Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
True North Strong and Free
True North Media House is virtual initiative which started at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics by media makers, enthusiasts and leaders from Vancouver's grassroots technology community. The idea was to aid media makers and documentarians with information, assistance and community events. When I heard about it I had to be a part. My greatest regret of these games was not taking the two weeks off work to enjoy the festivities and create more media! I did alright and was able to enjoy my time but my advice to others interested in documenting any great human event is to drop everything and soak it up.
Two of the leaders of True North Media House are heading to London to present about outsiders, online and social media. They will specifically be highlighting True North Media House, something that helped me stay in touch with the awesomeness of Vancouver's Olympics and allowed me to be part of something from wherever I was taking in the festivities. I wrote a few posts and put up a bunch of photos during the Olympics. Here is a wrap-up:
- The Olympic Torch Relay hits is Target a Photo Set
- Athletes Confused by the "Twitter Olympics"
- VANOC's Greatest Oversight at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Exciting and inspiring Crowd-sourced Olympic Videos
- BONUS: Thanks to the Olympics I was able to test drive the Chevy Volt!
With Glowing Hearts: The Social Release
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| Andrew & Jon |
The shooting of the 30+ hours of film is complete but post-production is a very expensive process to get done right so it’s time that we turn this project inside out and that’s exactly what we intend to do with a social media campaign unlike any other.
The campaign turns to the community at-large to support the completion of these important stories. In a Tweet and Toonie ($2) Torch Relay we hope to raise the $10,000 necessary to complete post-production of the film. Some stories need to be heard and this is one of them. This is a story about communities, for communities and now with our efforts, toonies or tweets made by communities.
For just $2 you can become a producer: your name will appear in a word cloud much like this. A $2 donation will show your name in size one font while a $200 donation will show your name in size 100 font. All fonts are proportional to the largest contribution. An image will be posted of the cloud and made available as a poster.
Enter to win a producer credit and copy of the film with a tweet: You can also enter to win a weekly prize of a DVD or digital copy of the film and a $20 producer credit (size 10 font). Each tweet represents an entry. winner will be chosen at random. All you have to do to enter is tweet one of these messages:
- I am a proud supporter and hopefully winner of a copy of the film #withglowinghearts and a producers credit! http://wghthemovie.ca
- Only $2 makes me a movie producer #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca
- I am entering to win a film credit and a copy of the film #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca
- Support local documentaries. Become a producer #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca
April Smith started out down and out, but through the power of social media and her drive to succeed she became an entrepreneur and community activist for a community in need of leaders like her. Her story is at the heart of the message in With Glowing Hearts.
Garvin Snyder is a self-declared 'binner' who utilized empowering social media programs - Megaphone Mag and Hope in the Shadows Calendar and photo contest - to create positive change in his own life and leads those around him to see the power of real life social media.
The True North Media House is a virtual space for media creators to join together for a variety of reasons. It was born during the lead up to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and began with an idea and a dream a group of passionate individuals. Dave Olson and Kris Krug spearheaded the project and are featured prominently in With Glowing Hearts.
Irwin Oostindie is an advocate for social change who has been working for 6 years to bring to life a vision of something different, something called W2. W2 is an initiative born from social housing protests outside Vancouver's famous Woodwards building in 2002. W2 is now Vancouver's most impressive collaborative project in the mind of this lone blogger. W2 is what it is because of dedicated visionaries like Irwin.
The Unfinished Press Release:
Freelance Camp: Intellectual Property
Minna asked me to speak about intellectual property theft online and what to do about it when it happens. I recently had and blogged about an experience having my intellectual property stolen. To me stealing doesn't happen until someone uses my creation to try and profit without credit to me. I am happy to share for the purposes of education, but I am not happy when someone takes that spirit for granted and tries to profit from it. Please read the original story or proceed without context ;)After I blogged about the theft and filed a copyright complaint with Slideshare; the offender, who I had warned twice previously by leaving a comment on the presentation, began contacting me via email. He was contacting me because Slideshare had suspended his account and ultimately deleted his entire document collection. He also tried to add me to LinkedIn and Facebook. I politely declined, but I wanted to share the email thread with you dear readers as the friends who I sent the emails to thought it was too good to keep locked up. So for your reading pleasure here is the email thread in the order it was received:
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 5:42 AM, Ali Hadi wrote:
Dear Kemped Monds
You've some misunderstanding, let me clear you that presentation readjusted with new visual effects just for training purpose not for selling purpose. It's my humble request to understand the value of information "sharing", I just offered people to learn about "big three" attend workshop $100 that doesn't mean selling the presentation. Hope you'll understand and remove all your negative comments which is very bad word of mouth for me.
