**Chilean Quake, Feb 28, 2010 via MrMobitec**

Social Media and its Role Today in Natural Disasters

In today's technologically aware society, the role that social media plays has become very important in the distribution of news and information as well as the awareness of local and international catastrophes. It is interesting to see just how information is carried around the world and news, spread by viral forms of communication that the majority of us carry around on our hips.

The internet as a whole is playing a huge role in getting and sharing information as well as finding loved ones. By picking up our iphones, smartphones, laptops and soon to be ipads etc., we have a world of information at our fingertips. The first step may be noticing a post by someone on twitter, receiving an email or noticing a status or website update. This information is carried internationally in seconds.

Today (Saturday 27th February 2010) has unleashed an 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake upon Chile and sent Tsunami warnings all around the Northern and Southern hemisphere from Hawaii to Japan..
And how did I hear about it?
By noticing a twitter update. Within seconds, more and more messages relating to the natural disaster quickly became a trending topic on twitter. (trending topic: the most common phrases currently appearing in messages, instantly indexed and made discoverable via real-time search)

Our culture's rich connected network has allowed information to be displayed, adopted and nurtured in a way that utilizes portals of information in order to help us better serve its international community. News factions and agencies, as well as social media and online resources are utilizing their frameworks to educate and inform us of what is happening in the world. They are also assisting in the global desire for immediate updates on existing world issues.

A collection of useful sources:

• Google has deployed a Person Finder application online to aid as another route to information following an international disaster. This is often widely referred to in the moments after a disaster.
• Mashable, the widely used online social media guide, immediately began aggregating news from sources such as twitpics (photos taken via mobile/other devices and shared via twitter) from the moments directly after the earthquake, sharing these 1st hand visual accounts of what was happening.
• HiTsunami was streaming live feeds using USTREAM of areas said to be waiting for tsunami strikes of Hawaii.
• We even have access to weather and meteorological information through numerous websites and have immediate visual update via websites like the Pacific Tsunami Warning website.
• Without leaving our chairs we can follow news coverage online, via official and unofficial news sources such as CNN, Sky News, BBC News and so on.

The idea of information distribution is nothing new, however the process of which we pertain our information and the avenues now available to us are. It is these choices that are becoming part of our global cultural identity. We are no longer communicating by horns, messenger pigeons and smoke signals, we are able to cultivate and adapt our technologies to integrate with our societies the way WE want to use them. Even in more modern history, we've depended on information furnished to us through radio, TV and News Agencies. Today we have a new set of sources available to us, all containing personal accounts, perceptions and points of view - by reading this blog post, you too have contributed to social media news and information aggregation, Welcome to the future.

Great Chilean Quake, May 22, 1960

News Aggregated though Associate Press, Newspapers, TV & Radio

via Discovery Science

via University of Washington

Chilean Quake, Feb 28, 2010

News Aggregated though Associate Press, Newspapers, TV & Radio, Internet, Twitter and numerous other avenues.

via MrMobitec

via conycampos

**A terrible photo I took with my phone of the presenters and organizers... sorry about the quality**

February 25th's TEDx Waterloo event was a huge success. Thanks very much to the organizers and sponsors who created an enlightening and entertaining evening. The event was held in The Gig Music Hall in Kitchener, Ontario.

For those of you who are unfamiliar; TED, Ideas worth Spreading. TED is number of riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. The actual TED events come at a steep price for attendees, but the organization films each talk and later presents them to the world online. The talks fall under these categories: Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Science and Global Issues.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.
The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

During the event, I took brief and messy notes (the hall was quite dark!). The following synopsis are just my personal interpretations of the event. You can view the speakers online as well as read their personal biography's on the TEDx Waterloo website.

The first presenter for the evening was Terry O'Reilly, author, speaker, advertising visionary and host of the CBC award-winning radio series “The Age of Persuasion“. Terry discussed Friction in advertising and stirred some emotions regarding our acceptance of new products and the way that advertising helps us resolve friction. An example of this is the invention of powdered cake mixes. Terry discussed the way that cake mixes were invented but housewives at the time weren't buying them. The inventors were quite confused until they realized that much of the joy and satisfaction of baking was held in the process. Housewives wanted to feel that they contributed to the baking of the cake. Once the cake mix had the egg removed and housewives had to add the egg themselves, sales skyrocketed and the realization that the process is just as satisfying as the result was born.
Terry had a few more examples of this and we realized that the process is what makes us feel safer about the products that we use.

Next up was Philip Beesley, professor at Waterloo Architecture creating vastly complex ‘living’ environments that can breathe and feel.
Philip discussed the mutual exchange between the environment and us or machines. He showed the audience a video of his creation - a human-like, responsive architectural experiment. A closer look at his project, Hylozoic Ground, can be found on CBC.ca.

Following Philip was Raymond Laflamme, Founding Director of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing whose insight changed Stephen Hawking’s mind and theories about our universe. Ray talked about taking natural occurrences, controlling them and using them for human use. Humans have been using this technique for thousands of years, starting with controlling fire to cook and create tools. We used steam to power the locomotive and in turn have innovated our world into a global village.
In a similar way, scientists are now using our knowledge of nature and using what we learn in different ways. Ray's Quantum Computing background uses this same principle and is testing and creating new revelations most of us (including me!) have no idea about.

