Ideas + Energy = Change

July 20, 2011 11:18 PM

DO Lectures: a smaller, gentler TED, with annual conferences in Wales and the US. Every twenty-minute conference presentation is available as free online video. A sampling: Tim Berners-Lee on how the web just happened. Peter Segger on soil. David Allen on optimizing your brain.  A complete list of presenters. The Do Village blog.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (11 comments total)

I've heard/read some David Allen stuff before but still found a little lightbulb moment there where he was talking about the fact that you can have physical space, you can have time, but lacking the psychic space is what turns it into two hours of sitting at your desk playing solitaire. Unfortunately, I can't seem to watch these properly without the video/audio getting all messed up, even when I let it buffer. No idea why. After about five minutes, couldn't really do it anymore.
posted by gracedissolved at 11:35 PM on July 20, 2011

Very nice. I can't seem so download these like the TED lectures though so it's a bit less useful.
posted by unliteral at 12:05 AM on July 21, 2011

If you go to "view source" and then search the code for "mp4" you should be able to locate the URL of the video to download (or "ogv" or "webm" or mp4 for iphone if you prefer). Or there are probably plugins that will probably help you find and download them.
posted by ropeladder at 1:33 AM on July 21, 2011

Wonder if they will have any one that speaks welsh. Though good on the welsh assembly for sponsoring something interesting for a change.
posted by Virtblue at 2:28 AM on July 21, 2011

> Very nice. I can't seem so download these like the TED lectures though so it's a bit less useful.

If you’re using a fairly modern browser that understands HTML5 video, you should be able to right-click on the video itself to save it. (I use Firefox 5, but Chrome or Safari should do the trick as well.)
posted by sidesh0w at 2:49 AM on July 21, 2011

Sidenote - the Do Lectures are co-founded by David and Claire Hieatt, the founders of Howies, and ethical clothing brand. I think the practical breakdown is that David concentrates on the Do Lectures and Claire concentrates on managing Howies.

The town of Abertiefi and the region of Ceredigion - both of which the English call "Cardigan", for reasons best known to themselves - is something of a refuge for, and this is said with considerable affection, high-powered alpha hippies. It's sort of like Oregon if you took all the cities away. I think the farm the lectures take place in is part of fforest, an upscale eco-campsite.
posted by running order squabble fest at 4:28 AM on July 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ahem - an ethical clothing brand, even.
posted by running order squabble fest at 4:30 AM on July 21, 2011

So long and thanks for all the thatch-roofed houses!
posted by sneebler at 6:28 AM on July 21, 2011

It's kind of depressing that little Howies was purchased by Timberland 5 yrs ago. And now Timberland is being bought up by VF Corp., which owns Lee, The North Face, Vans, Reef, Eastpak, JanSport etc.
posted by jonesor at 6:37 AM on July 21, 2011

I really liked the Tim Berners-Lee vid. I never knew he was such a nerd - it makes me very happy.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:32 AM on July 21, 2011

Hmm. I'm lazy enough that the only reason I watch TED talks is because there's a well maintained podcast RSS. I was afraid this "Do" thing might actually require energy or ideas, but it turns out they're slowly figuring out how to properly format their feed.
posted by pwnguin at 8:25 AM on July 21, 2011