Recap: DemoCampEdmonton10

Tonight was our tenth DemoCamp here in Edmonton if you can believe it, and we’re still going strong! Our last DemoCamp was a little over two months ago, so it was definitely time for the community to once again get together. Cam asked the audience for a show of hands to find out who was new to DemoCamp, and a surprising number had never attended before. It’s fantastic that more and more people are finding out about the event, and are coming to support local entrepreneurs. Thanks everyone – keep it up!

DemoCampEdmonton10DemoCampEdmonton10

Before and after tonight’s demos.

We had five demos this evening:

  • Dave Bodnarchuk from EventIQ started things off by showing us InviteRight. He spent most of the demo showing the slick table organization features of the tool. Event organizers or venue managers can arrange registrations by table visually, using a simple drag & drop interface, kind of like seat selection on the airlines. They’re currently working with McNally and Spruce Grove high schools to test.
  • Our next presenter was Kent Tong from eQube. He started by explaining that eQube plays in the gaming sector – gambling, bingo, etc., not video games! Kent focused on something called Lil’ Gecko, which is a mobile gaming device rented to casinos and other customers, but they also offer a complete end-to-end solution. They’re trying to come up with games (casual things like Bejeweled) that get the average person visiting casinos again.
  • Next up was Brian MacKay from Tooq, a tool focused on the contractor and small business sector. Currently a few weeks away from beta, Tooq right now helps you create and manage invoices. Eventually Brian and his team hope to create a job market based around the people using Tooq for invoices, estimates, and other tasks.
  • Fourth tonight was Dave Chan from pureLIGHT. He demonstrated preLIGHT and pureLIGHT, applications his team has written to help designers light scenes. The key difference is efficiency – pureLIGHT produces the same kind of quality as similar solutions, but with significantly improved workflow and on-the-fly tweaking (not to mention a far lower cost). I wrote about the other side of the company, 3DI, back in December.
  • Our final presenter of the evening was David Quail, who showed us Attassa. Reminiscent of Xobni, Attassa is focused on improving organization and context in email. You can view messages by conversation, and can see a list of related people for any given thread. You can also find attachments really easily. Attassa works with Outlook and the iPhone, and was developed in just two months!

All of the demos were quite well done tonight, with only minor hiccups along the way. Having said that, I’m not sure that people were buzzing as much about the demos at RATT as at past events. I think my demo of the night goes to Dave Bodnarchuk. Though he ran out of time, the app looks good and he’s already got customers signed up, so that’s always a positive! I also really liked Attassa, and I think it has great potential.

Here are some upcoming tech events to watch for:

Stay tuned to Startup Edmonton and GameCamp Edmonton for updates on their events too! You can always see the latest tech events at ShareEdmonton.

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight. See you at DemoCampEdmonton11!

Upcoming Speaking Engagements & Events

On Saturday I was invited to speak at the Annual Sustainable Campuses Conference, on the subject of Open Data. I gave an overview of open data, shared some examples of open data apps for sustainability, and described how open data arrived here in Edmonton. We also spent some time chatting about Twitter, both in general and how it is being used by the open data community. Thanks to the organizers for including me!

I’ve got a few additional speaking engagements coming up that I wanted to mention:

  • January 25-28: Social Media for Government (on ShareEdmonton)
    The conference started today and finishes tomorrow, with post-conference workshops taking place on Thursday. I’m leading the last workshop that afternoon, where I’ll be taking participants through a social media campaign from start to finish. We’ll look at examples of campaigns that have worked, as well as examples of what to avoid. There are some really smart people speaking at the event, such as Jas Darrah, Diane Begin, Troy Wason, Ken Chapman, Walter Schwabe, and many more.
  • February 5/6: What Happens Next? Future of Story (on ShareEdmonton)
    I’m really excited to be taking part in this conference, hosted by MacEwan’s School of Communications. I’m participating in a panel on “The Next New Journalism” along with Karen Unland and Colby Cosh. The panel will be moderated by Rey Rosales, Associate Dean at MacEwan’s Centre for Arts and Communications. I obviously have some strong ideas about the future of journalism and media, as I’m sure Karen and Colby do, so it should be interesting, and fun!
  • March 11: MacEwan Student Business Conference 2010 (on ShareEdmonton)
    This conference aims to connect students with business leaders and innovators. I’ll be taking part in a roundtable discussion on social media – what is it, why is it important, how can businesses use it, and how it relates to an overall communications strategy. Hopefully we’ll also have some great discussion about how students are using social media.
  • May 5/6: Technocon 2010 (on ShareEdmonton)
    I’m honored to be one of the keynotes for this conference, open to all City of Edmonton and University of Alberta IT employees. The conference focuses on three key themes: open, world class, and transformation. I’ll be talking about open data, open government, social media, transparency, and more all related to the theme of open. Can’t wait!

