Saturday, April 24, 2010

Saturday Special

From wonder into wonder existence opens. Lao Tzu
This is a Choices weekend so not much time to post nor to even go and visit some of my favorite blogs! I do want to share a 'TED' find however -- a talk by artist/computer scientist Jonathan Harris. (Artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris makes online art that captures the world's expression -- and gives us a glimpse of the soul of the Internet.)

Jonathan tells about his incredible 'story-gathering' method using the Internet as the driver. He has created a program that sifts through daily Internet traffic searching for the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling" as the parameters (big brother is watching!). He then creates a 'story-line' constructed of his findings -- really fascinating.

Jonathan then shares about a whale hunt he experienced in the Arctic. Using a camera timed to shoot photos every 5 minutes, or faster depending upon his heartbeat, Jonathan records his reflections of his journey.

Most fascinating (to me) was his story of Bhutan, the country that doesn't have a GDP but rather, A Gross National Happiness, which is what the government uses to base its decisions upon. Jonathan interviewed 171 people asking them about their 'happiness quotient' and then filmed them in a unique and moving way.

Give yourself a treat today and take a journey through photos and stories with Jonathan.

Nameste!



2 comments:

Maureen said...

Thank you! Harris is brilliant. His talk is worth every minute.

Joyce Wycoff said...

Thanks so much for this ... isn't the diversity of the human imagination just incredible?