Tag: GE

Changing the World With Laptops: WEB Film Screening

Posted on by Sara Adam

It is difficult for most of us to even remember what our lives looked like before the Internet and cell phones. These technologies have become completely integrated into the operation of our daily live. However, across the planet, not everyone is as connected as we are. There are still 4.6 billion people who live without Internet access, which practically means that there are 68% of the world’s population lives without the resources accessible through the Internet.

NYU Professor, Clay Shirky hypothesizes that the question future generations will ask as they look back at us, are the ways that we used technology to make the world better and improve people’s lives. Organizations like One Laptop Per Child are aiming to do just that by bringing the resources and knowledge, accessible through the Internet, to places that had been previously disconnected.

One Laptop per Child gives durable, inexpensive laptops to entire classrooms of children in remote and impoverished communities. They believe that through connecting to resources online, economies improve, democracy can emerge, and educational opportunities expand exponentially. By simply increasing the percentage of the population with Internet access by 10%, a country’s GDP increases by 1.28-2.5%.

WEB, is an award-winning film that follows families in rural Peru as they receive laptops and get connected to the Internet for the first time.  Interspersed between the touching stories is commentary from leaders in the tech space, who discuss the impact that technology has on our society and our interconnected world.

Join us for a screening of the film and discussion with the filmmakers, Hosted by A Human Right, at SMW NYC!

Featured image courtesy of  Knight Foundation

5 Minutes With Colin Nagy

Posted on by Lindsey Taylor Wood

Advisory Board Member, Colin Nagy, is the Executive Director of earned and social mediaThe Barbarian Group. We asked him about the future of social, his interest in SMW and a few other questions. Here’s what he had to say:

1. What is your or your organization’s greatest success with social media to date?
We’ve done several interesting things, but I think our continued work with GE creating content for individual platforms, has been the best received. People particularly like the approach we took to Instagram, really investing original amazing photography and having a clear creative approach.

2. What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the emerging technology and/or new media space right now?
I think 3D printing is going to change the world and have huge implications for where manufacturing takes place.

3. What speaker or event are you most looking forward to at SMW NYC?
I read Emily Steel’s work in the FT and I’m excited she’s going to moderate our panel. She’s a serious journalist and I’m sure she will bring really tough and rigorous questions — something a lot of discussions seem to be missing lately.

4. What prompted you to join Social Media Week’s Advisory Board?
I love the global approach and the ambition.  I also like the many different disciplines involved.

5. What is the most creative way you’ve seen social media used?
I loved the Heineken Star Player app, that allowed people to predict the outcome of real-time events in a soccer game. Not strictly social but hugely interesting. I also loved that Elmo Calls app that IDEO did. Absolutely brilliant.

Colin Nagy works at The Barbarian Group as executive director of earned and social media. He also co-founded the travel company Fortnighter.com, and is also a brand and communications advisor to several NYC-based startups including Percolate, OLO, and Lot18.Prior to joining The Barbarian Group, he was a partner at Attention, a social media marketing agency based in New York. At Attention, Colin helped Tina Brown launch the The Daily Beast, and advised other media companies such as CNN, Newsweek, Mashable and the Guardian. He also represented lifestyle brands such as Ligne Roset and Herman Miller as well as respected hospitality brands Morgans Hotel Group, The Ritz-Carlton and Hilton Worldwide.Previously, Colin worked in policy, crisis communications and public affairs roles for a range of commercial and public sector entities around the world, including The Brunswick Group, based in New York, and the East West Institute, based in Prague. His work has been cited in publications including The New York Times, The Financial Times, Fast Company, Creativity and Monocle. Colin has written for AdWeek, the innovation blog PSFK, as well as various arts and culture publications. Colin graduated from New York University with a degree in Politics and European Studies.