Tag: edmonton

Critiquing Edmonton’s Winter Light website

winter light 2009 Two weeks ago, I wondered where the website was for Edmonton’s new winter festival. A few days after that post, the official website was launched. Now that I’ve had a chance to look at it, I thought I’d post a bit of a critique. But first, here’s some new information that was released at the same time:

Opening Ceremonies and the Winter Light Gala will launch the event January 8 at 10:00 AM in City Hall and Churchill Square. The Opening Ceremonies will preview highlights of Winter Light 2009 programming with outdoor performances, a "Blessing Fire", and a media launch with special guests, dignitaries and hot chocolate.

"I think winter has been one of Edmonton’s best kept secrets for too long," says event director Pamela Anthony. "Our goal is to showcase all the wonderful aspects of our winter city – the incredible recreation opportunities, the gorgeous river valley environment, and the culture and heritage of winter peoples."

I wanted to point out that quote, because it contains a lot of imagery that I’d love to see showcased on the website. Unfortunately, it’s not there at the moment. The first thing you see at the website is an annoying ten second flash intro. Totally useless, totally a waste of my time. Once you’re past that however, things start to improve.

The main page features a nice winter scene, with the city skyline, people participating in winter activities, and the catchphrase written in the style of northern lights – let it glow, let it glow, let it glow. The site is broken up into five main sections – Winter Light (about the festival), events, calendar, resources, and contacts.

Winter Light 2009 Website

Here are the things I really like about the site:

  • The integrated Google Map (available on event pages and the resources page) is great. Very quick way to see where everything is happening.
  • Using Google Calendar in place of yet another custom calendar was very smart. Well done. Makes it easy to add things to your own calendar too.
  • Consistent layout and colors.

And here are some things I’d like to see improved:

  • The RSS feed is currently empty. Make use of that! Better yet, add a proper blog to the site.
  • Get rid of the “people” banner that appears above the content on most pages. It’s unnecessary, and increases the amount of scrolling people have to do.
  • Integrate a photo sharing site like Flickr into the photos page. I’m not going to email you my photos (see my reasoning here)!
  • Add some actual resources. Showcase the river valley! Teach me about the culture and heritage of winter peoples! The website doesn’t contain any of that.
  • Update the site frequently during the months the festival is active. Change the main page to showcase the current and/or next event taking place.

For the techies reading this – the site was built using Joomla, and it appears to be hosted by Webcore Labs (a Calgary company!). Not sure if it was built in-house or by a design firm – anyone know?

I also wanted to mention that I love the Winter Light logo. It’s simple and attractive, and the two color schemes work well (white/light blue/blue for dark backgrounds, and light blue/blue/dark blue for white backgrounds). Making the word “winter” bold is a nice touch, and reinforces the idea that the event is all about celebrating the season most love to hate. Well done on the visual identity I say.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not critiquing the website just for the fun of it! I have two main goals with this post. First, I am hopeful that someone from the team will read my comments and consider making the suggested improvements. Second, I am looking for lessons that can be applied to the Halloween Edmonton website, as that festival would be very similar – an umbrella for existing events along with a few new ones.

So far, so good!

Edmonton Notes for 12/13/2008

Here are some Edmonton-related things I found interesting this week:

Edmonton Notes for 12/6/2008

Here are some Edmonton-related things I found interesting this week:

Edmonton’s Winter Lights Festival – Details Please!

Back in September, plans for a new winter festival called Winter Lights: A Celebration of Edmonton’s Winter Spirit were released. Almost immediately city council allocated $450,000 to the event. Today, the festival received an additional $300,000 from council:

The money comes as councillors try to make cuts to the proposed 2009 budget to avoid homeowners getting stuck with the double-digit tax increase that was originally projected in October.

Festival chairperson John Mahon said he appreciates people’s concern for how their tax dollars will be spent.

The event would run from January 8th until March 21st, right during the heart of winter. In addition to including three existing events – Ice on Whyte, the Deep Freeze on 118th Avenue, and Silver Skate in Hawrelak Park – new events such as a star-gazing party in Elk Island National Park are being planned. I like the idea, and I think it will be great for Edmonton to make that time of the year more enjoyable!

Holiday Lights at the Alberta Legislature
Photos of Light Up at The Alberta Legislature

I am concerned about the budget and timeline for the festival, however. I completely understand that arts and culture make up a relatively small amount of the city budget, and I absolutely agree that a winter festival is a great idea for a northern city like Edmonton. What I don’t get is how $750,000 is going to be spent on a festival slated to start in about a month?

Where is the website? What does the marketing look like? Is there a logo? Why are the only results in a Google Search news articles about the funding? Why isn’t the event listed in the Festival City calendar? Why don’t the existing event websites mention the new festival? And just what are these new events, anyway? A star-gazing party doesn’t sound like a very expensive production. And finally, why are they already planning for 2010? Shouldn’t we see how 2009 goes first?

