CRRC-Armenia Helps Prepare a TedX-Yerevan Talk

Date: October 8, 2010

TED: Ideas worth spreading… Well, this post is actually not about TED, so if you want to know more, go here http://www.ted.com/. You are guaranteed to find something interesting on that website, but make sure to come back. I do want you to read this blog, you know J

TEDx Yerevan… No, actually, it’s not about TEDx Yerevan as such either, although it caused quite a stir, worth writing about. But I’ll just re-direct you once again, here: http://www.tedxyerevan.com/. I sure do believe you will stay with me despite all the side-tracks (actually it’s a hidden way of providing additional information and references).

So what is this blog about? It is about one of the talks at TEDx Yerevan: a talk by Timothy D. Straight “Where is Eurasia?” It started as a casual conversation on a Saturday afternoon when random ideas were being bounced back and forth. CRRC should do something at TEDx Yerevan, something interesting and relevant, something based on solid statistics but not boring. We had lots of ideas, we picked a couple to try and focus on. “Europe, Asia, Eurasia” was one of them. And then Laurene arrived.

Laurene Aubert, an intern from France, filled with adventurous spirit and enthusiasm for research. She was going through lots of numbers from lots of surveys in addition to our own Caucasus Barometer, to help put together the attitudes and aspirations part of the puzzle of Eurasia. More conversations, more ideas thrown around, more questions asked, more facts and figures added to the mix, more dead-ends discarded, and slowly the topic started to take shape, as other topics withered and died of attention-lack syndrome. The result is something we are proud to have contributed to: a perspective-challenging talk you should watch here. It’s the fourth video from the top. While you are at it, you can also watch the talk by Dr. Hans Gutbrod, CRRC Regional director. Before you go, here is something important to compensate for the chatty style. After all, we are talking about research here. These are the references for all the numbers Tim mentions in his presentation. Now go watch it… Hmmmm… They are already gone, aren’t they? Of course, no one ever reads till the end. That’s why you should put the main message up front. But that’s an entirely different story.

Sources of statistical information in “Where is Eurasia?” presentation at TEDxYerevan 25.09.10

1. How important is religion to their life?

EU: World Value Survey[1] 2005-2008

Russia: World Value Survey 2006

Turkey: World Value Survey 2007

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia: European Value Survey 2008

2. When jobs are scarce, do men have more right to a job than women?