It's my request to understand the benefits of information, although I did mistake without your permission revise the presentation and change all visual effects. "SORRY for that"
Regards,
Ali
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:08 AM, Ali Hadi wrote:
I just talked again to my web-developer who did it, I mean who design this presentation for me and he accepted he did it just for training purpose not for selling purpose. So try to understand we didn't sell your presentation just change visual effects and content to create hype n traffic for our FREE workshop.
Hope you understand our situation, we believe in sharing not in theft or misuse of material.
Thanks,
Ali
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:27 AM, Kemp Edmonds wrote:
Resolution will come when every slide I created has my name on it. Until then I will continue with my complaint. I now understand what your team did on your end. You must know that as a "Social Media Company" using other's work without crediting or refering to them is a major mistake
If the presentation is altered to credit me for the content and my name appears at the bottom of each slide and in the first slide as the author I will be satisfied. I also believe in sharing but there is a right way (with permission and attribution and not for financial gain unless u pay the creator) and a wrong way to sharing this kind of information.
Thank you for finally contacting me personally and I hope you take the time to resolve this as I have requested. Deleting my comments and hiding the presentation was cowardly.
Kemp Edmonds
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:32 AM, Ali Hadi wrote:
OK, I promise with you! I'll embed original link of your presentation and courtsey by your name on each slide "Kemp Edmond".
I'm again very very SORRY on behalf of my team, hope we'll both take positive benefits from networking and learn from each other, I know your positive man and understand my situation.
My slideshare account blocked and my all real professional work blocked, plz do me a favor send email to Rashmi and Jonathan [Jonathan and Rashimi are the principals at Slideshare] to restore my account, I will be thankful to you.
Best Regards,
Ali
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:42 AM, Kemp Edmonds wrote:
It's Kemp Edmonds.
I am positive and this is a learning experience mostly for you and your company. Pakistan may be on the other side of the world but the global village is tiny and I will NOT be contacting Jonathan or Rashimi. You may send them a copy of our correspondence and have them contact me to verify my wishes but this must go through the proper process. Had you acted more quickly to contact me I would not have taken the time to file the complaint.
I hope this has been a learning experience for yourself and your employees.
I am sorry for the inconvenience and negative press or word of mouth you may receive from this experience and the subsequent consequences from Slideshare but that is the price you have to pay for allowing your employees to publish the work of others as your own and allowing them to publish online under your name.
The world will become increasingly small in the years to come and learning what not to do now is a valuable lesson.
Sincerely,
Kemp Edmonds
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:50 PM, Ali Hadi wrote:
Dear Brother!
I'm completely agree with you but I lost my 85 slides, most of my best work which I have done in last one year. Don't know slideshare team restore my data because last time my system reinstalled and I lost of presentations and projects, please do me favor to email or fax again to Rashmi to recover my data although I have sent your text through facebook inbox to Rashmi and finding again Jonathan ID online.
We'll work together in future on many projects and ideas, I'm sure we'll do much better..I myself believe in sharing and good human relationship.
I really appreciate your kind support and your positive action!
Have a great day ahead
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 6:53 PM, Kemp Edmonds wrote:
Your data is safe and currently under review by SlideShare they did not delete your content but they may review other presentations for plagiarism. This has already been enough of a hassle for me so I will not be initiating any action to aid you. You must be the one to deal with the consequences of your actions and if that means losing all of your presentations then I am truly sad for you, but it is not my job to fix your mistake.
I would apologize here but this is your bed and you must sleep in it and learn from it.
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Ali Hadi wrote:
Thanks again! Hope you'll remove from your blog and website the word you use about my name and company.. plzzzzzzzzzzzz remove it. I will be grateful to you, Always at your service with mind set...my friend.
Good Luck in your every endeavor.
Ali
Please join me and many other Freelancing professionals May 29th at the Network Hub for an amazing day of discussion, sharing and learning in downtown Vancouver.
This is what I love about events like Freelance Camp and BarCamp:
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| Speakers are chosen democratically |
Crowd Sourced Olympic Montage Videos UPDATED
I have been troubled about what to write about the Olympics while basking in the short afterglow. I have a few things planned for next week in terms of intellectual discussion and the Olympic movement in general but this week I thought I would leave it to the people who created loved and enjoyed the Olympics to it's fullest. Under each video is a short description of and link to the creator.
Stephen Brunt of the Globe and Mail created this tear jerker of a photo essay of the games.
John Biehler a local citizen journalist and all-round awesome guy made this.
