment on scripts and whether to commission a

show. They can also be actively involved in the writing process and collaboratively create a script

In traditional TV there is a fear of change which is winning in traditional TV. If one uses the traditional

product life cycle then traditional TV is at the top of its cycle, whereas this new approach and the

companies involved in it are at the bottom (start) of their curve. As such they face different expectations

and have different opportunities. This has a big impact on the TV companies – traditional recognition was

bafta’s and big budgets, but what is recognition in this new world? What is the economic choice?

‘Porosity’ – lots of little holes in organisations to make move to the new curve – need to move but how?

icreate is a session within the BBC where staff are asked for their ideas. Also use of creative study in the

outside world.

Group 3: Individuals and societies continued…

Katharina Sand – Fashion Futurist VIDEO

Biography

After graduated from Goldsmith’s College she covered New York fashion scene as correspondent for 5

years. In 2000 opened boutique SPTIEME ETAGE in Geneva. Working on a book and a digital project for

retail disruption.

Key points from her talk:

While some feel fashion unimportant, everyone in the room is wearing clothes and will have dressed today,

with some thought on what they are wearing and the impression they wish to give:

Fashionably disruptive

Fashion is about identity

Fashion affects your sensory understanding and experience

Fashion is how we upload our minds into our bodies each day

Fashion is how we upload our minds into our bodies each day

Fashion is about rituals. Like codes, it is a way we transmit value

Fashion is a highly interactive interface

Fashion shows can be watched live online

3D printing now possible – changing the whole creative /production process

4D printing may give clothes that change with the weather or weight.

Are we losing the exquisite? Loss of individuality, loss of skills from specialists, loss of individual designers

etc

Trends come from hacking and disruption

The Toledo Studio – marriage between fashion and art http://www.studio360.org/story/197610-

isabel-and-ruben-toledo-a-studio-visit/

The Human Harp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U02X8UWgxY

Group 4: Experimental sciences

Amber Haq

To follow…

Group 5: Mathematics and computer science

Marco Gemelli

Robin Dunbar VIDEO

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of

Magdalen College. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998. His principal research

interests focus on the evolution of sociality (with particular reference to primates and humans). He

is best known for the social brain hypothesis, the gossip theory of language evolution and Dunbar’s

Number (the limit on the number of relationships that we can manage). His popular science books

include Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, The Human Story, How Many Friends

Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks and The Science of Love

and Betrayal.

Dunbar's Number

From Wikipedia:

Dunbar's number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.[1][2][3][4][5][6] This number was first proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group size. By using the average human brain size and extrapolating from the results of primates, he proposed that humans can only comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships.[7] Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. It has been proposed to lie between 100 and 230, with a commonly used value of 150.[8][9] Dunbar's number states the number of people one knows and keeps social contact with, and it does not include the number of people known personally with a ceased social relationship, nor people just generally known with a lack of persistent social relationship, a number which might be much higher and likely depends on long-term memory size.

Dunbar theorized that "this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size ... the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained." On the periphery, the number also includes past colleagues, such as high school friends, with whom a person would want to reacquaint themself if they met again.[10]

Group 6: The Arts

Greg Morgan

Three talks that particularly inspired me, included references to how individuals’ gestures, actions and

movements can produce a tangible outcome, data trace or residual effect that could be perceived as a

performance or artwork. In some cases these traces are intentional; in others the outcome can only be

pieced together and completed by others, sometimes through complex digital means.

ROBERTO SARACCO: The Digital I: the fading boundary between myself and my digital existence.

VIDEO

Saracco talked about our ‘digital shadow’. He demonstrated the intricately detailed models that can be

generated from individual and collective data ranging from location and movement gleaned from cell phone

systems to mood, theme and activity profiles extracted from our interactions with social media. The dynamic

images brought to mind Joseph Beuys’ notions of every human action containing the potential to be an

artwork (even peeling a potato)

Keywords in my notes from this talk included : aura, graphs, pathways, social groups, social sculpture

Saracco went on to discuss the possibility of duplicating human minds and the existence of psychic mice

(watch the video if you don’t believe me!)