Here are a few other upcoming events I’ll be at:

Hope to see you at a few of them!

Sneak Peek at the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton

Nearly thirty people from Edmonton’s very active social media community attended the blogger sneak peek today at the new Art Gallery of Alberta in downtown Edmonton. Armed with smartphones, video cameras, audio recorders, and lots of digital cameras, we toured the new building with Sarah Hoyles, the AGA’s Media Relations and Communications Coordinator, and Gilles Hebert, the AGA’s Executive Director.

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

The very striking building is situated at #2 Sir Winston Churchill Square, on the northeast corner between City Hall and Chancery Hall/Century Place. I think it is just as beautiful on the inside as it is distinct on the outside. Everyone is in for a real treat when it officially opens to the public on January 31!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the building with Torch Reporter Chris Wheeler, so I thought I’d start this post with some of the under-construction shots I took at the time:

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

Art Gallery of Alberta

And here’s one of AGA Board Chair Allan Scott, who has been working to make the new AGA a reality for more than ten years:

Art Gallery of Alberta

On to today’s tour! We met in the foyer, right underneath the borealis.

Art Gallery of Alberta

Here’s a shot of our guides, describing the borealis above:

Art Gallery of Alberta

Our first stop, after the coat check, was Zinc, the Art Gallery of Alberta’s new restaurant. Still under active construction, we got a very quick glimpse at what dining in Churchill Square might be like. As Sharon remarked, standing in Zinc is reminiscent of standing inside Cactus Club Bentall 5 in downtown Vancouver.

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

Here’s Chris and Sharon, representing Edmonton’s food bloggers:

Art Gallery of Alberta

Next we ascended the grand staircase to the third level, which provided us with a fantastic eye-level view of the borealis, as well as the opportunity to step outside onto the City of Edmonton Terrace.

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

We slowly made our way back downstairs, pausing on the second level to learn more about the way the new building is meant to capture snow. It’s explained in this video, which also provides a sneak peek at Storm Room, an interactive ten-minute exhibit featuring water, among other things:

Passing by the front entrance, we next visited the basement level, which features a number of education spaces (the rooms are named after colors, such as orange and yellow), theatre space, the AGA sales office, and the LRT entrance.

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

A lot of thought went into the design of the new AGA, something that architect Randall Stout illustrated very well during his talk back in September. It’s a building that you have to visit multiple times – it looks different depending on the season, weather, and time of day. It’s a fantastic addition to Edmonton’s downtown, and to the city as a whole.

Art Gallery of AlbertaArt Gallery of Alberta

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the tour today! You can see the rest of my photos here.

Here are some of the other posts from today’s tour (I’ll update as more appear):

Ice on Whyte 2010

Yesterday was the final day of Ice on Whyte 2010, Edmonton’s ice carving festival (now part of Winter Light). Sharon and I had been planning to stop by ever since the festival started ten days ago, but for whatever reason we never made it out. We made up for it yesterday though, visiting twice – once during the day and once at night!

Here are some day & night shots of Ice on Whyte 2010:

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

Ice on Whyte 2010Ice on Whyte 2010

You can read Sharon’s post here,  read about the ice carving competition winners here, and you can see the rest of my photos here. Check out the Winter Light site for more upcoming events!

Notes for 1/24/2010

Here are my weekly notes:

Edmonton Notes for 1/23/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Finally, Edmonton has its own mug at Starbucks!

Edmonton Starbucks Mug

Thoughts on Edmonton’s new City Manager

On Tuesday evening I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet Simon Farbrother, the City of Edmonton’s new City Manager. He started on Monday, just less than three months after his selection was announced. There were a lot of people there on Tuesday, so I only had a couple of minutes to introduce myself, but based on that quick interaction and Simon’s brief remarks to the crowd, I can say that he seems very genuine, personable, and intelligent.

