The Facebook Effect with Mark Zuckerberg
[Recorded: July 21, 2010]
The growth and impact of Facebook is mind blowing, even for an industry that considers "overnight success" to be a long-range goal. Founded in a Harvard dorm room on February 4th 2004 by 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook announced in July 2010 that had it reached the milestone of 500 million registered users. Facebook isn't just an American success story, most users are outside of the United States and half of them log on every day.
Facebook has already made an irr
"Poverty and Income Inequality in Brazil" (video)
A presentation by Ricardo Paes de Barros, University of Chicago Tinker Visiting Professor, and Researcher at the Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), a public foundation linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management. This lecture stems from a 2006 IPEA report on the "Recent Fall in Income Inequality in Brazil". This report sought to consolid
"New Writing from the Balkans" (video)
Readings of original poetry and fiction by two leading South Slavic authors, Igor Štiks from Croatia and Aleš Debeljak from Slovenia, both of whom currently reside in Chicago. The readings are followed by a discussion of the creative atmosphere and trends in contemporary literature in Southeast Europe, with time devoted to the experience of writing away from one’s home country. Sp
"Reading 'Legitimation Crisis' in Tehran" (video)
A talk by Danny Postel, Senior Editor of openDemocracy, an online global magazine of politics & culture. The Iran depicted in the headlines is a rogue state ruled by ever-more-defiant Islamic fundamentalists. Yet inside the borders, an unheralded transformation of a wholly different political bent is occurring. A "liberal renaissance," as one Iranian thinker terms it, is emerging in Iran, a
"Why I Went to Iraq…Three Years Later"
A talk by Noriaki Imai, student environmental and peace activist. At 18 years of age, Noriaki Imai traveled to Iraq to study the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqi children. While in Iraq, he was taken hostage and threatened to be killed unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq. Fortunately, he was released alive, but when he returned
"Q&A with Director Hitomi Kamanaka" (video)
A discussion with the director of the film Rokkashomura Rhapsody: A Plutonium Plant Comes to Northern Japan. Part of the Japan at Chicago Lecture Series: Celebrating Protest. Sponsored by the Japan Committee of the Center for East Asian Studies, the Human Rights Program, the Center for International Studies, the Committee on Cinema and Med
"The Fifteen-Woman Lawsuit Opposing the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq" (video)
A talk by lawyer Michiko Nakajima. In the course of the Iraq War, citizens in Japan, singly or in groups, have been taking the state to court alleging violation of the "no war" clause of the Constitution in deploying Self-Defense Force troops. Feminist labor lawyer Michiko Nakajima led a group of 15 women plaintiffs in one such suit. This
"U.S.-Cuban Academic Relations Part I: The Politics of U.S.-Cuban Exchanges" (video)
Wayne Smith, Center for International Policy and Louis Pérez, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
U.S. and Cuban scholars involved in academic, scientific, and cultural research face significant difficulties in maintaining open and thorough dialogue with each other due to restrictions governing travel between the two countries. Such
"Petroleum Technology Presentation" (video)
A talk by Brian C. Gahan, Energy Consultant; Chair of the Chicago Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; former Senior Scientist and Manager of E&P Technology Development at the Gas Technology Institute.
Session 4 of the conference "Petroleum: Prospects and Politics." Sponsored by the Chicago Society. Co-sponsored by the Student Government of the Universi
"The Mind of the Market" (video)
Author and psychologist Michael Shermer explains how evolution shaped the modern economy-and why people are so irrational about money. How did we make the leap from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumers and traders? Why do people get so emotional and irrational about bottom-line financial and business decisions? Is the capitalist marketplace a sort of Darwinian orga
"Immigrant Organizations in the U.S.: Opportunities and Challenges" (video)
A talk by Oscar Chacón, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities (NALACC). From the Katz Center for Mexican Studies.
Displacement Week: "The Effects of Gentrification on Chicago's Communities" (video)
A panel discussion with Jamie Kalven: Writer, Invisible Institute; Tom Walsh: Director of Advocacy and Public Policy, Jewish Council on Urban Affiars; Victoria Romero: President of the Board, Pilsen Alliance. Moderated by Virginia Parks: Assistant Professor, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago.
Genocide Conference Panel 3: “Confronting Darfur" (video)
This panel addressed the conflict in the Darfur region of The Sudan and the allegations of genocide; the adequacy of the international response to the crises and proffer solutions to end the conflict.
Vincent O. Nmehielle, Principal Defender of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Associate Professor of Law, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
"Muslim Peace Building in Conflict Regions of Southeast Asia" (video)
A historical overview of the situation in southern Thailand and southern Philippines is presented, followed by a discussion on peace building efforts in conflict regions. Panelists give special attention to welfare and security issues in these areas. The panel is moderated by Kikue Hamayotsu (Ph.D., Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University). Panelists include: Kriya Lanputeh (Yala Islamic University), Abdulghoni Suetair (Prince of Songkla University), Pattama Hamingma (Asian
"Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making" (video)
"Superclass" provides the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. It is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in which we live. Rothkopf is also the
"Hugo Chavez y la Realidad Venezolana de Hoy" (video)
A talk by Teodoro Petkoff, prominent Venezuelan politician, journalist and economist. From the Center for Latin American Studies.
"Prescription for Survival: A Doctor's Journey to End Nuclear Madness" (video)
A talk by Bernard Lown, MD.
Physician, author, and Nobel Prize-winning peace activist Bernard Lown discusses his new memoir, "Prescription for Survival: A Doctor's Journey to End Nuclear Madness". The inventor of the defibrillator, Dr. Lown was also a peace and anti-nuclear activist, participating in the founding of Physicians for Social Responsibility in 1960
"The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power" (video)
Writer, film-maker, and leading figure of the international left Tariq Ali speaks about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the future of U.S. involvement in the region. Ali's new book, "The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power", weighs the prospects of those contending for power in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and demonstrates Pakistan
"The U.N. Security Council and the Making of the Modern World" (video)
A talk by professor and author David Bosco. From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of global politics. Part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five great powers to sit down toget
"The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in t
A talk by New York Times journalist Neil MacFarquhar. His book, "The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday" reveals a cross-section of unsung, dynamic men and women pioneering political and social change. There is the Kuwaiti sex therapist in a leather suit with matching red headscarf, and the Syrian engineer advocatin
