Innovation by Design

TED, the most successful of global conferences, encountered a problem of credibility that had its loyal TEDsters up in arms. What did they do? Asked for help. Who did they ask? Everyone. What this new wave of crowdsourcing is telling us about how to deal with dilemmas, as well as ideas. Chris Anderson Gary Rosen

IDEO Partner Fred Dust on Designing the Future

This is the era of pervasive data. NSA data collection, consumer analytics, and billions of sensors remind us that we are being quantified, measured, and analyzed as never before. Just as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist manipulated the mass consumer imagery of their era, artists today play an essential role in helping us understand and interpret the meaning of big data. Artists also serve as a kind of collective R&D department, creating the visual language of data, and influencing journalism, industry and culture. In this panel we'll hear from Jer Thorpe and R. Luke DuBois, two artists at the forefront of this movement, MOMA's Paolo Antonelli who is leading the museum world in curating the phenomena, and Steven Sacks who's bitforms gallery is a leading destination of new media art. Exhibit: On view in Doerr Hosier Center, lower level. Immediately following the discussion, join the panelists for a tour of the exhibition. Jer Thorp Steven Sacks R. Luke DuBois Peter Hirshberg Paola Antonelli

Arguably, some of the most dramatic changes to the ways we communicate and work, from the iPhone to social media, are rooted in the design thinking applied to technologies that we all now take for granted – right in the palm of our hands. What’s next on the horizon? John Doerr interviews a group of remarkable tech entrepreneurs: Path’s Dave Morin, NEST’s Tony Fadell, Flipboard’s Mike McCue, and designer Yves Behar, about their visions for the future. Tony Fadell Dave Morin Yves Behar Mike McCue John Doerr

Design has branched out in new directions, galvanizing young practitioners, sparking novel business models, and attracting worldwide attention. A designer today can choose to focus on interaction, interfaces, the Web, visualization, socially minded infrastructures, immersive spaces, biodesign, sustainability, video games, critical scenarios, and, yes, even products and furniture. Paola Antonelli

Inspired by HRH the Prince of Wales, Harmony captures on film in a way we’ve never seen before an authentic leader on critical global issues. For the better part of three decades, the Prince of Wales has worked side by side with a surprising and dynamic array of environmental activists, business leaders, artists, architects, and government leaders. They are working to transform the world, address the global environmental crisis, and find ways toward a more sustainable, spiritual, and harmonious relationship with the planet. From organic farms to the rainforests of British Columbia to rare footage of Prince Charles interviewing Al Gore about climate change in 1988, Harmony introduces viewers to a new and inspiring perspective on how the world can meet the challenges of climate change globally, locally, and personally. Jay Harman Julie Bergman Sender Stuart Sender Linda Tischler

Using the power of photography, Chris Rainier, National Geographic Society fellow and photographer, takes us on a journey to cultures that are using computers, cameras, and video to archive and preserve their quickly disappearing ancient traditions. He will show clear examples of traditional communities using technology to revitalize and maintain their way of life. Traveling the planet for over 30 years, Rainier has been in a race against time — to document ancient communities struggling to save their ancient ways of living for future generations. Now, with the advent of technologically driven storytelling and social media, he focuses his energy on helping to empower indigenous communities to gather around the “fireplace” of the Web to tell stories — stories of what it means to be alive and human in the 21st century. Chris Rainier

An object is no longer something you merely consume. It’s something you create. Famed industrial designer Yves Behar explains why this shift is a revolution in the making.

Our vision of Tangible Bits is carried out through an artistic approach. Whereas today's mainstream human-computer interaction (HCI) and design research address functional concerns – the needs of users, practical applications, and usability evaluation – Tangible Bits is a vision driven by concepts. This is because today's technologies will become obsolete in one year, and today's applications will be replaced in ten years, but true visions – we believe – can last longer than 100 years. Tangible Bits seeks to realize seamless interfaces between humans, digital information, and the physical environment by giving physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible. Our goal is to invent new design media for artistic expression as well as for scientific analysis, taking advantage of the richness of human senses and skills – as developed through our lifetime of interaction with the physical world – as well as the computational reflection enabled by real-time sensing and digital feedback. Hiroshi Ishii