Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Jun 21, 2003

These are my notes from Idea City, June 18-20, 2003, in Toronto.

The Idea City conference was held in a crowded theatre. The speakers at the front of the room frequently dimmed the lights in order to show slides. Consequently, much of this notebook was written in complete darkness. The notes reflect this. The speakers also spoke - mostly - off the cuff, bouncing from subject to subject. The notes reflect this as well.

Each link below is to a scanned image of my notebook. This being Idea City, after all, I decided to try something a little different in the way of conference blogging. It may not work, but on the other hand, it may provide a way of seeing the conference not possible in a plain text web page.

I am aware that scanned pages are accessibility hostile. It is simply too much work to create a transcript of each page, but if the web community gets together, we can produce an accessible version. Please click here if you want to help.

I shopuld also mention that this is a bit of a broadband project. The images range from 130K to 170K each (I wanted to use GIFs but the format wasn't supported on the scanner software I used, no doubt because the patent on the GIF format hasn't quite expired yet). I will put up a low rez verion one day, but that will have to wait until I get access to the appropriate software.

For the best reading, simply start at page 1 and click 'Next' for each page. Alternatively, pick your favourite thinker and start from there. But do venture beyond your favourite authors and comfortable topic areas. There are gems of wisdom (in my opinion) scattered through these pages, from speakers from all walks of life, and that is part of the beauty of it all.

  1. Moses Znaimer, organizer, Idea City 2003
  2. Jean-Michel Cousteau, ocean conservationist
  3. Dave Williams, astronaut
  4. Phil Nuytten, sub-sea engineer
  5. Darlene Lim, Mars Arctic Research Station
  6. Rick Mercer, writer, actor, comedian
  7. Ruut Veenhoven, sociologist
  8. Marc Emery, president, B.C. Marijuana Party
  9. Michael Stadtlander, chef
  10. Sandra Shamas, writer, actor, comedian
  11. Randy Larsen, bioterrorism expert
  12. Romeo Dallaire, former commander, U.N. mission to Rwanda
  13. Scott Taylor, war correspondant
  14. Kim Rossmo, criminologist
  15. Adam Bly, editor, SEED Magazine
  16. Dov Charney, CEO, American Apparel
  17. Nelson Skalbania, entrepreneur
  18. Anthony von Mandl, proprieter, Mission Hill wineries
  19. The Cottars, celtic quartet
  20. Derrick De Kerckhove, Director, McLuhan Program
  21. Michael Shara, astronomer and astrophysicist
  22. Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction writer
  23. Tony Noble, Sudbury Nutrino Observatory
  24. Ofra Harnoy, cellist
  25. Pamela Wallin, Canadia Consul General, New York City
  26. Anthony Wilson-Smith, editor, Macleans
  27. Eward Greenspon, editor, Globe and Mail
  28. Douglas Curran, author, photographer
  29. Alexander Tsiaras, artist and journalist
  30. John Abele, founder, Boston Scientific
  31. Neko Case, singer and songwriter
  32. Nicholas Campbell, actor
  33. George Bowering, poet
  34. George Bowering, poet
  35. Juliana Chen, magician
  36. Wade Davis, ethno-botanist
  37. Will Alsop, architect
  38. Hokan Colting, CEO, 21st Century Airships
  39. Hokan Colting, CEO, 21st Century Airships
  40. Bruce Kirkby, adventurer and photographer
  41. Marvin Minsky, pioneer of artificial intelligence
  42. Jaron Lanier, computer scientist
  43. Lee Smolin, cosmologist
  44. John Perry Barlow, Electronic Frontier Foundation
  45. Ken Wiwa, author and human rights activist
  46. Margaret MacMillan, author and historian
  47. Erna Paris, author and historian
  48. Beyond the Pale, Klezmer folk musicians
  49. Ted Stout, founder, Return on Innovation (ROI) Institute
  50. Jane Urquhart, author
  51. Ronnie Burkett, puppeteer
  52. Nancy White, singer and songwriter
Not scanned yet:
  1. Terry Mosher, aka Aislin, editorial cartoonist
  2. Felice Frankel, science photographer


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 06:37 a.m.

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