 There are lots of ways to educate yourself on the Internet. You can find photos, documents, and films on almost any topic you can imagine. And at www.ted.com, you can access lectures by artists, scholars, designers, technicians, and others.
The first TED conference was held in 1984. It brought together professionals in the fields of technology, entertainment, and design (hence the "TED" name). TED was a place for people to share new ideas. Unfortunately, it ended up losing money, so the founders didn't try again for a few years. Then, in 1990, they organized another TED conference. The result was much better, and since then, the TED conference has become an annual event. In fact, now there are two conferences every year, and other spin-off events as well. The topics have also expanded to include music, medicine, and money. The conference organizers wanted to share knowledge even further, so they created the TED website. Their goal was to "offer free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers." On the website, you'll find videos of talks given at TED conferences around the world. These videos are available in hundreds of different languages. The TED website is owned by the Sapling Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to spreading great ideas. The Sapling Foundation acquired TED in 2001. Since then, it has been focused on using TED to broadcast ideas that might change the world. TED, of course, is not above criticism. Some say that ticket prices are too high, making it hard for many people to attend. TED has also been accused of censoring some speakers by not making their talks public. The complaints, however, seem to be relatively few and far between for such a large organization. After all, who cares about ticket prices when almost everything is given away freely on TED's website? These people should know a good thing when they see it. TED is a wonderful source of inspirational information for anyone who seeks it out.
網路上的自學資源五花八門，幾乎你能想到的任何主題均能在網上搜尋到相關照片、文件與影片。而www.ted.com網站，更能讓大眾觀賞藝術家、學者、設計師、技術人員與其他專家的演講影片。 第一場TED講座於1984 年舉行。該講座的目的，在於網羅科技（Technology）、娛樂（Entertainment）與設計（Design）領域的專家（「TED」名稱由此而來），與群眾分享真知灼見。可惜的是，TED後來虧損連連，因此創辦人連續幾年不再試辦講座。直到1990年，他們終於籌辦另一場TED講座，效果比以往好很多，也因而促成TED 轉型為年會型態的活動。事實上，TED目前每年會舉辦兩場講座，期間還會出現其他衍生的活動。講座主題亦拓展至音樂、醫藥與金融領域。 講座的主辦單位希望傳播更多知識，因此創立TED 網站。他們的目標在於「讓全球最卓越的思想家，將知識免費地廣為流傳」。大家可於網站上搜尋到TED於世界各地舉辦的講座影片，這些影片甚至有翻譯成上百種不同語言的字幕。 TED 網站由非營利組織「種子基金會」所有，致力於傳播絕讚點子。種子基金會於2001 年收購TED，此後便著重於將TED做為傳達各類有益想法的平台，希冀能夠改變世界。 不過，TED 當然也有備受批評之處。有些人認為門票收費過高，低收入的民眾難以參與。亦曾有人指控TED會以不公開講者演說的方式，禁播某些講者的演說內容。 不過，對這樣一個規模之大的組織而言，此類控訴相對少之又少。畢竟，幾乎所有資源均免費列於TED網站，又有誰會在乎門票費用？抱怨的人只要親自使用網站就會了解箇中道理。TED是一個為大眾提供勵志資訊的超棒來源。 | 
