Tag: media

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #24

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

  • But wait, they aren’t the only ones with Christmas music! You can also get 100% Christmas music at up! 99.3 FM – they also switched over the weekend, and will be playing nothing but until Box Day. And talk about taking it to the next level – their website even features a Christmas fireplace Ustream!

  • This is a long read, but it’s worth it. Michael Shapiro, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, examines how The San Jose Mercury News nearly seized the future. Lots of great lessons and takeaways from this, for all of us, but especially those of you working at mainstream media organizations that might be finding it difficult to embrace change.
  • A new report that examines how mainstream media outlets use Twitter made the rounds today. Though I find the sample size (3600 tweets over the course of a week) ridiculously small, I am not terribly surprised that the central finding is mainstream media outlets use Twitter primarily to promote their own stuff.
  • Social Media Breakfast #12 is coming up on Friday, November 25.
  • And since there are just 12 tickets remaining as I write this, I better give you the heads up on CTV Edmonton’s Charity Tweetup, taking place on November 29. You’ll get to tour the  studios, meet the personalities, and witness a live CTV evening newscast. Very cool idea – I hope they do it again!
  • This Venn diagram comes from the latest Edmonton Journal newsletter, and shows that according to the Fall 2010-11 NADbank results, “there are only 37,200 people who visit the Sun’s site exclusively each week.” It seems specifically calling out the Edmonton Sun isn’t common practice for The Journal, so I thought that was interesting.

  • Lots of great information in Marty Forbes’ column from October 31. He notes that NOW 102.3 recently received its 1-millionth text message since debuting just 18 months ago.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Media Monday Edmonton: Omar Mouallem

A couple of weeks ago, Omar Mouallem and I sat down at Credo Coffee on 104 Street to chat. As the Associate Editor of Avenue Edmonton magazine, Omar and I have crossed paths many times over the last couple of years. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to ask, but I wanted to learn more about him and I was certain we’d have an interesting conversation. We did.

omar mouallem

Omar grew up in High Prairie and spent a lot of time in Slave Lake, so Edmonton was really more of a third home. When he was 17, Omar moved to Vancouver. He wanted to make it as a filmmaker in the big city. One day, he met a homeless person with a screenplay and it completely changed his perspective on things. It turned out that in Vancouver, Omar was just one of many, many people trying to make it as a filmmaker. “It was a healthy dose of reality, realizing I’m not that unique.”

Eventually after “drifting” for a while, Omar decided he wanted to travel, in particular to see more of the Middle East. He arranged a trip to Lebanon, and planned to make a stop in Edmonton first for his brother’s wedding. While he was here, six days before his flight across the Atlantic, war broke out in Lebanon. The Israeli defense bombed the airport tarmacs, and Omar quickly realized he wasn’t going to Lebanon. He had already packed up everything in Vancouver, so he couldn’t go back there either. He was stuck in Edmonton. “I was a little bitter honestly,” he told me. “I did not want to live in Edmonton.”

When he was growing up, Edmonton was always “the city” to Omar. He knew enough to decide he did not want to live here. But about a year after being grounded in Edmonton, Omar started to see the city differently. “It just totally flipped on me,” he said. By the time he eventually made the trip to Lebanon later that year, he found himself excited to come back home. Back to Edmonton.

I asked Omar what changed his mind about the city. “Editors and publishers took a chance on me here that they wouldn’t have elsewhere.” The positions he took at Vue Weekly, Canadian Arab News, and 24 Hours were entry-level, but were more than he could have achieved at his age in a bigger city like Vancouver. The pool of talent in the media industry is just smaller here than it is in Vancouver. “The negative side,” Omar explained, “is that you can hit your glass ceiling early.” He thinks that may be why we have issues with “brain drain” here in Edmonton. In May of 2008, Omar landed an internship at Avenue Edmonton, and that’s when the change really took hold. Omar realized he could have a career, and started identifying more as a young professional than as an artist. His move away from the north end of the city had an impact too. “Once I moved downtown, I realized how great the city was.”

It was his second time applying for an internship at Avenue. They take interns every three to six months, a program supported by the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (they cover half the wage). Omar’s internship lasted three months, and then was renewed for another three months. After that, he was promoted to assistant editor, a full-time position at the magazine. Six months later he was promoted again, this time to associate editor, his current position.

