The Journey of an Image: the evolution of visual social media in our TEDx talk

26th July 2016

Pulsar’s VP of Product, Francesco D’Orazio (@abc3d) presented ‘The Journey of an Image: big data, social media and how ideas spread’ at TED x University of Bristol in June. TEDx co-organiser, Hannah Haddad asked Fran to join a line up of inspirational and industry-leading thinkers, which saw him share his thoughts on how social media is evolving and what it means for society and how we understand it.

In the Journey of an Image, Fran runs through a millennium in just over 30 minutes - touching on key historical moments leading to the emergence of our modern visual culture and how we went from barely accepting the idea of representing scenes from everyday life, to taking selfies and pictures of our food.

Using key pieces of social media research, from visualising the virality of video content to mapping the journey of an image that changed the perception of the refugee crisis, Fran shows how the data we're generating in the process can lead to new ways of understanding society but also new challenges arising from the complexity of the information at hand.

You can watch 'The Journey of an Image’  talk in full here:

TED is a nonprofit organisation aimed at sharing innovative and inspiring ideas, which invites world leading thinkers to present for 18 minutes or less. TEDx (x = independently organised event) is essentially a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

If you’d like to learn more about the ‘Journey of Image’ study or you’d like to speak with Francesco about him presenting at one of your events, you can contact him on [email protected].