According to the Edmonton Journal, more details will be released next Wednesday. I would really love for this festival to be successful, so I hope the plans don’t disappoint.

In the meantime, check out this thread at C2E for some more context and history. And some interesting ideas from Edmontonians!

UPDATE (12/12/2008): A website launched on Wednesday, December 10th: http://www.winterlight.ca – thx to Joel in the comments for letting me know.

UPDATE (1/8/2009): Here are notes, photos, and video from the opening ceremonies for Winter Light 2009!

A look at Edmonton’s new Future Shop

Tonight I had the opportunity to tour Edmonton’s newest Future Shop, located in South Edmonton Common. The 53,000 square foot building is easily the largest Future Shop in existence, nearly double the size of the average store. The new Edmonton store is the result of more than two years of planning, design work, and customer consultation to come up with the future of Future Shop. That’s a tall order, but I came away impressed.

New Future Shop in Edmonton

About a dozen of my fellow social media experts were invited to check out the new store this evening. We split into two groups to tour the building. General Manager Chris Sallans led my group, and did an excellent job of describing the decisions that were made and what the vision is for the new store. He and his fellow Future Shop colleagues answered all of our questions along the way. We each received a gift bag at the end (containing a Jabra Noise Blackout BT530 Bluetooth Headset), as well as light refreshments. I was a little disappointed when I got to the store to find that it was already open to the public, but by the end I had come to appreciate the way they planned things. Nearly a dozen employees were at our disposal, and in retrospect it would have seemed creepy and oddly quiet if we were the only ones inside the gigantic building!

The layout of the store is quite simple. There’s a large circular area in the centre known as ConnectPro. It’s broken into Play, Work, On The Go, and Living. Associates in the circle are there solely to help you figure the technology out, they aren’t meant to sell you anything. The other sections are located around the circle, along the edge of the building. Counterclockwise as you enter: cell phones are followed by computers (with the onsite garage for auto entertainment behind), the Mac section, home entertainment and televisions, the new musical instruments section, gaming and media, appliances, fitness, and finally the checkout counters.

The musical instruments section was our “home base” for the evening, fitting as it is the most unique part of the new Future Shop design. I’m not an instrument geek, but it seemed really impressive. In total it’s about 2500 square feet. The far wall is full of guitars, and other instruments are in the middle. There are two sound-proof rooms in the back for drums and acoustic guitars (this one also has special temperature and humidity controls). Near the front are computer workstations where customers can riff on a guitar and burn a CD using Garage Band or other popular software. Very cool.

New Future Shop in EdmontonNew Future Shop in Edmonton

The Mac section of the store is about 2000 square feet, and features a Genius Bar staffed by an Apple employee from Wednesday to Sunday. Not that I expected it to, but the Mac section just doesn’t compare to an actual Mac store. It felt out of place sandwiched between the televisions and computer software.

I think my least favorite section of the store was the cell phone section. Maybe it’s because of the ongoing construction, but it didn’t seem to offer anything beyond what every other electronics retailer has. I appreciate the desks and chairs for customers and employees to sign contracts and all that, but the phone displays themselves still seemed rather mundane.

My favorite sections were the ConnectPro, which seemed very open and inviting, and the gaming trees (there are three of them located throughout the store). With about 46 television screens of varying sizes on each tree, you can’t help but stop and gawk for a few minutes. I can’t imagine how much power they use, but the trees are very visually appealing and functional.

I asked about the checkout counters, as that is usually the most frustrating part of any store for me. I hate line-ups. Chris said there are eight sales tills, and eight customer service tills, up from the usual two. In addition, the lanes are far wider than normal. He said that the onus is on him to ensure customers are moved through efficiently.

Here’s a quick walk through the store from start to finish:

A few other notes on the store:

  • They are going for a Silver level LEED certification with the new building.
  • There will be completely free and open Wi-Fi in the store starting Friday, under a “Future Shop” SSID. We tried it tonight but it wasn’t fully operational (only local access).
  • I asked about parking, and although they said they had the largest lot in South Common, it doesn’t look any bigger than Wal-Mart’s, and definitely not bigger than Ikea’s. It certainly has far more parking than Best Buy though. As an aside, Sharon doesn’t think it’s right for a building that you have to drive to to be LEED certified!
  • The main difference between the Appliances section in the new store and what Future Shop’s already have, is the way they are displayed. Instead of ovens on shelves, think built out kitchens similar to what you’d find in Home Depot.

