Ashley Casovan @ashleycasovan
Ashley is the Strategic Coordinator for the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Passionate about creating open government and enhancing community engagement, she is currently working on several innovative projects within the Information Technology Branch, the City of Edmonton and beyond. Prior to working with the City of Edmonton, Ashley was a political organizer in Canada and the United States. Outside work, Ashley is an active board member with Next Gen, Equal Voice Alberta North, and the Institute of Public Administration, Canada’s New Public Servant Committee.

Steve Fisher @hellofisher
Steve is an internationally renowned interactive designer, speaker and open source evangelist. He has done work for companies all over North America and travels the world talking about design, user experience and open source. Currently Steve is working as the UX Director for Yellow Pencil, serves as the national vice president of web for the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and can be found hanging out with some of the core teams contributing to open source projects like Drupal. Steve likes running, fancy shirts and twitter. Find him at hellofisher.com.

George Siemens @gsiemens
George is a writer, theorist, speaker, and researcher on learning, networks, technology, analytics and visualization, and openness in education. He is the author of Knowing Knowledge, an exploration of how the context and characteristics of knowledge have changed and what it means to organizations today. George is currently the associate director of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University and leads the learning analytics research team. He has pioneered open connectivist courses that have included over 15,000 educators and students as participants. He is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, having presented at conferences in more than 30 countries. Find him at elearnspace.org/blog and connectivism.ca.

Amy Shostak @shostakattack
Amy has been performing with Rapid Fire Theatre since 2002, and is the current Artistic Director. She has performed at The Canadian Comedy Awards in Toronto, The Vancouver International Improv Festival (ViiF), The Winnipeg Improv Festival (IF), the Berlin Improv Festival, The Dad’s Garage World Domination Theatresports Tournament in Atlanta, and Vancouver Theatresports League’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Amy has been involved in numerous collaborative projects including: My Name is Jonas (Rapid Fire Theatre) with fellow RFT members, Colin Matty and Kory Mathewson, and A Watched Pot Never Boyles (Rapid Fire Theatre) with Arlen Konopaki. Amy is a graduate of The University of Alberta, where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Drama and Art History.

Tickets to TEDxEdmonton Salon Series #1 are available now – visit http://tedxedmontonsalon1.eventbrite.com.

TEDxEdmonton Salon 1: Rethinking Open Source Culture
Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 7 pm
The Citadel Theatre
Click here to get your tickets!

As the Internet came to be, we were all excited by the awesome possibilities that would be realized once this free-flowing, open network allowed musicians, artists, scientists and engineers around the world to instantly share their work. Remixing, collaboration, and new innovations would be the result. But while there have been great examples of open source projects (like Wikipedia) fueled by the wisdom of crowds, there are many examples where open source culture has fostered nasty group dynamics and mediocre collaborations. Have we glorified open-source software, free information and collective work at the expense of individual creativity? Or is open source culture here to stay?

What is TEDxEdmonton Salon Series

The TEDxEdmonton Salon Series is a set of intimate and interactive live speaker events designed to engage TEDx audiences throughout the year, and spark creative engagement within the community. In the spirit of TED Talks, TEDxEdmonton Salons are a gathering of curious minds, and place to explore new ideas and ways of thinking. At each event we’ll feature four unique local speakers – representing business/entrepreneurship, arts/culture, political/social and science/technology – each offering both visionary and practical perspectives and insights on the selected theme, followed by open, interactive discussion.

What is TEDx?
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The next free lunchtime event takes place Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at noon.

Location: Enterprise Square (2nd floor), 10230-Jasper Ave, Room 2-926

Cost: Free

Space is limited; pre registration required.

The next free lunchtime event takes place Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at noon.

Location: Enterprise Square (2nd floor), 10230-Jasper Ave, Room 2-926

Cost: Free

Space is limited; pre registration required.

The next free lunchtime event takes place Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at noon.

Location: Enterprise Square (2nd floor), 10230-Jasper Ave, Room 2-958

Cost: Free

Space is limited; pre registration required.

Live streaming video by Ustream

Pamella’s top talk is Karen Armstrong’s TED Prize Wish for a charter for compassion. “Karen Armstrong is a provocative, original thinker on the role of religion in the modern world. Although I don’t adhere to one specific belief, I too believe that all spiritual/religious ideas/beliefs are based on one common theme: the Golden Rule. Karen Armstrong approaches this idea in an educational way that is acceptable and non-threatening.”

Alana’s favorite is Wade Davis’s TED2003 talk on endangered cultures. “Wade Davis is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and one of the foremost experts on indigenous peoples and cultures. He has amazing photos and stories about the world’s many cultures that are disappearing at an alarming rate – 50% of the world’s 6000 languages are no longer spoken to children. It’s a favorite because it’s a reminder to step out of your own life and recognize that there are a myriad ways of seeing the world. It’s through that diversity that we start to expand our own minds and, inversely, end up learning about ourselves.