Ethan Zuckerman's presentation was one of the best I've seen in a long time. Forget the content, he had my attention from the beginning with his excellent stories tightly woven with videos and strong underlying points. His presentation was titled, "(dis)connected," This is the video he kicked it off with: He began by talking about how in many ways, we are more connected than ever before. That's why the guy in the video above, the lead singer of a plataco band (which refers to a band that sounds the same as a band on a record) called The Zoo from the Phillipines, was able to score an audition and ultimately the job of lead singer for Journey. But then he told us about a guy named Mike Berry who runs a website called the Trophy Room where he has gone after Nigerian scammers by turning the tables on them. Read the article I linked to above, which goes in to much more detail about his efforts.
Ethan Zuckerman
The crux of his presentation was about homophily, a term that refers to the tendency of individuals to associated and bond with similar others. Despite having more opportunities to connect with people around the world than ever before, we still choose to focus our attention on ourselves, our local communities. He invited anyone interested to get in touch with him following the presentation via his email: ethanz [at] gmail [dot] com.