The store soft-opened on Sunday afternoon, but the grand opening is from Friday, December 5th until Sunday, December 7th. The first 100 people in line will receive a free gift card of $5, $25, or $50 and there are a ton of door crasher deals. There’s also a Rock Band competition taking place, with the winner getting a chance to take on Gene Simmons on Saturday! On Sunday, Oilers captain Ethan Moreau will be there signing autographs.

[geo_mashup_map height=”200″ width=”575″ zoom=”13″]

Thanks to Future Shop and Capulet for the opportunity to check out the store! I think there are some really unique aspects to it, and I look forward to hearing the reaction from other Edmontonians. You can see all my photos and video at Flickr.

Recap: Edmonton Code Camp 2008

edmonton code camp On Saturday we held Edmonton Code Camp 2008 downtown at MacEwan. Code Camp is an all-day event by developers, for developers. The only rule for presentations is that you have to show some code! Otherwise, it’s just a great opportunity to meet other developers in the community, and learn from one another.

We had three tracks of content. For posterity, here’s a list of the presentations we had:

I think my favorite was probably Mark Bennett’s talk on Javascript testing. It was about more than just jQuery, and I learned some really useful things. Like Mark, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the best way to organize, test, and evolve an application that is Javascript-heavy.

A large group of us went to Metro for lunch, which wasn’t the best idea because we were half an hour late getting started again in the afternoon! It turned out okay though.

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday, it was great to meet all of you! In particular, I was surprised at the number of Twitter users in attendance. For a smaller event, there was sure a lot of tweets posted!

Big thanks also to Steven Rockarts, who did most of the heavy lifting to get the event off the ground.

Let’s make next year’s code camp bigger and better!

World AIDS Day 2008

world aids day Today is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. According to statistics from UNAIDS, there are 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, 2 million of which are children under the age of 15. Last year, 2 million people died from HIV. Today, the National Post wrote about how Canada will help cure the biggest humanitarian health crisis of our time:

Canada is poised, yet again, to play a leading role in advancing knowledge about HIV/AIDS to help find a cure. With the partnership announced in 2007 between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the government of Canada to establish the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, we are now one of the countries pioneering the next stage. This commitment of $139-million is a major boost to Canadian and international HIV/AIDS vaccine research and development efforts. Through this funding, a manufacturing facility will be built in Canada that will produce promising vaccines that can move more quickly to clinical trials. Stephen Lewis has declared this initiative an "important step forward," a sentiment shared by HIV/AIDS organizations around the world.

Stephen Lewis, a Canadian, was the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. You can learn more about the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative here.

Closer to home, HIV Edmonton has compiled a list of community events taking place today. The largest event is a non-denominational evening ceremony followed by a candlelight walk:

WHAT: World AIDS Day, December 1, 2008, 7:00pm
WHERE: Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Avenue NW. Room TBA.

Please RSVP to Sue Ann Paydli via email or call 780-488-5742 ext. 221.

They point to the World AIDS Campaign website as an additional resource. You can learn more about the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) at Wikipedia, and for local information and events, check out HIV Edmonton.

I think what Terry Duguid said in the National Post is true, “it is easy for those of us in Canada who may not be directly affected by HIV/AIDS to become complacent.” I guess I am guilty of that. It’s only recently that I’ve become engaged, with events like the Aids Walk for Life. I’ve had Stephanie Nolan’s book 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa on my shelf for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to reading it. I really must do that.

Stop Aids. Keep the promise.

Edmonton Notes for 11/29/2008

Here are some Edmonton-related things I found interesting this week:

Halloween in Edmonton: Deadmonton

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an organizational meeting tonight for a new Halloween-themed festival here in Edmonton. More than just a festival however, the three principals behind the idea (Darryl Plunkie, Derek Clayton, Christian Nelson) have a vision to establish Edmonton as the Halloween Capital of Canada. I’ll admit that I don’t feel as strongly about Halloween as many of the individuals in attendance tonight do, but I am passionate about my city and I think they’re on to something.

Like many Edmontonians, I hate the word “Deadmonton” as it is often used. It’s entirely negative and disheartening. It’s no surprise that I fell in love with Christian Nelson’s presentation back at Pecha Kucha 2, where he suggested we reclaim the word and use it for good. Tonight’s meeting grew out of Christian exploring that idea with Darryl, Derek, and others. The general idea is to create a Halloween Festival to tie together all of the various events that already take place in the city. It was suggested that the festival be a week long, until Darryl said “it should be 13 days!” He also suggested that the organizing board be called the “Council of E-ville.” The meeting was both productive and fun!

i *heart* deadmonton

The first step was for everyone to introduce themselves (we had 17 people attend). The group was quite varied, which meant we had all kinds of experience and insight available. Kenn Bur from EEDC hosted the event and kept us on track. We had Ellen Finn from the Civic Events Office at the City of Edmonton, Shirley Lowe from the Old Strathcona Business Association, and John Mahon from the Edmonton Arts Council join us and they all shared their experience on how other festivals have been started and managed. The remainder of the group was made up of individuals in the Halloween industry, and Edmontonians-at-large like me and Debra Ward.