GRAHAM MARTIN: LINK 1 LINK 2

In his talk on the ethics of making and destroying graffiti he explained ‘bombing’: a form of graffiti

particularly prevalent in Italy, where the authors write their tag/alias in as many places as possible – often in

dangerous or hard to reach locations:

‘I would argue that there is a certain amount of poetic beauty behind the fact that you can trace where one

person has been in order to leave a trail. The unknown behind this persons appearance, and life story, yet

being able to step in the places he’s stepped and have a little glimpse at who he is everywhere you go,

leaves a game of mystery and doubt that I find stimulating. This is why when I’m in a backstreet full of

graffiti, I don’t see abandonment and ill maintenance, I see artistic mystery.’

These tag ‘bombings’ leave a traceable impression of life and action broadly similar to the digital

communication data discussed by Sarocco. Graham also talked about the value of multi-layered graffiti

walls as social palimpsests – recording the ideas and lives of their authors.

KATHARINA SAND: Fashionably Disruptive VIDEO

Sand describes fashion as ‘a highly active interface’ between the wearer and the world. Rather than

focusing on fads and the consumption of commercially imposed, transient products, she explores how

wearable structures can express (or seek to project) character and mood as well as collective or individual

identity. One of Sand’s opening slides states that ‘Fashion is how we all upload our minds into our bodies

each day’.

Sand describes how technology, including 3d printing and smart materials, can produce what I summarised

in my notes as ‘responsive frocks’ and ‘adaptable togs’. At one point she shows animated, kinetic dresses

that respond physically though rhythmic movement to the visual focus of the observer. In another moment

she shows a vast ‘human harp’ in which the borders between the wearer’s garment, physical actions and

musical outcomes are blurred.

Whilst celebrating the potential for technology to democratize creativity and invest ‘fashion’ with beneficial

properties Sand worries that we may ‘lose the exquisite’ from our garments.

Group 6: The Arts continued…

FEDERICO PISTONO: Save a Life! VIDEO

Commitments in Taiwan meant that he couldn’t attend in person. However, his video message told the story of his life and educational background and how against the odds he achieved a place at a United World College. His core message was that we as teachers are tasked with ‘saving’ the lives of our students through inspiring them to achieve things that exams, tests and accumulated data may suggest are beyond them.

Me and my brother had a dreamy idea of what graffiti was. There was a specific wall next to my brothers school, that was something like 50 meters by 10, that was covered in layers and layers of graffiti. Some of the most beautiful graffiti was there. Illustrations of animals and human figures, layered with extremely technical graffiti. This was a beautiful wall filled with colour, emotions and decades of history. Every time I went by that wall, it made me dream because I knew I could never see every single piece and detail of it. It was a complex piece that permanently evolved and therefore permanently fascinated me

