Notes for 4/26/2009

Here are my weekly notes:

UPDATE: On Friday I did another interview about Twitter, this time for CityTV. You can watch the segment here.

Edmonton Notes for 4/25/2009

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Edmonton’s LRT now extends to South Campus

This morning I went down to Health Sciences/Jubilee LRT Station for the grand opening of Edmonton’s two newest LRT stations – McKernan/Belgravia (114th Street and 76th Avenue) and South Campus (116th Street and 65th Avenue). Construction of the 2.3km extension south from Health Sciences began in 2005. Regular transit service begins tomorrow.

South Campus LRT Grand OpeningSouth Campus LRT Grand Opening

I received the media advisory about the event earlier this week, and had to read it twice:

To ride the ceremonial train, media MUST park in the designated parking lot at South Campus. From there, media and dignitaries will board an ETS shuttle at 9:15 a.m. which will travel to the Health Sciences Station where the LRT will depart as part of the official opening ceremonies.

This is a transit event, yet the media must drive and park? They could have at least encouraged everyone to take the bus or train! I understand the media sometimes carry a lot of equipment, but seriously. Sharon and I took the train to Health Sciences and met the group there. I was happy to see that ETS seemed to consider bloggers and other citizen journalists part of the media, though I suppose it would have been logistically impossible to turn anyone away (the train was packed).

In any case, we got to ride the first public LRT train on the new south extension. We stopped for a short ceremony at McKernan/Belgravia, where a group of residents had gathered to welcome the arrival of the first train. The total trip from Health Sciences was about two minutes:

Next of course, was the trip to South Campus. I sat across from Mayor Mandel, who happily chatted with everyone around him. At one point he said of the extension: “This is great, but it’s history now. We need to keep going.” He later reiterated this in his official remarks. Fortunately, construction of the track to Century Park (formerly Heritage) is well underway (and should open in April 2010). The trip from McKernan/Belgravia to South Campus was also about two minutes:

The South Campus LRT station also had a large group of people to welcome the train, and played host to the ETS Community Fair after the opening ceremony. Mayor Mandel, Minister of Labour Rona Ambrose, Minister of Aboriginal Relations Gene Zwozdesky, and University of Alberta VP Facilities and Operations Don Hickey all said a few words and participated in the unveiling of the commemorative plaque.

South Campus LRT Grand Opening

I was struck by how empty the area looks – there’s not much around the station right now. It will become a major transit hub however, as ETS is re-routing bus service to feed into the LRT system. You can read about all the transit service changes here.

South Campus LRT Grand OpeningETS Community Fair

The opening of these two stations is a great thing for Edmonton. I look forward to many more LRT station launches in the hopefully not-too-distant future. You can see more photos of the event here. The official news release is here.

National Volunteer Week 2009

This year’s national celebration of volunteers kicked off on Sunday and runs until Saturday. National Volunteer Week happens each year to recognize the thousands of individuals across Canada who contribute their time and energy to worthy causes. From Volunteer Canada’s press release:

“The economic recession is a difficult time for all of us, “said Ruth MacKenzie, president of Volunteer Canada.  “But many are using this time to roll up their sleeves, share their skills, and better their communities and the lives of others.”

I got some good news to start the week – my application to join the Community Engagement Advisory Committee for Edmonton EXPO 2017 as a volunteer member was accepted! I’m really looking forward to helping where I can and learning a lot through the process. I think EXPO 2017 would a fantastic event for Edmonton, and I’m going to do what I can to help win the bid.

Also this week, I signed up to volunteer for Homeless Connect 2, taking place on Sunday, May 24th at the Shaw Conference Centre downtown. I’m happy to help however I’m needed, though I’m sure they’ll have computers and Internet access on site so perhaps I can lend a hand there. For those of you new to the event:

Homeless Connect is a community event bringing together agencies, businesses and volunteers, on one day and at one location, to provide a range of services which can help homeless people out of homelessness.

The first Homeless Connect was a major success, so Homeward Trust promptly planned two more (the third will be in October). If you’d like to get involved, you can donate or volunteer.

If you’d like to find out about other volunteer opportunities in Edmonton, check out Volunteer Edmonton. They’re hosting a Festival Volunteer Fair on May 13th at the TransAlta Arts Barns.