The three principals shared their ideas, and then we went around the group for additional comments. There were lots of great ideas thrown around, and a number of interesting questions were raised. What’s clear is that there’s passion for this event. Some of the ideas I found particularly intriguing included:

  • Taste of Deadmonton
  • Miss Deadmonton
  • Worst Yard Contest
  • Horror Theme Music by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
  • Some sort of Halloween Blood Drive

There are already many Halloween events that take place in the city of course, such as the Scarecrow Festival, Edmonton Ghost Tours, The Bear’s Halloween Howler, and many more. I think joining forces to share the marketing muscle of the Deadmonton brand is a great idea.

Some of the questions that came up included:

  • What kind of festival would it be? John Mahon said there are basically two models. The first is the Fringe/Heritage Festival model, in which the participants are mostly independent and just share the site and/or marketing of the festival. The second is the Folk Fest model, where things are much more controlled. The Halloween Festival would probably be the former.
  • Would the event need a dedicated venue?
  • Do we need a board? Where does the funding come from? Etc.

Finally, here are a couple comments I found particularly interesting:

“Edmonton has more goth stores than any other place in Canada.” – Rona Anderson

“Winnipeg can try to top The Fringe, but you can’t really top Deadmonton. It’s truly unique.” – Christian Nelson

The next step is to try to digest some of the ideas and excitement that came out tonight, and figure out a way forward. The goal for the first year is really to get the festival established, with a website and some common branding. We can then build atop that foundation.

If you have ideas or would like to get involved, please email HalloweenEdmonton@gmail.com. You can also leave a comment here if you like!

UPDATE: I should have linked to Kerry Diotte’s article on this meeting in the Edmonton Sun. Published on Tuesday, it has a bit more background information.

Social Media and Local News in Edmonton

My favorite media/journalism/news blogger is Jeff Jarvis. His blog, BuzzMachine, is a treasure trove of information and insight on how the web is transforming the world of news media. Jeff has spent a lot of time thinking about local news specifically, a topic I am very interested in. Yesterday he wrote a post summarizing his thoughts on where local news might go. These are the highlights for me:

“The next generation of local (news) won’t be about news organizations but about their communities.”

“News will emerge from networks.”

“Do what you do best and link to the rest will be a foundation of the future architecture of news.”

“News will find new forms past the article, which will include any media, wiki snapshots of knowledge, live reports, crowd reports, aggregation, curation, data bases, and other forms not yet created.”

I encourage you to read the entire post, it’s definitely worth it.

Thinking about Jeff’s post made me wonder what local news organizations here in Edmonton are doing to prepare for the future. Are they focused on communities? Are they creating networks? Are they specializing and linking elsewhere? Are they supporting news beyond the article?

In general, I think the answer to those questions is no. An examination of how local news organizations are using social media is somewhat encouraging, however. Why look at social media? Generally speaking, I think blogs, social networks, etc., address all four areas – communities, networks, linking & sharing, and life beyond the article.

These are some of the traditional sources for local news here in Edmonton, with links to their social media activities:

As you can see, there are quite a few organizations that still haven’t gotten their feet wet with social media (unless I missed some links – one thing all these sites have in common is that they are terribly messy and hard to navigate). The Journal appears to be the most active, with a Facebook application, Twitter account, and blogs and podcasts on its site. The relatively new iNews880 is similarly active. All the organizations offer RSS feeds except for Global Edmonton, Citytv Edmonton, and SEE Magazine (the Edmonton Sun recently added feeds).

These days, I get most of my local news from four main sources:

The trend I have noticed is that breaking news starts with the traditional organizations but is spread by individuals through services like Twitter, Connect2Edmonton, and Facebook (and good old-fashioned word of mouth too). Organizations like The Journal have people dedicated to gathering the news, so it makes sense that they’d be the ones to break the news (most of the time). They could definitely be doing a better job of interacting with the community and forming networks online to spread that news, however. And they pretty much do nothing beyond the article, at least at the moment (heck the Journal won’t even hyperlink URLs inside their articles).

Take yesterday’s story about the new arena concept, for instance. I first heard about the news on C2E. I understand that Citytv was the first traditional source to pick up on the story. I spread the news via Twitter and my blog, and others did the same. Today articles appeared in The Journal, on CBC Edmonton’s site, and elsewhere, but they didn’t really offer anything new, and they didn’t provide links to the images, video, maps, or other bits of information readers might be interested in.

I like the vision for local news that Jeff Jarvis has suggested, but it seems to me that the local organizations aren’t leading the way into that future. Instead, individuals are dragging them into it. I wonder if that will always be the case?