Graham Martin at TEDxTransmedia 2013

SGBIS School Librarian, Alison Kennedy

As an inter-disciplinary, information specialist in school I was interested to see how the speakers would influence my approach to developing our library for the future. The first two are speakers who touched on me professionally but the third I have discussed resonated with me on a more personal level. Keren Elazari VIDEO Keren was the second speaker of the day. What she said messed my mind slightly because I, librarian and protector of information and the laws that govern it, started to really think about the why behind certain information laws. Below are a few things that gave me food for thought: Rules are man made – we should challenge them. Access to information is power. I have been trained to enforce information laws – don’t photocopy more than 5% of a publication in order to protect the rights of the author and so on. However, online information blurs many boundaries about who profits, if anyone, from a publication or ‘bit’ of information. Who controls it and why are we prevented from accessing some of it? During my training I encountered many cases of people who had hacked into websites in order to illustrate their flaws and challenge others to constantly be vigilant. However, they were still punished even though the intent was not malicious and no ill effects were actually felt by anyone. Does this mean we need to understand computer crime in levels of wrongdoing? The online equivalent of a manslaughter perspective? Advances in technology and the ability to hack can have personal implications The speaker discussed the feeling that, through our online personas, we are becoming freer and more likely to be our own person. This is certainly something that is up for debate when we work with young people. Cyberbullying, cyberstalking and fake persona creating are just a few things that I think make us less honest; young people suffering from cyber bullying suffer incredibly at the hands of bullies ‘brave’ enough to insult and abuse from the protection of their computer screen. There have been cases of people creating fake personas to gain sympathy from online support forums, create relationships under false pretences and so on. Our young people need to be aware of how they behave online and how it reflects their lives offline. Andrea Phillips VIDEO Andrea creates fake realities in the reality of our world. She is a transmedia storyteller and creates items to support a mythical or fictional world. If you have a novel and want your reader to actually look up a website mentioned, Andrea is in the line of business that creates that website for readers to believe is true. Initially, I loved this job – I want to create the fictional letter that features in a novel!! However, the more she started to discuss it, the more I could see the pitfalls. Out of context, these items can appear very real. What is stopping an historian in centuries to research a letter as if it was truly a letter about an impending apocalypse, or a romance between a notable figure and a fictional character from a novel? What if a website, that is actually a figment of someone’s imagination, affects the decisions a person makes about their life and alters the course of it. For example, a healthcare decision, or a decision about where to live. I can only imagine if I had been less thorough when moving here and turned up to check out an apartment that actually didn’t exist! You may think that would never happen but many users of the Internet are not as savvy and knowledgeable as we think we are. My mother still checks with me about emails that say she has won lots of money so long as she provides her bank details; she does not yet have the confidence to outright reject it. Andrea surmised Story as the lens through which we see the world. This reminded me of the power of a novel and how it can impact on the lives of the children and young people who read it. A person needs to be ready to understand the issues in a novel before they can read it. Our young people may be mature in terms of literacy level but, often, I need to assess their emotional maturity before pointing them to a book that is more advanced than their years. What Andrea described, little elements of information to support a certain story, reminded me of my previous career in public relations and reminded me of the discomfort I felt dealing in inaccurate information to achieve the ends of a client. It is much better helping others to access accurate and authentic information!

Francesco Mosconi VIDEO

Francesco was in the middle of studying for his PhD when he became aware of the world out there and his role within it. He talked of the quantified self; where we can use technology to provide data and insights into how our body responds to everyday life. Examples include wearable devices telling us about steps taken, calories burned and so on. His question was can we change our bodily reactions to fit to the world today? This speaker got to me on a personal level as I had a similar moment of clarity during my PhD. I realised that there was so much more to my life than a project that was so far from what I had set out wanting it to be and I set out to change my life. That has brought me to St George’s and I constantly encourage everyone to re-assess their lives regularly to ensure that we are making the most of it. We need to listen to ourselves and I’m not convinced we need lots of devices to do so. Perhaps our inherent instincts are enough.

GTV & Rai hard at work recording and reporting from TEDxTransmedia 2013

My fear is that we are teaching kids conformity as a value.

Federico Pistono at TEDxTransmedia 2013

The only way of discovering the limits of what’s possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible." - @k3r3n3 #TEDxTransmedia 2013

Keren Elazar at TEDxTransmedia 2013

We are constantly bombarded by information, technology and the media we interact with are constantly pushing information on us. It is like hundreds of bells, constantly ringing and distracting us. Modern technology is often perceived as a limit yet it defines the world we live in. If we learn to harness and use that technology it can enable us to live more mindfully and more happily.

Francesco Mosconi at TEDxTransmedia

I would argue that there is a certain amount of poetic beauty behind the fact that you can trace where one person has been in order to leave a trail. The unknown behind this persons appearance, and life story, yet being able to step in the places he’s stepped and have a little glimpse at who he is everywhere you go, leaves a game of mystery and doubt that I find stimulating. This is why when I’m in a backstreet full of graffiti, I don’t see abandonment and ill maintenance, I see artistic mystery.

Graham Martin at TEDxTransmedia 2013

When you go down deep into the blue you make a dive inside yourself and you can meet all your fears and all your limits

Alessandro Rignani Lolli at TEDxTransmedia 2013

Y12 IB Visual Arts student Claudia Menin was the Artist in Residence during both days of TEDxTransmedia 2013. She drew the action on the stage almost continuously!

MORE IMAGES

GM Nov 2013