The Exploration Revolution – My #TEDx Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne talk
Posted: 9 April, 2013 Filed under: 125, Community, Geography, Route 125, Sense, Travel, Types of exploration, Urban, Walk | Tags: exploration, fieldwork, Geography, Local, Mission:Explore, National Geographic, Polar, revolution, Route 125, Schools, TED, TEDx, Urban Earth Leave a comment »
I was delighted to be asked to speak at TEDxEHL last month at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne. I used my 15 minutes to argue that we are currently going through an Exploration Revolution, but that we’re not making the most of it… especially in schools. The talk takes place during the 125th anniversary of National Geographic, a year in which many people have been asking the society “what’s left to explore?“. This short video answers that question and more.
Me on National Geographic Live!
Posted: 14 January, 2013 Filed under: Geography, Sense, Sixth Sense, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, Types of exploration, Urban | Tags: exploration, Nat Geo Live, National Geographic Leave a comment »Last year I was lucky enough to be invited into National Geographic in Washington DC to give a Nat Geo Live! presentation. Part of National Geographic’s Geography Awareness Week this is my 50 minute presentation compressed into 20. I hope you like it.
Exploration Revolution
Posted: 25 October, 2012 Filed under: Biome, Commercial, Data, Ecosystem, External, Geography, Population, Public, Sight, Sixth Sense, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch | Tags: exploration, Exploration Revolution, guerrilla geography, National Geographic, Open Street Map Leave a comment »
I’m looking forward to speaking at a National Geographic event at the Wellcome Collection tonight ahead of the 125th anniversary of the organisation. The evening for commercial supporters of National Geographic in the UK is called the “New Age of Exploration”. In my short presentation I plan to (re)frame what ‘geography’ is (much like in this recent interview with Geographical Magazine) and then touch on an ‘exploration revolution’ that is taking place. Technology is not only changing how we conceive, plan, organise, conduct, share and review our explorations, but the number of people who can engage in them.
I love this short video by ito! showing four years of edits on Open Street Map. It’s an awesome example of collaborative and open exploration that involved over 750,000 registered users and shows collaboration at its best. For me, some of the most exciting cartographic ‘events’ in this video are where sparks of activity appear in countries, regions and neighbourhoods that were otherwise left uncharted or unpublished by governments and other organisations. It all demonstrates that places are not just discovered once, they can be discovered and rediscovered millions of times as they change and new people and other animals visit them. It’s a video that shows an Exploration Revolution that you are unavoidably part of…
Humuhumunukunukuapua’a
Posted: 18 April, 2012 Filed under: Ecosystem, Oceans, Organism, Sight, Swim, Underwater, Water | Tags: exploration, Fish, Graffiti, Hawai'i, Maui, National Geographic, Pacific, Snorkel, Street art, USA Leave a comment »
I’m recently back from a trip to Maui, Hawai’i. While there I was lucky enough to go underwater exploring with Emily Schell from National Geographic. I did not have my contact lenses and so my vision wasn’t as good as it could have been, but it was awesome to check out so many fish. By far I loved seeing the curious Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, the state fish of Hawai’i, the most. I didn’t snap a picture of the triggerfish on our snorkeling trip, but I spotted this one swimming through Honolulu a few days later. Cool fish, aye?
If you’re wondering how to pronounce Humuhumunukunukuapua’a then this culturally enlightening (?) article from the Daily Mail (!?) will give you a decent lesson.
