Thursday, February 12, 2009

FORA.tv: My New Favorite Thing

I love TED, but my new love is FORA (as in FORA.tv). Now before anyone gets any weird vibes, I am not referring to people. Of course, TED is the website that shows videos from the annual TED Conferences that brings together the world's greatest minds in technology, entertainment, and design. Well, move over TED (I still like ya), but FORA has some of the most interesting, intellectually stimulating, and entertaining talks on the web. The talks are wide ranging and are hosted by various organizations. I showed the following clip to my students that elicited a wonderful discussion about what should and should not be posted on the internet:



Another part of FORA that I like, which is temporarily unavailable, is the myFORA and ThinkTank sections of the website. You can save videos and invite others to see your favorites in the myFORA section. The ThinkTanks allow you to create a playlist from various videos related to a certain topic. For example, I could have a ThinkTank on talks related to social media, or American history, or any number of specific topics. Hopefully, FORA will reinstate those features soon.

I will end with one of my favorite talks. Mike Rowe, the star of the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs, gave a talk entitled, "Reclaiming Our 'Dirty Jobs'--Discovery, Realization, and Lamb Castration" about how modern society has a lot to learn from ordinary people who work unglamorous "dirty jobs". I did not show this to my students, even though it has a great message.



Check out FORA.tv. You will not be disappointed.

1 comment:

FORA.tv said...

Hi, Art -

While we were busy creating FORA.tv's new look and feel, a better viewing experience, and more ways to share videos, we had to temporarily disable access to MyFORA and the friends and videos you may have saved there.

Not to worry - they'll be back and better than ever in no time. None of your saved videos, ThinkTanks or friendships will be lost in the transition. We're thrilled that you love the new site experience, and FORA.tv overall! We love having you.