Simon is no stranger to Edmonton. He earned his MA in Geography from the University of Alberta in 1985, started as a city planner at the City of Leduc in 1989, and after moving up there, left to become the City Manager of Spruce Grove in 1997, a position he held until 2005 when he became Chief Administrative Office for the City of Waterloo. You can read more about Simon’s background here and here.

I never really had the opportunity to interact with Al Maurer, Simon’s predecessor, but by most accounts he was a competent manager and all-around great guy. He joined the City of Edmonton back in 1970, as a traffic operations engineer. He became the department general manager in 1982, and went on to lead the Asset Management & Public Works department, and the Corporate Services department, before being appointed City Manager in 2000. During his tenure, quality of life remained constant (93% in 2000 vs. 91% in 2009) as did overall citizen satisfaction with City services (79% in 2000 vs. 72% in 2009 – all figures come from the Citizen Satisfaction Surveys of those years). It’s easy to find negatives too, such as the ballooning amount spent on consultants ($22 million in 1999 vs. $92 million in 2008). When Al joined the City, the population of Edmonton was about 430,000. When he became Manager 30 years later, Edmonton had grown to about 660,000. And today, as Simon takes over, Edmonton’s population sits at just over 780,000.

Obviously, Al Maurer and Simon Farbrother are quite different from one another. Al spent his entire career at the City of Edmonton, while Simon has moved around (and not just in Canada either, he earned his BA from the University of Portsmouth). Simon has never worked at a city with a population greater than 100,000 while Al has throughout his entire career. Al’s education was in engineering, Simon’s was in geography and economics. And of course, Simon is quite a bit younger at 49 than Al is. Here they are:

I was by far the youngest person in the room the other night, so maybe that’s why I took note of the age difference. I don’t want to make too big a deal of it, but I quite like the fact that Simon is a bit younger. My guess is that he’s younger than many of the other senior managers at the City, so I hope he uses that to his advantage. He said the right things in his letter to citizens, citing the need to “take advantage of new technologies and emerging opportunities” and generally exuding optimism and excitement for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

We’ve got a municipal election coming up on October 18, 2010 – maybe the average age of City Council will come down too?

Congratulations to Al Maurer on his retirement, and on the creation of the Al Maurer Awards Fund to recognize excellence in public service. And good luck to Simon Farbrother – I look forward to seeing Edmonton grow and prosper under his watch!

State of the Edmonton Twittersphere – 2009 Year in Review

Welcome to the State of the Edmonton Twittersphere: 2009 Year in Review, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Edmonton in 2009!

I’ve done my best to ensure that everything is accurate, but take all the data you see here with a grain of salt. If I make any changes, I’ll update at the bottom of the post.

The source of the data is a combination of Twitter and Twitter Search. If a user has his or her location set to Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Nisku, Stony Plain, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont, Spruce Grove, or matching lat/long coordinates, they are considered an Edmontonian.

If you compare the monthly statistics here to my monthly State of the Edmonton Twittersphere posts, you’ll notice they are slightly different. The monthly posts represent a snapshot – over the year I got better at identifying local users, retrieving missing updates, etc. This posts reflects the most up-to-date information I have been able to gather.

Summary

I identified just over 14,000 local users who posted at least one tweet in 2009. In December, I identified 5654 local users who posted at least one tweet throughout the month. Our peak for active users was in November, at 5989.

Here are the 2009 summarized statistics:

# of tweets by local users: 2,410,017
# of tweets by local users containing #yeg: 138,047 (5.7%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 868,722 (36.0%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 477,637 (19.8%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 112,463 (4.7%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 84,180 (3.5%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form:

And here’s a closer look at the total number of tweets posted by local users per month:

The 2.4 million tweets posted by local users in 2009 works out to about 4.6 tweets per minute. Just over half (52.2%) all of tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Hashtags

Starting in mid-July, I improved the way my systems track hashtags. Looking at the data now, I’m struck by the sheer number of hashtags that have been used by local users! From mid-July through December of 2009, I identified 29,469 unique hashtags. Here are the top ten:

  1. #yeg
  2. #Oilers
  3. #ff
  4. #ableg
  5. #followfriday
  6. #yegtraffic
  7. #fb
  8. #fun140
  9. #edmonton
  10. #yyc

Of course, #yeg is far and away the most popular. To put it into perspective:

Here’s what the tag cloud looks like without the top ten hashtags:

Another interesting stat related to hashtags: there were 437 unique tags used that started with #yeg. Here are the top ten:

  1. #yegtraffic
  2. #yegfood
  3. #yegtransit
  4. #yegfringe
  5. #yegchange
  6. #yegcc
  7. #yegphoto
  8. #yegfoodbank
  9. #yegsafetymtg
  10. #yegtweetup

The average length of a hashtag (excluding the #) was 11.25 characters, while the most common hashtag length was 9 characters. Hashtags four characters or less in length were used 2.25 times more than hashtags ten characters or more in length.