Thank you volunteers – keep doing what you’re doing!

UPDATE: The City has launched a new online database to connect volunteers with opportunities. More information here.

Earth Day 2009 in Edmonton

Happy Earth Day! This annual celebration of our planet is observed in 175 countries, according to Wikipedia. There is an event here in Edmonton to mark the occasion of course, but this year is particularly important as we’re hosting the 2009 ICLEI World Congress from June 14th to 18th. The conference takes place every three years and provides governments from around the world with an opportunity to discuss environmental sustainability. For Edmonton, it’s an opportunity showcase just how green we are!

Leading up to ICLEI, there are are a number of green events happening in Edmonton, starting with the 20th anniversary of our Earth Day celebration:

Featuring 6 hours of mainstage entertainment, a blend of environmental, wholistic, animal and human rights exhibitors, hands on environmental education activities for the kids, body friendly food and more – this is one of Canada’s largest environmental festivals.

Head down to Hawrelak Park on Sunday, April 26th from noon until 6:00pm to join in the festivities, and check out the Facebook group for more information. You might also want to visit the ETS Community Fair on Saturday, April 25th to celebrate the opening of the latest LRT extension.

Celebrating Earth Day is great, but it would be better to make every day Earth Day. Here are some local tools to help you go green:

Carrying a reusable bag to the store and using a reusable coffee mug are a couple of other simple things you can do. I take my reusable coffee mug to work every day, but I usually make my coffee at home. On Earth Day however, I always go to Starbucks for free coffee!

Finally, as my Mom likes to say: reduce, reuse, and recycle!

Recap: Edmonton Photography Tweetup 1

The first Photography Tweetup here in Edmonton was held tonight at Red Robin downtown, organized by @TonyRatcliffe and @bruceclarke – thanks guys! The idea was simple – an opportunity for any local Twitter users interested in photography to get together to meet one another, share tips and resources, etc. About 20 people showed up, a really great turnout!

Edmonton Photography Tweetup

We went around the table and did introductions, and then enjoyed lots of chatter over food and drinks. Near the end of the tweetup, @TonyRatcliffe led a discussion about what the group hoped to achieve and what future events should look like. Everyone was there to learn, basically!

The next Photography Tweetup will be on May 12th, at 6:30pm at Ezio Farone Park (roughly 109th Street and 97th Avenue, just before you head south over the High Level Bridge). Keep an eye on the wiki and the #yegphoto hashtag for more information.

I love events like this. There were people who came out tonight who haven’t been to any of the other tweetups, or to any of the other tech events for that matter (DemoCamp, Social Web Meetup, etc). It’s a great opportunity for them to get introduced to everything that is going on Edmonton, in tech and beyond.

With that in mind, check out Edmonton FlickrMeets, a group of local Flickr users. They too have regularly scheduled photography meetups for anyone interested!

I posted a few more photos and short video here.

Edmonton Transit (ETS) – The Every Day Way

As you may have noticed, Edmonton Transit (ETS) has launched a new marketing campaign in conjunction with the grand opening of the McKernan/Belgravia and South Campus LRT Stations. I’m not sure which agency created the concept (or if it was done in-house), but I love it!

The Every Day WayThe campaign uses simple, bold wording and color schemes to convey a simple message: ETS is the every day way.

This is the right message for ETS. They need to get across the idea that you can use public transit as part of your daily routine. That transit can fit into your life in a positive way!

So far I’ve seen three:

  • The every day way to go green with a new routine
  • The every day way to save $5500 a year
  • The every day way to South Campus

Here are some others that could work:

  • The every day way to save money on parking and gas
  • The every day way to achieve a less-stressful commute
  • The every day way to reach your destination safely
  • The every day way to the Edmonton Eskimos

A second stage of the campaign could have real people in the ads, to try to eliminate any negative perceptions attached to riding the bus. I’m thinking “The every day way for Don Iveson” with a photo of him, that kind of thing. They don’t all have to be local celebrities, but a few wouldn’t hurt!

So far I’ve seen the ads in fluorescent green and pink on bus shelters, benches, and billboards. I’d really love to see the campaign expanded to other mediums also. How about radio spots? Internet ads? It’s a simple message that can be shared very easily.

What do you think – does the new campaign hit the mark?