This video was created by AHA MEDIA's Richard Czaban. AHA MEDIA is about exploring mobile media production through New Media cameras. For a better quality version of this video, contact April Smith on Twitter or Facebook.
A tribute to the Canadian Gold Medal hockey team! Lyrics by Ray Blackmore & Produced by Kevin Lambert
This video was posted on Vancity Buzz and is a static video shot of downtown with audio as Canada wins Gold in Men's Ice Hockey. The sound you are hearing in this video is mostly from the LiveCity Yaletown venue in the lower middle of the shot. Check out the video above to experience the noise from inside the venue.
The Olympic Torch Relay hits its Target
I quickly got over to Willingdon Avenue in Burnaby outside BCIT to tak pics of the torch relay from the street. Thousands of people took to the street to greet the flame as it ran past BCIT. Check out this for more.
You can see all 200 of the photos I took of the torch relay February 11th on Flickr.
Streets of Plenty: The Vancouver Story of Addiction
Julien Smith talks in Vancouver
An Interview with Richard Loat @Mozy19
The Vancouver iPhone Forum Opening
Today thanks to organizers and sponsors Bell Canada, CBC, New Media BC, BCIT and many more; experts from all over North America have gathered in Vancouver to share their knowledge and experience with the Vancouver iPhone community. Not only that but thanks to Genius Factor Games Vancouver's first iPhone forum will be attempting a Guinness world record.
"This is a special day in the history of mobile social media. We are attempting a Guinness world record by creating a the world's biggest photo mosaic. Go to http://urthestar2009.com and download the iPhone App to be part of a Guinness world record."
- John Horodyski, Genius Factor Games.
Tuesday November 24th may go down as the day that a new Guinness world record was set at BCIT's downtown campus. It may be the day that a very special iPhone app was born, but it will definitely go down in the history of Vancouver's iPhone application development and business community as the day that the community came of age.After forging many iPhone apps that are best sellers around the world including "Color Splash" and iFart the Vancouver iPhone Community is having a coming out party of sorts. These apps are part of the history but, it is not these apps that are the future. The future lies in custom applications like Gary Symons' Poddio which allows reporters on-the-go to create, edit and upload audio and video stories directly from the iPhone. The magic of Gary's app really happens on the backend where the edited and normalized audio or video file is uploaded and distributed throughout a news organization network.
CBC currently holds the top two spots in the App Store in Canada for News Apps with the new Hockey Night in Canada application and the CBC radio app, a personal favourite of mine. The CBC Radio app let's you listen to any CBC station from across the country and CBC Radio 1, 2 or 3. Most impressively you can listen to shows you have missed on CBC Radio."Today is about leveraging the constant connectivity provided by the iPhone. We have brought experts from all over the US and Canada to bring the most cutting edge ideas and concepts to BCIT around the iPhone and constant connectivity."
-Jonathan Carrigan, CBC
The keynote speaker this morning, Bruce Dagge, iPhone Enterprise Accounts, Canada, Apple, came out right away to say that he didn't come today to talk about corporate email and systems. Today Bruce will be talking about things that you do not see in the app store. He went on to show us many examples of integrating the iPhone with corporate environments and security.
It's a revolutionary mobile phone, right? Or is it a mobile computer cleverly disguised as a phone? Why is iPhone in Business? Why are we gaining momentum? JD Power and Associates gave the iphone the highest consumer rating the last two year's in a row. The user interface makes it flexible and usable.In the beginning (DEC/07) Forrester said, "The iPhone is not meant for Enterprises". APR/09 Forrester said, "The iphone is for enterprises". They weren't wrong Apple just changed the product to suit the needs of enterprise. Apple listened to it's customers and worked with them to achieve what they wanted.
"Our people decided they wanted iPhone... it wasn't one of those things IT decided for them."
-Senior VP Global Information Systems, Kraft.
The iPhone is a critical part of the new Kraft. The iPhone changes how people work. The pace of change increases with the tools for collaboration. The iPhone made the office wireless. The need for the conventional desk has dissipated at Kraft as all the tools are mobile. The iFood Assistant makes the consumers life easier. Kraft: Allows personal iPhone use.
6 things enterprises are doing with the iPhone:
- Lookup and Reference
- Field Sales and Service
- Business intelligence
- Business Process
- Collaboration
- Training and Communications
Sunbelt Rentals a construction equipment rental company is using the iPhone for sales and by doing so is gaining efficiencies and an advantage over its competitors. TREK Bicycles is using the iPhone to scale out training and communications with customers and dealers through TREK University.
Any online communication has 3 components, creation, distribution, access. Mobility takes this to the next level by allowing one device to do all three of these things. Before Gary Symons became the CEO of Vericorder Technology he was a reporter in radio and television as the mobile guy. He has created an app that allows mobile reporters to record edit and send stories directly from the iPhone.
*He is now doing a live presentation of the app: reporting* It looks like the creation of a podcast. He created a voice memo. Now he is doing a script or 'wrap' to create a full news story. He used to do most of his stories out of his truck which he lived in some of the time when he was a reporter and now he can do the same from his iPhone.
His amazing app, Poddio ($150), allows reporters on the go to create, edit and publish audio files directly from the device, WOW. The file can be instantly uploaded to a Media Asset system and distributed around the world. The app automatically creates a podcast and publishes the story to predetermined media channels. "I set out as a working guy solving problems for working people." The app is soon to be able to do photo and video editing and slideshows complete with audio all done directly from an iPhone.
"There is an Enterprise Developer Program. You will never see these examples on the iPhone but the enterprise support for development and rollout is out there. There is a GREAT opportunity in custom apps."
-Bruce Dagge, Apple Canada.
Barcamp Vancouver #bcv09 Session Two
Raul presents his discussion topic in the morning to the entire 250 attendees of Barcamp Vancouver 2009. (Photo: Tyler Ingram)Raul asks the group, "Has anyone been asked to do something for free?" (Photo: John Bolwitt, Source)
Almost the entire room in my second barcamp session, "Freelancing i$n't Free" led by Raul Pacecho raised their hands when asked that quesiton. It was a great session with many great points raised.
It was just over have way through this session when I realized my services, as a new media consultant, were very different from the rest of rooms' services. Most of the room was speaking as photographers, coders or designers. All of these jobs requires a larger outlay of labour for any kind of job. Whereas my consultation services are usually free for the first 20-30 minutes. When the question was brought up, by Paul Lambert (Photo: Tyler Ingram), of whether or not to do work for free when starting out I was quick to jump in (Photo: Tyler Ingram) and recommended that it can't hurt for your first few jobs but I was speaking as consultant and not a photographer, designer or coder. Check out this freaky photo of me at the session.
Mark Busse (Photo: Tyler Ingram) who I spoke of in my first post had a passionate position that you shouldn't do work for free. His argument was well supported with evidence to support his position. He spoke from a position of great experience in his business when it comes to doing work for free.
In response to my statement Steve Tannock (Photo: Peter Andersen) another awesome person I met for the first time at Barcamp retorted my idea of doing a few initial jobs for free with his model, which personally I love. What he does is bill the charities and non-profits he does work for, but he doesn't expect money in return just a charitable receipt for his donation of time, translated into dollars. This led me to think about the various ways we can repay small favours. Tweet mentions, blog posts, referrals, charitable receipt, recognition, promotion, LinkedIn recommendations the list is endless. In this new economy (the digital one, not that 'Great Recession' thing) social capital is becoming increasingly more important and measurable.In the end of Barcamp Vancouver 2009 the one session I really missed out on was The Fresh Media & W2 sessions. Check out Fresh Media it's going to be at W2, wOOt! See you there. I will be there and having an amazing time learning. from noon to six on a Saturday. Great deal. Good Times. See you there.
Fresh Media Forum Vancouver October 24th
Barcamp Vancouver #bcv09 Session One
...a blast, and props to the organizers, which included Boris Mann (whose booming voice was the first thing I heard when I entered the office complex).
-Yule Heibel, who thoughtfully discusses the W2 Project discussion, which was the session I most regretted missing, in her post here.The agenda was made by the entire group and managed by Boris Mann and Darren Barefoot, Photo by Tyler Ingram (Source). The photo of the agenda was taken by John Bolwitt (Source).
I had the chance to sit down and meet Boris at the lunch break. Thanks to fellow BCITer Mack Flavelle (more on that later). It was great to get advice from those with more experience. The conversation was part of another discussion later on in the day entitled "Balancing Passion & Frustration" (Notes by Jenny Lee Silver). That discussion was led by Boris and Mark Busse. I liked Mark the moment he opened his mouth in my first session of the day which you can read about below. Intelligent, outspoken, opinionated and caring; the kind of person who even when you don't agree with everything they say is teaching you from a valuable perspective.