Clients

Twitter started reporting the client used to post updates in mid-February, so the data below is for almost the entire year. In total, I identified 754 different clients that were used by local users to post updates. Here are the top ten:

  1. web
  2. TweetDeck
  3. UberTwitter
  4. TwitterFon/EchoFon
  5. Tweetie
  6. txt
  7. Twitterrific
  8. twitterfeed
  9. TwitterBerry
  10. mobile web

Here they are in graphic form:

In total, the Twitter website accounted for 39.2% of all updates. The top ten clients together accounted for 82.2% of all updates.

Users

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

  1. revtrev
  2. Pat_Lorna
  3. wearestereos
  4. DrBarryLycka
  5. subunit1
  6. LesM
  7. DarleneV
  8. dragonage
  9. dancinginlife
  10. redneckmommy

There are 181 users with 1000 followers or more, and 1449 users with 100 followers or more.

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

  1. DaBaby
  2. revtrev
  3. dragonage
  4. redneckmommy
  5. dancinginlife
  6. paradepro
  7. Pat_Lorna
  8. lealea
  9. gsiemens
  10. wearestereos

There are 2799 users who appear on at least one list. Among those, the average user appears on ten lists.

Here are the top ten most active local users:

  1. bevurlee
  2. britl
  3. angelzilla
  4. AndyGroenink
  5. TrinaMLee
  6. Gen22
  7. GeneralTekno
  8. stygldpnyby
  9. FWEE4U
  10. akomuzikera

The top one hundred active local users posted 27.2% of all tweets.

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

  1. britl
  2. bevurlee
  3. angelzilla
  4. bingofuel
  5. ZoomJer
  6. akomuzikera
  7. mastermaq
  8. stygldpnyby
  9. Sirthinks
  10. frostedbetty

Here are the top ten most active local users using #yeg:

  1. iNews880
  2. edmontonjournal
  3. Sirthinks
  4. mastermaq
  5. ZoomJer
  6. ctvedmonton
  7. cbcedmonton
  8. BrentWelch
  9. DebraWard
  10. livingsanctuary & britl

Twitter Posts

Here are some of the interesting Twitter-related posts I wrote in 2009:

Final Thoughts

I’m continually amazed by the local Twitter community here in Edmonton! Local users have used Twitter to meet one another, to do business, to effect change, and to support the less fortunate, among other things. The community is not led by anyone, instead it self-organizes, and because of that it has accomplished some amazing things. I can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

Something to watch for in 2010: geotagged tweets (sending your latitude and longitude along with your tweet, usually via your mobile phone). By default, geotagging is disabled on Twitter, you must enable it in your settings. Thus far, just 270 local users have done so.

Thanks for reading my State of the Edmonton Twittersphere posts over the last year!

Edmonton in 2009

Last year I did a recap post called Edmonton in 2008. You can’t recap something as large as an entire city, but I did find the post useful to refer back to. I thought I’d do the same kind of post again this year, for the same reason. Over the last few weeks I’ve been gathering links to articles, statistics, and more related to Edmonton in 2009. I’ll update this post as I find more.

News Articles for 2009

Other Recaps for 2009

Facts & Figures for 2009

  • Population of Edmonton: 782,439 (source)
  • Number of calls to EPS reporting suspected impaired drivers: 9,201 (source)
  • Home sales: 19,139 (source)
  • Average single-family house price: $364,032 (source)
  • Average condo price: $240,322 (source)
  • YTD Passengers at EIA as of November 2009: 5,561,131 (source)
  • 2009 CFR Attendance: 83,904 (source)
  • 2009 Capital EX Attendance: 717,966 (source)
  • 2009 Edmonton Fringe Ticket Sales: 92,279 (source)

Leave a comment if you’ve got something else I should add to the list – thanks!

Notes for 1/17/2010

Here are my weekly notes: