We’re also observing many of the same trends that are seen in urban locations worldwide: the strength of online and offline social networks, a discussion of what the idea of “local” means in a globalising world, not to mention community-building and integration of sustainability into our everyday lives. And then we also see are the numerous open source and bottom-up initiatives that allow us to come up with new solutions to old problems (as well create new problems for us to solve).

So with so much going on, and with many of us looking for ways to make a meaningful contribution, what should we do?

There’s no one answer to that question, but learning how to work with a variety of people who are not like us, and in a way that increases everyone’s social energy and doesn’t suck us dry, is key. This isn’t easy and it requires trust, and trust is best built face-to-face, through conversations, debates and discussion.

So all this is why the theme we’ve chosen for this year’s edition of TEDxKraków is “Reconnect the dots”.

We’ll be featuring speakers and performers who will show how they connected the dots to create something new, or reveal something that wasn’t obvious, and we’ll be featuring some new (and not so new) ideas that we think could be useful to us here in Krakow. But our real goal is to connect the people who are up to something in Krakow with each other and inspire them to keep going. So the dots we’re really talking about, are you…

This year’s event will be the biggest yet, and we hope to see over 1000 of you on 13 June at ICE Kraków Congress Centre for a day of meeting, talking, listening and eating. We’ll be sharing our plans and speaker list with you over the next couple of months so make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or our website. Registration will open in mid-April. We’ll let you know when!

See you on 13 June!

Well, here’s a chance to find out about (a) and do something about (b).

On Sunday 8 June we’re organising the first TEDxKrakow Transcribeathon at Pauza In Garden (the cafe in the basement of the Małopolska Arts Garden, entry from ul. Szujskiego). We’ll be giving you an introduction to the TED Open Translation Project (a worldwide network of volunteers who translate TED and TEDx Talks) and you’ll have a chance to get going on your own transcription – the first step to sharing ideas worth spreading in over 100 languages!

Up until recently, the OTP project has concentrated on translating the 1,000+ talks on TED.com, but now they’re getting going on the 22,000+ TEDx talks. That includes those from all the Polish TEDx events, many of which are still on the “to-do” list.

We want to change that!

It’s going to be a business-and-pleasure meeting and it doesn’t matter whether you’re new to the OTP or are experienced – we’d love to meet you! Coffee (lots of coffee) and maybe some cakes will also be provided to keep you going!

You may be wondering why transcribe and not just translate directly? Well, having a good transcript in the original language means you can automatically extend your audience by reaching the deaf and hard of hearing. And secondly, a good transcript provides a solid baseline for translation into English, and this allows the OTP to translate it into many many other languages. But don’t worry, we’ll explain how the process works!

You don’t need any special training – all you need is a good grasp of Polish OR English and A LAPTOP and HEADPHONES if you have them.

You should also set up an account with TED and REGISTER WITH AMARA – it’s free but it takes a while to go through, so it’s best to do it a few days before. More instructions are here but we’ll explain everything on the day as well!

So please come join us at Pauza In Garden on Sunday 8 June. We’ll be starting at 11am and going until at least 4pm. Join us whenever you can make it – we will have regular quick intros to transcribing and the OTP for newcomers, and you can stay as long as you like.

Of course, if you’re an experienced OTP translator, or have some experience in writing subtitles, do come along – we’d love to see you!

You can find out more about the OTP and transcribing here.

We hope to see you soon!

Together, we’ll reflect on the issue of “curiosity” in the context of children and scientists – these two groups within our community are not afraid of challenges and experiments, the state matters plainly and are not afraid to ask questions.

Our guest curator, Agata Wilam, is also not afraid to ask questions. She’s co-founder and president of Poland’s first Children’s University, well known to us as a speaker at TEDxKraków in 2011 and host of TEDxKids@Krakow in 2012. Get ready – it’s going to be interesting and there will be a lot of questions

We’re going to be at Kino Pauza which is located at ul. Floriańskiej 18 on Tuesday 9 April. We’ll be starting at 19.00 and we’ll head downstairs to continue the discussion over a beer at 20.30.

Entry is free but arrive early if you want a seat. The meeting and discussion will be held in Polish, but the discussion over a beer will be in whatever language you feel most comfortable in.

Harald Haas - professor of engineering at Edinburgh University and pioneer of a technology that allows lightbulbs to transmit wireless data as well as light. This one got a standing ovation at TEDGlobal last year.
Jane Chen - co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a social enterprise that aims to help the millions of vulnerable babies born every year in developing countries. She presented a safe, portable warm and low-cost incubator for premature babies in developing countries at TEDIndia 2009.
Eric Berlow – ecologist and network scientist who specializes in not specializing. He helped found, and directs, the University of California’s first environmental research center in Yosemite National Park. At TED Global 2010 he reduced an overwhelming infographic on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to a few elementary points.

This is a once in a lifetime chance to talk to people working on some amazing projects – so what would you like to ask them?! We’ve got until Monday afternoon to send our questions over to them so that they can prepare. Please post them here, on our Facebook page or email us at hello@tedxkrakow.com. See you on Wednesday, from 3pm until midnight at Klub Pauza (ul. Floriańska 13, in the cellar)!

So… drum&roll… this year’s theme is “Secret Lives”.
We’re asking our speakers to show us what goes on behind the scenes as there’s always more to things than meets the eye. At TEDxKrakow 2012 we’ll look behind the curtain of the apparently mundane and everyday to get a glimpse of some of the unexpected, fascinating, worrying, intricate (and maybe even repulsive) aspects of life that are usually invisible to us.

We’re already hard at work talking to potential speakers, dreaming up ideas to keep you occupied during the day and searching for sponsors. If you’d like to help us with any of this – please let us know! In any case, please put 21 September in your diaries. And before you ask, we will be letting you know at the end of July about how the registration process is going to work…

The TED Prize will create a platform to allow citizens anywhere to participate in the creation of their City 2.0. The platform will contain editorial content (video and text), a shareable project database, tools for local connection and resources for executing ideas. The idea is to create an ever-expanding network of citizen-led experiments, with the ability to scale successes and learn lessons from failures.

At TEDxKraków, we’d like to use the idea of the City 2.0 to start a conversation about the Kraków of the future. We’d also like to enter the TED Prize competition and win it for Kraków!

The bad news is that we have to submit our idea to TED by May 15 as the winners will be announced at TED Global in June. The good news is that we don’t have to submit too much detail

So we’re organising a meeting for everyone who is interested in getting involved on Friday 11 May at 6pm. We’ll confirm the location shortly. at Kompany on ul. Berka-Joselewicza 21.

Everyone is welcome and if you have an idea you think would be suitable, please come prepared to give a 1 minute pitch. We’ll hear all the ideas and then figure out which ones to work on straight away. We’ll also work out where to go from here.

Learn more about the City 2.0 here: (please register yourselves too – there are a few of us there and we’re a bit lonely!)
Learn more about what we need to do to compete for the TED Prize here.
And learn more about the TED Prize here.