You’re asking the wrong question

Last week’s issue of SEE Magazine was a “theme” issue, focusing on the future of the media industry (“print in peril”). In addition to this interesting article, there was a panel comprised of four local newspeople with lots of experience: Linda Hughes (U of A, formerly Edmonton Journal), Ron Wilson (CBC), Jeremy Lye (iNews880), and Roy Wood (MacEwan, formerly Edmonton Journal). They discussed a range of things, including the fact that the industry didn’t develop these problems overnight. The general consensus is that journalism is important, but what it looks like in the future is up in the air.

Of course, you can’t have an article on the future of media without asking who’s going to write about City Council, and the panel didn’t disappoint! Linda Hughes asks:

But with breaking news and local-level news, who is going to go sit in a courtroom all day for a three-paragraph story that is important to know about but isn’t sexy and is just part of the pubic discourse? Who is going to do that? Bloggers often provide a lot of insight, but most bloggers are not going to go to sit in city council committee meetings for five hours to keep track of what city council is doing.

Ask a sports writer about the future of news and he’ll probably use this defense, even though he never sets foot inside City Hall! It’s the easy way out, and it’s an incredibly common response lately from journalists in the hot seat. To make things worse, SEE asked the question again later in the piece:

If newspapers and mass media outlets do dwindle, then, who will be the watchdogs in society to ensure politicians don’t run wild? Who will pay for the investigative reporters who can zero in on one thing for months and all of a sudden have the biggest story of the year?

Sigh. There will still be passionate individuals who follow specific topics and do investigative reporting. Probably more now than ever thanks to easy publishing systems (blogs, wikis, Twitter, etc). And they’ll produce much more interesting content than someone who does it just because they get paid to.

Let’s ignore that argument for a minute, however. Asking how to pay a journalist to sit through meetings to get three paragraphs is still the wrong question!

The real question is, why have we ever had to pay someone to sit through five hours of City Council committee meetings? Let’s get rid of that absurd need altogether and this discussion becomes irrelevant.

This is why I’m so excited about ChangeCamp and the possibilities it represents. If we can change the way our government communicates with us, the need for a newspaper filter could go away altogether.

Let’s focus less on how we’re going to pay a journalist to sit with Council all day and more on how we can get Council to communicate with us in a meaningful way. If we can do that, the journalist will have much better things to cover!

Notes for 4/19/2009

Here are my weekly notes:

Cleaning up Edmonton

Now that the snow is gone, the amount of garbage that accumulated on streets and sidewalks throughout the winter is becoming quite noticeable. The City of Edmonton has two primary initiatives to help clean up all of the trash – Capital City Clean Up, a year-round program that encourages civic engagement, and the River Valley Clean Up, a one-day event to give the river valley a spring cleaning.

Today I helped to clean up a small area in the Oliver community (I live on the west side of Oliver). Organized by @CaryWilliams, a block captain in the Capital City Clean Up program, about eleven of us participated: @jdarrah, @bingofuel, @thespindoctor, @stuporstar, @out_inc, @mastermaq, @jodiegiese, @sirthinks, @zoomjer, and Alanna (who I don’t think is on Twitter).

#yegcleanup#yegcleanup

We tackled the area bounded by 104th and 102nd avenues, and 112th and 114th streets. Here are a few observations from the clean up:

  • Not a surprise I guess, but there was a ton of cigarette-related garbage: butts, papers, and even empty packages. We couldn’t pick up all the cigarette butts or we’d have been there for weeks, but we did our best.
  • There was definitely a lot of Tim Horton’s garbage: cups and wrappers, but mostly lids, and tabs from the lids.
  • There have been a number of new condo and apartment buildings erected in the area in the last year or two, which means there was some construction-related trash. I was amazed how much yellow styrofoam there was!
  • We found three dead birds in total, two magpies and a pigeon.
  • And some good news: only one condom and no needles.

Everyone did a great job and nearly filled an entire bag of garbage, but the superstar today was definitely Jason:

#yegcleanup

He did an incredibly thorough job and filled three bags! He also seemed to find the most interesting trash, as you can see in the photo.

Many of us plan for a spring cleaning in our homes and businesses, but let’s not forget that our communities need to be cleaned up also! It doesn’t take very much time or effort, but it makes a big difference. You can learn more about the Adopt-A-Block program here.