After a short break of snacks and networking, next to the stage was Paul Saltzman, Beatles photographer and two-time Emmy Award winning film & television producer-director. Paul's inspiring account of meditation and soul searching led us on a journey of his experiences with the Beatles and many other famous artists. "Humility is not making yourself small, but understanding your size".
We got to see a few scenes from Paul's film "Prom Night in Mississippi", an inspiring story of a high-school in Mississippi who (up until recently) was still holding 'black only' and 'white only' prom nights in their school.
Paul ended by asking the audience to be conscious of our prejudices because it's natural for everyone to have them. The key is recognizing the prejudices within all of us - only then can we examine them in the light of the truth.

Our next speaker was Caroline Disler, A master of translation with working knowledge of ancient languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Edomite, Ancient Hebrew, Egyptian, Sanskrit, Latin and Greek. Caroline is a lover of words and is interested in the change of words from one time and location to another. She focussed mostly on the term 'Western Civilization'. She believes that we are civilized, but are we Western? Pointing out that some of our Western discoveries are based on revelations that began in places like Africa, Asia and the East.

The next inspirational speaker was Madhur Anand, internationally-recognized scientist, poet, and professor of Global Ecological Change at the University of Guelph. She discussed the use and colour of chlorophyl - Green. Chlorophyl is an unstable pigment, meaning that we can't paint our walls with it as the colour would change with heat and other elements. The word green means 'to grow' in old english. It is also a symbol of agricultural revolution and money in many cultures. The loss of green is poetic - when forests are lost, can we re-green? Madhur discussed a re-greening project in Sudbury where the ecology has been destroyed by human development.

The next speaker was Michael Sacco, chocolatier and social entrepreneur promoting the diversity of production of organic cacao through a structure defined as “horizontal trade”. Michael helped us understand that chocolate was once used as a currency in indigenous Mexico and has now become a commodity in our Western culture. Cacao is scientifically a superfood and has medical properties when used in its purest form. ChocoSol Traders is Michael's company and brings us awareness that chocolate is much more than our well-known candy/chocolate bars. During the break, Michael and his partner offered samples of their specially made chocolate and we could purchase a small cup of liquid chocolate.

After another break and more delicious food, we heard from Darren Wersher, Canadian experimental poet, non-fiction writer and cultural critic. Darren discussed how innovation is the result of a particular kind of repetition - that we need to build the future by examining the doubts, fears and faults of the past. He showed us an interesting view of old movies and their interpretation of the future (particularly the walky-talky from 'Bladerunner'). Darren also talked about the "Zelinsky Model" and three states of media: Untimely Media, Conceptual Media and Impossible Media.

Marty Avery was next up, a connector and catalyst whose strategic approach offers remarkable insight into the human side of business. Marty's inspirational talk focused on how we can see each other better and actually see the people right in front of us instead of passing them by. Too often we see ourselves as the most important person in the room, so we need to open our eyes to others.
Marty recounted a very inspirational life-or-death moment she had where a person she met only briefly risked his life to save hers. - Namaste.

Our final presentation was done by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, New York Times best-selling children’s author, radio host and creative filmmaker. Amy started with a short, creative film 'The Beckoning of Lovely', a film that was right up my alley! It was made in response to 17 Things I Made, a very cute short film with a great outcome. Amy shared with the audience '7 Notes on Life', following the 7 notes in music.

• Always trust magic - in everyday life
• Beckon the Lovely - subtle shifting of awareness
• Connected - we are all connected - Everyone turned on their cell phone to text "I love You" to one of their contacts
• Do - we all know what we really should be doing, so just do!
• Empty Space - the space between the busy space is golden
• Figure it our as you go - if we needed to know everything before starting a project, no one would start anything!
• Go to it - what the world needs is people who come alive, everyone has a thing; go to it

Following TEDx, there was an after party at artbar where many of the audience went for more food, drinks and conversation. We had the opportunity to meet with some of the presenters and mingle with very interesting people from the community. Thanks to: TEDx Waterloo Ramy, Renjie, Natalie, Hilary, Paul, Brock, Jennifer, KW|AG and Kwartzlab for making our evening so enjoyable!

**Natalie, Myself & Hilary at artbar for the after party**

We're planning on going and have sent in our RSVP's to CultureCamp, Saturday February 13. We're excited to see how the morning plays out! CultureCamp is located in Kitchener City Hall - Rotunda Gallery and is organized by Brock Hart.

Having never been to a CultureCamp before, here is a short definition found on IdeasTransform: "CultureCamp is a user-generated “unconference”—an open, creative, participatory workshop-event, whose content is provided by participants related to an emerging understanding of culture.
CultureCamp will invite participants from the community to come share their ideas about our region in the third ideation event. We're also looking for folks who attended past CultureCamp's to share activity that's taken place as a result of ideas or people you interacted with during the events."

There are already 41 people planning to attend and I believe there is room for more. Come on out, we hope to see you there!