The first session of the day for me was the one on the top left in the post-it note agenda above. Cam Cavers ignited a discussion on "Building Bridges between Industry and Education" (Live Blog by Raul Pacheco, Photo by RocketCandy, Source). It was IT and web professionals sitting down with small business and educational parties. Some people represented all 3 perspectives through their experience. Discussions ranged from how interns and co-op students are unprepared to work, often coming from major degree granting institutions with a continued focus on 'theory' to how there is not enough collaboration among high-tech educational professionals. From my perspective the main need expressed from the group was a better way to meet and qualify students. I spoke up and recommended that they speak to classes and create relationships with faculty who then will recommend the most competent students for immediate employment opportunities. My friend Toan Dang had a even quicker idea: connect with students through clubs and student associations. The discussion concluded and Cam has set-up a mailing list for future connection. I hope anyone who wants to be a part of future if this discussion will contact Cam Cavers or myself for more details.I would like to include the one post that irked me and breaks the spirit of Barcamp as my presentation (Social Media & Educational Institutions: Highs, Lows and Silos) was singled out as:
a perfect example of what I didn't like.I posted a reply on his blog so be sure to check it out and see for yourself. I am still waiting for some actually constructive feedback (which I love, bring it on! :). I will continue to wait and respect all opinions in hopes of learning.
Barcamp Vancouver 2009 was an incredible expression of cooperation, passion and community. I will tell you more about it in the next post. Ultimately, Barcamp was about all three of my passions: technology, community and education. What more could I ask for? Signing off with these two pictures: one of the line to tell the room about the session you wanted to lead (By Peter Andersen, Source) and one of the room listening intently to the each speaker in turn (By GusF, Source).
There are about 20 more people off the right waiting in line
You can see the line in the distance the left. There are another 100 people to the right
All photos used in this post were used as instructed under creative commons license. Thanks to all contributors in advance and in perpetuity. The next post will highlight Raul Pacheco's "Freelancing isn't Free" discussion! Please leave a rant, rave or comment bellow, thanks
Postering in Vancouver
I have been wanting to tell this story to the 'world' for a while now. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that very few people read these 'rants'. I worked with other members of a student organization I am part of at BCIT to put on a FREE community event in Vancouver on Main street in early March.
I asked myself how best to promote and market this free non-profit event. Posters were a logical answer to the question. Little did I know I was about to enter Dante's 8th circle of hell. We began by asking small businesses in the Main st. and Commercial dr. areas of Vancouver to post our event posters in their windows. This was great, their property their choice.
But the most visible positioning is on the "Post Bills Here" areas setup by the City of Vancouver in various high traffic locations. We have all seen them, usually they are filled with stupid ads for $5 highballs or the next Weird Al concert at god knows what venue. I was hoping that our FREE Community event could use these areas for some much needed exposure... Was I ever wrong about that...
I began posting the posters with much joy at Granville and Broadway, along Commercial Drive and Main Street with high hopes. The poster looked great and it really 'POPPED'. I was very happy that my hard work would pay dividends and people would find out about something more than giant rock concerts and 'cheap' drinks.
I went back to Commercial Drive the next day for breakfast and sadly found that the posters had all either been removed or were pasted over, In LESS THAN 24 HOURS. I went to the other places and found the same thing. Some had even been torn off. I was choked... choked.
I came upon a poster advertising "Postering services in the city" and picked up the phone and got ready to let them have it. I was under some strange idea that this wasn't the wild west of promotion. I was wrong. It is.
I spoke with a very nice young lady who proceeded to explain to me very honestly that there are over 40 different 'companies' in Vancouver doing postering. I asked if people tear others down and was told that yes lots do, there are intense turf wars and some fights. She told me that a lot of recovering drug addicts take the work from the downtown bars and like it because they are truly independent and fiercely territorial.
Some of their company's employees had even been one punched by these crazies when approached regarding tearing down other people's posters. The City of Vancouver doesn't "Bills removed every Tuesday" in fact they don't even touch the posters.
How does this system aid free community events in publicizing themselves?
In other words where is the justice? The city is 'responsible' for these areas but it is truly the wild west of event marketing. Sadly, all we see is how the workers this system creates are responsible to no one but the bars and associations they work for. It's fierce and territorial and no one wins because hey who really gives a shit about $5 highballs at the Bourbon or the next 'big' concert in town that they hear about everywhere else anyway?
The one poster that lasted 2-3 weeks was put up on a plain telephone pole outside of the Jordan's furniture by the East bound 99 B-line bus stop near Granville and Broadway. If it takes using city poles to get out the message about free community events. Expect to see a whole lot more posters on the places where they aren't supposed to be.
One member of my team took out their anger and frustration by taking an Exacto knife and tearing down all the posters at Granville and Broadway. At the last post they looked back to see two different posters working in their wake to get their posters up onto the coveted public area for posting bills...
After our event happened I excitedly exited the 8th circle of Hell.... Thank God!
NEXT POST: Coffee or Cars... Haven't decided yet...
PLEASE COMMENT ON YOUR EXPERIENCES TRYING TO PROMOTE!
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