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The TED mission, and the TEDx mission is,
"Ideas Worth Spreading"

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... and it is a laudable one, in fact,
and it's a lot of fun.

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But there are some challenges in this
world in fact,

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that will not succumb to a great idea.

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You have to develop and deploy
solutions to defeat them.

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I like to call these opportunities,
"Problems Worth Solving."

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Today, you're going to learn
about two projects,

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where members of the Baltimore
community came together.

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And I like to call them
a forced collaboration,

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because they didn't know each other,

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but have committed to work together
to launch and deploy

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a solution today at TEDxBaltimore.

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And the first one is called
Project CASL (Castle).

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For the TEDxMidAtlantic conference
that was last October,

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I had recruited a fellow
by the name of Derek Braun.

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Derek is a geneticist. He's on the faculty
of Gallaudet University.

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Derek is deaf.

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And in early April, on April the 1st,
I went down to meet him.


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April the 1st, no joke.
(Laughter)

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On my drive back, I started thinking,
like a little hamster on the wheel.

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I've been in Baltimore about 2 years
at that time, and I've been out,

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I've gone out. I've been to conferences,
workshops, theater, so forth,

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and I had never encountered
a sign language interpreter.

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Which fundamentally meant that, in fact,

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I had never shared an experience
with a deaf person.

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Now I know the Deaf
certainly are among us,

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and we are sharing public spaces,
roads, restaurants...

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...but how can this be normal?
It's weird, I thought.

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The reality is, that for a variety
of excuses and failures,

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a minority group within society
has become isolated from the rest.

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The Deaf community, you and me, are being
deprived of opportunities to interact.

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And these are experiences that would
augment us all, and enrich society.


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We are being deprived of that.

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So how does something like this
come to be acceptable?

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Today? In America? Anywhere?


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I don't know. I really don't.

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Well... At TEDxBaltimore we decided
to make it unacceptable.

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April the 1st, I met Derek Braun.
May the 3rd, I'm up in New York

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to run our first test…
...and this is the scene.

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Working with a pair of interpreters,
Chris Tester and Natalie Atlas.

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So you see on that far monitor,

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this is the feed from TEDxDelrayBeach
coming off the web in Florida.

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And right above that little monitor
facing Chris, is a little webcam.

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and it's capturing his interpretation
and this is what our viewers online saw.

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On one side Chris, and on the other side,
the TEDxDelrayBeach

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And low and behold, it worked.
Simple as that.

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And this is simply a web browser, a page.

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And what I learned was, that in sign
language, clapping is like this

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So, what we had demonstrated, 
was that

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no matter where the interpreter is,
where the conference is,

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we can combine them on stage,
for Deaf viewers anywhere.

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And this is not even a platform,
it's a web browser. Neat, huh?

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And the website is ProjectCASL.com.

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April 1st, May 3rd, January 31st.

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Today we launched Project CASL.

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(Applause)

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And these are
the 4 volunteer interpreters,

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in this case, they're working
downstairs backstage.

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And in fact they really are pioneers.

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They volunteer their time
to come and be part of this.

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And today, we actually
raised the stakes even more,

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We are broadcasting
into the audience, into iPads.

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If you are using Project CASL,
could you please stand?

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It's not working?
Okay, well, technical difficulties.

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The idea was they'd be sitting there,
and we'd be broadcasting

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into the audience on iPads.

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We'll get it to work
by the end of the day.

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Fundamentally,
this is extremely important.

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This is a community event about bringing
people together, and that is the vision.

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Now, it's pretty big, you know,
April 1st, January 31st, pretty awesome.

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There's another reality though,
I want you to understand is that,

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I don't want you to think
this was all fun and games.

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In fact, it was fun,
but it's been challenging.

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I've been talking to everyone,
who would listen.

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And to some in fact who wouldn't listen.

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You know about this, if it's so simple,
why don't we do it? It's a simple browser.

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And some people asked me questions,
you know,

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is it appropriate to pay,
a professional interpreter?

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Not to pay the interpreter to volunteer?

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How would you prepare the interpreters?
How will the Deaf community receive it?

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And 60 other questions.
And you know what, I don't know.

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But I know this, what we are doing today,
has never been done before.

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And I recognize that some of the questions
that these people are asking me,

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and I will tell you, some of these critics
are in the audience, I see them.

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Some of the questions they raise,
are in fact legitimate,

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and they are very important,
but Project CASL comes first.

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Project CASL needs to succeed, so we can
get to the point that we can

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tackle the important questions.

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If CASL fails, the questions are moot.
Project CASL must succeed first.

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So I hope you join me in supporting
Project CASL, because I strongly believe

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that this is a "Problem Worth Solving"

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(Applause)

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And to members of the Deaf community,

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I want to say this,

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I am committed to developing
a sustainable business model

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to unleash CASL across Baltimore,

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and make it available to any TEDx
organizer in the world.

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Hell, even at the the big TED
conference in March.

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and I look to rely on your help
and your insight.

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and your help and your insight.

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Thank you very much, this is certainly
a "Problem Worth Solving". (Applause)