- Alicia Hansen
- Founder, NYC Salt
- Posted: 01/25/12 | Recorded at Gel 2011
- 1 comment
Alicia's nonprofit, NYC Salt, provides teenagers in New York with professional-grade skills in photography and other visual communication - thereby helping them succeed academically and professionally.
Here Alicia introduces the Gel 2011 audience to two of her students, both of whom entered college later in the year, on scholarships they achieved in large part due to their time with NYC Salt.
- Marc Abrahams
- Founder, Ig Nobel Prize
- Posted: 01/25/12 | Recorded at Gel 2011
The founder of the Ig Nobel Prize describes some past favorites - including some connections to other Gel 2011 presentations.
See also Marc's Annals of Improbable Research.
- Michelle Barwell
- street-medicine physician
- Posted: 01/25/12 | Recorded at Gel 2011
As a psychiatrist for Operation Safety Net in Pittsburgh, Dr. Michelle Barwell delivers mental health care to the homeless - where they live. Here she describes how she goes about this highly unusual and courageous work.
- James Chan
- entrepreneur and investor
- Posted: 01/25/12 | Recorded at Gel 2011
Native Singaporean, venture capitalist, and photographer James Chan has seen a tremendous transformation of that city-state as it grew into its present-day success. Here he describes some of the policies that set Singapore apart - and could help other cities succeed.
- Howard Warren
- educator
- Posted: 01/25/12 | Recorded at Gel 2011
Science teacher and explorer Howard Warren describes a unique archaeological treasure within New York City: Dead Horse Bay, an abandoned beach filled with artifacts from a particular moment in the 20th century.
- Vi Hart
- mathemusician
- Posted: 11/30/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
Mathematical constraints can help create beautiful music. Two minutes in you'll hear Vi Hart's "self referential string quartet" in which each instrument plays its own name - using the binary representation of the ASCII value of each letter. And she goes from there, in one of the most inventive Gel talks ever.
More of Vi Hart's brilliant explorations into math and music are at her site, vihart.com.
- Daniel's Music Foundation
- free music classes for people with disabilities
- Posted: 11/17/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
While recovering from a brain aneurysm, Daniel Trush showed such enthusiasm for music that he and his father founded Daniel's Music Foundation (see danielsmusic.org). Hundreds of people with disabilities in New York City now enjoy free musical instruction thanks to their efforts.
At Gel 2011, Daniel's Music Foundation brought together a full on-stage ensemble to describe how they work and perform two songs. (See also Daniel and Ken's Gel Health talk from 2009.)
- Jace Clayton
- DJ /rupture
- Posted: 10/20/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
The most important skill for a DJ to have, explains Jace Clayton, is listening. And not only to the music: understanding the audience is just as important.
Jace Clayton performs around the world as DJ /rupture and here at Gel begins and ends his talk with exquisitely crafted samples of his work. A singular Gel presentation.
Jace's blog: negrophonic.com
Jace's radio show, Mudd Up!, is on WFMU on Mondays at 8pm Eastern.
- Kirby Ferguson
- Creator, Everything is a Remix
- Posted: 10/20/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
- 1 comment
New York-based film producer Kirby Ferguson reveals the underpinnings of much of popular culture: remix. This is not a new idea, he argues. For hundreds of years innovators have learned their craft with an important first step: copying.
Watch the full series: Everything is a Remix.
- Johnnyswim
- Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano Ramirez
- Posted: 09/27/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
- 1 comment
A spectacular musical performance from JOHNNYSWIM. Crank up the speakers, watch it in full-screen mode, and enjoy. The whole set is excellent but the song starting at 17:30 would make a good anthem for the world today.
- Perry Chen
- Co-founder and CEO, Kickstarter
- Posted: 09/23/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
The co-founder of Kickstarter on the thinking behind his company - and the remarkable projects it helps make possible.
See also On Kickstarter, Designers' Dreams Materialize (New York Times, Sept 21, 2011).
- Nicola Twilley
- Author, Edible Geography
- Posted: 09/14/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
A Gel first: a presenter who explores the sense of smell. The olfactory sense opens up a "unique personal world," Nicola Twilley explains, as research shows that people have wildly different sensitivities to scent.
Nicola also reveals which scents have been found to be most attractive to each gender. Set aside your ocular centricity and enjoy!
Nicola's blog: Edible Geography
- Tom Lee
- Founder and CEO, One Medical
- Posted: 08/24/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
- 1 comment
The patient experience: so many people talk about improving it, but very few people have actually done something tangible about it. Dr. Tom Lee is a rare exception: his company, One Medical, provides an excellent patient experience in primary care. Here he describes the challenges and pitfalls in delivering a better experience, despite the torturous constraints in the American medical system.
- Anil Dash
- Co-founder, Activate; Director, Expert Labs
- Posted: 07/27/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
On the power of networks: Anil Dash tells a story of family, history, governments, and ideas - starting and ending with three Malcolms.
Anil is co-founder of Activate and director of Expert Labs. Here's his blog.
- Gel 2011 titles 2
- Animation for first Friday session
- Posted: 07/26/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
- 1 comment
Starting off the first of four speaker sessions on Friday, April 29, 2011, these animated titles showed the full visual expression of the Gel 2011 theme: breaking the barrier. You'll need to watch it multiple times to catch all of the creative touches added by the animators.
Conceived and designed by Thornberg & Forester. Music by Andrew Huang.
- New Yorker cartoonists
- Matt Diffee, Drew Dernavich, and Zach Kanin
- Posted: 07/12/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
In a feat of daring visual improv, New Yorker cartoonists Matt, Drew, and Zach draw original New Yorker-style cartoons based on audience suggestions. The session is based on the Fisticuffs show that Matt and Drew founded and run in New York City (often enough with Zach participating).
Online: Matt and Drew. Zach is hard to find online, but he did write The Short Book.
- Nell Minow
- Film critic and corporate governance expert
- Posted: 07/12/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
Nell Minow started off the Gel 2011 conference with stories of mistakes - both in the worlds of finance and motion pictures.
(As for her comment about her father: Newton Minow gave the "vast wasteland" speech 50 years earlier - taking on TV programming of the time - which prompted the producers of "Gilligan's Island" to name the boat the S. S. Minnow.)
Find Nell at moviemom.com and on Twitter.
- Gel 2011 titles 1
- Animation for conference start
- Posted: 07/12/11 | Recorded at Gel 2011
These animated titles began the Gel 2011 conference and set the visual theme for the whole event - and indeed referenced the conference theme as well ("breaking the barrier"). The narrative of the animation was developed further in subsequent animations, as each speaker session began with its own title movie.
Conceived and designed by Thornberg & Forester. Music by Andrew Huang.
