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Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:
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GBH Forum Network

The Forum Network is a public media service of the GBH Educational Foundation that offers thousands of video lectures by the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policymakers, and community leaders, made available to the public for free.

Lectures hosted on The Forum Network are presented by community organizations and educational institutions from the Boston area and beyond.

From science to the humanities, from local to global topics, The Forum Network is committed to providing outstanding educational content for lifelong learners, and to encouraging deeper understanding and civic engagement around the vital issues of our time.

Explore lectures by Topics, Series, Partners, and Speakers. To provide viewers with more information, lectures are further augmented with speaker biographies, related lectures and books, captions and transcripts, and downloadable audio.

In the past, GBH has collaborated with other public media partners—WETA in Washington, DC; Public Broadcasting Atlanta; and WNET New York—to record public speaking events. While the structure of the Forum Network changed in 2014 to focus specifically on the Boston region, previously recorded lectures remain archived in this website.

Major support for the GBH Forum Network comes from the Lowell Institute, an organization created to carry out the 1836 bequest of John Lowell Jr., to make free public lectures available to the citizens of Boston

Stay in touch with Forum Network. » Facebook Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Become a partner by joining our network as a local community content contributor. Email forumnetwork@wgbh.org with the subject line "New Partner".

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About GBH Educational Foundation

GBH enriches people's lives through programs and services that educate, inspire, and entertain, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of learning, and the power of diverse perspectives. GBH serves New England, the nation, and the world with programs that inform, inspire, and entertain. GBH is PBS's single largest producer of content for television (prime-time and children's programs) and the Web. Some of your favorite series and websites -- Nova, Masterpiece, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, Curious George, Arthur, and The Victory Garden, to name a few -- are produced here in our Boston studios. GBH also is a major supplier of programs heard nationally on public radio, including The World. And we're a pioneer in educational multimedia and in media access technologies for people with hearing or vision loss. Our community ties run deep. We're a local public broadcaster serving southern New England, with 11 public television services and three public radio services -- and productions (from Greater Boston to Jazz with Eric in the Evening) that reflect the issues and cultural riches of our region. We're a member station of PBS and an affiliate of both NPR and PRI. In today's fast-changing media landscape, we're making sure you can find our content when and where you choose -- on TV, radio, the Web, podcasts, vodcasts, streaming audio and video, iPhone applications, groundbreaking teaching tools, and more. Our reach and impact keep growing. GBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors -- Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards -- even two Academy Awards. In 2002, a special institutional Peabody Award cited GBH's 50 years of service to the "community, the nation, and the world with outstanding productions and collaborations."

GBH is devoted to bringing you new experiences, taking you to new worlds, and giving you the very best in educational content. We're here for you -- and it all happens thanks to your interest and generous support!

https://forum-network.org/

  • Beyond Black and White: Race in the Boston Public Schools

    Wed, Mar 23, 2005
    Basic Black hosts an hour-long forum with panelists and an audience in the WGBH studio. The discussion explores how the Boston public school system can maintain a commitment to diversity and provide a quality education. Major areas covered in the discussion include: the re-segregation of schools and how this impacts the achievement of students of color; multilingual education and the obligation to address the needs of a swelling immigrant student population; the re-examination of school assignments; and the impact of the recent court decision that the voluntary desegregation plan in Lynn, MA is unconstitutional. One of the goals for the forum is to provide a setting where the academy meets the community--a gathering that promotes conversations and ideas among Boston's scholars, parents, education activists and students.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • American Experience: Victory in the Pacific

    Thu, Apr 14, 2005
    Filmmaker Austin Hoyt discusses his new documentary, American Experience: Victory in the Pacific, which examines the final year of World War II in the Pacific, including the rationale for using the atomic bomb, and features first-hand recollections of both American and Japanese civilians and soldiers.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Adam Pertman on Adoption

    Fri, Nov 4, 2005
    Adam Pertman argues that adoption is changing the way we form our families, the way we perceive families, the importance of blood ties, how families are formed, what they look like and the way we perceive basic concepts of life like nature and nurture. According to Pertman, adoption is having a significant effect on helping us understand how our country is changing, how our lives are changing. [*Adoption: An American Revolution*](http://www.adoptionfilm.org) is a major multimedia project that plans to explore how transformations taking place in adoption today are having far-reaching effects on all our public and private lives. The centerpiece of the project will be a two-hour documentary special for national public broadcasting. The documentary will feature a rich tapestry of original stories, illuminating the joys, the challenges and the impact of adoption. The television broadcast will be linked to an ambitious adoption education effort, with innovative adoption-related materials for public libraries and schools, a new Web site with adoption resources, and more.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
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    Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy

    Tue, Mar 23, 2010
    Lidia Bastianich, host of the *Lidia's Italy* television series and best-selling author discusses her latest cookbook, *Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy*.
    Forum Network
    Food and Wellness
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Betsy Ross and the Making of America

    Thu, Jan 20, 2011
    National folk hero Betsy Ross, often described as a simple seamstress who rose to fame by creating our most recognizable national symbol, has long captivated the American imagination. But behind the legend is the compelling true story of an accomplished colonial artisan, a furniture upholsterer woven into a thriving colonial economy. Marla Miller, Associate Professor and Director of the Public History Program at UMass Amherst, and acclaimed author of *Betsy Ross and the Making of America*, stitches together the incredible story of this accomplished woman and explores why we as a nation cannot reconcile her true role in our historical imagination
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Faces of Syria

    Sun, Jan 9, 2011
    Fully subscribing to Mark Twain’s phrase, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness," Dick Simon and his family went to Syria in 2011 to better understand the human story behind the headlines. The Syria they experienced was not what they expected, the way our media has portrayed it. Simon said, "We found Syria to be a beautiful place with wonderful people. Our interactions with those we met opened our eyes and changed our perspective. Everyone welcomed us, including an encounter with President Bashar Assad, even after learning we were from the United States, the country which has imposed embargoes and labeled them Axis of Evil."
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Einstein's Relativity

    Thu, Dec 2, 2010
    Dr. Brainerd discusses some of the fascinating, and perhaps unsettling, consequences of Einstein's theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity. How do two observers, one moving with respect to the other, experience different perceptions of time and distance? How does gravity affect time and space? Is time travel possible?
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • The Road Ahead: Investment Outlook

    Tue, May 17, 2011
    After two years of strong returns, can the bull market continue? Investors have a lot to be concerned about. Unrest in the Mideast. Natural disasters in Japan. Rising government indebtedness around the world. What are the key long-term themes that will determine future investment returns? Choate Investment Advisors and Managing Director Todd Millay host a panel discussion of key investment trends. Todd and a panel of economists and senior financial experts discuss the road ahead for investors.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Naomi Shihab Nye Reads "One Boy Told Me"

    Wed, Apr 1, 2009
    Naomi Shihab Nye reads her poem, "One Boy Told Me".
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network

  • Stanley Kunitz Reads "Touch Me"

    Wed, Apr 1, 2009
    American poet Stanley Kunitz reads "Touch Me".
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    GBH Forum Network
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