Omar had spent time freelancing in his career, so I asked him what he found most different about being on the other side. “How far ahead magazines work” was what surprised him most. When we met at the end of October, the team had just finished work on the November issue and was already working on the December, January, February, and March issues. “Being timely is very difficult,” he told me. That’s the reason Avenue has not written much about the arena debate, though not for lack of wanting. “I would love to do investigative, thorough reporting on the arena.” His time as a freelancer has been beneficial to Omar as an editor. “I try to have more personalized relationships with my writers,” he told me, recounting his experience. “I don’t want to be just a name in their emails.”

A few months ago, Omar added another title to his resume when he became a blogger for AOL’s Canadian travel blog. “It’s a pretty sweet gig.” Responsible for one post per week, Omar is free to write about pretty much anything he likes. He wrote about What the Truck?! back in September, for instance. Omar started making websites when he was just 14, and learned HTML and other web skills along the way, so doing the posts for AOL is nothing new. You could say that he went from new media to old media, to a certain extent. I asked him if he enjoyed the contrast between editing at Avenue and writing blog articles. He confessed he prefers his role at Avenue. “I like the meticulousness that goes into articles for the magazine,” Omar told me. He talked me through the editing process. “Getting the copy, reading it for the first time, reading it a second time with a pen, editing, proofing it a couple times, fact-checking, it’s great.” He paused and thought for a moment. “I like the attention to detail that comes with magazines.”

We turned to the constantly evolving media landscape, and the impact of technology on magazines in particular. Omar thinks the changes recently are positive. “The quality of a magazine shows when you read it.” He recognizes that fewer people will pickup magazines over time, but thinks that general magazines will face a bigger challenge than topic-focused ones. Those magazines have an opportunity. “Good tablet apps have made the magazine experience better than I ever thought it could be.” The issue of length plays a factor in that experience. “No one has found a way to make the 4000 word article readable online,” Omar said. He thinks that’s why there has been a resurgence in long-form writing. “Magazines are made for writers,” he stated. “I’m a writer at heart.” Then, reminding himself that he has only been in the business for a few years: “I love magazines.”

I wondered which publications Omar enjoys reading. He mentioned Wired, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, GQ, and Toronto Life. I jumped in and asked if he reads any local publications. “The Journal, Vue Weekly, and some blogs,” he said. “I probably pick through Sharon’s blog the most.” We talked about why a local, generalist online publication hasn’t yet emerged in our city. “Maybe there’s too much media in Edmonton already,” he suggested.

Omar’s perspective on Edmonton remains positive, and as can you tell from one of his recent blog posts he still loves downtown. “It’s amazing how much the city has changed in just the last five years.” Through his work at Avenue and now AOL, Omar is helping to change the way people view our city for the better. You might say he’s exactly the kind of person we should be worried about losing, but I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. “A lot of Edmontonians simply don’t want to be in a coffee shop on 104th street talking about media and downtown,” he said as were discussing the car culture that persists in our city. But Omar is one of the relatively few Edmontonians who does want to talk about those things. He’s not here because he has to be, he’s here because he wants to be.

I’m sure the last thing Omar expected when he found himself “stuck” here years ago was that he would become an ambassador for the city, but he has. Omar found his passion for magazines and the media industry here, and now he’s taking advantage of the opportunity to help others see Edmonton for the great city it is.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #23

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

  • On Wednesday evening, Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2011 were unveiled at the Winspear Centre. Six members of the local media made the list: Tim Adams from CBC, Todd Babiak from the Edmonton Journal, Josh Classen from CTV, Jason Gregor from TEAM 1260, Kari Skelton from up! 99.3, and Ted Halabi publisher of SOS Children’s Safety Magazine. Congratulations to all! Check out the full profiles here.
  • It was a big week for milestones at CTV. Daryl McIntyre celebrated 25 years at CFRN on Wednesday. Both Carrie Doll and Josh Classen had nice things to say on Twitter! Also celebrating was Dirk Machtans, who retired on Friday evening after 46 years at CFRN!
  • The downtown arena has been front and centre for the last few weeks, with lots of coverage from all media organizations in the city. This has resulted in some interesting discussions about how it should be covered. Most of the mainstream media (Edmonton Journal, CTV, Global, CBC) used a liveblog on their own sites in addition to Twitter for coverage of the public hearing and Council meeting. I understand that not everyone uses Twitter, but I find the liveblogs annoying. I think they unnecessarily fragment discussion of the event. I much prefer the Storify approach taken by iNews880.
  • Today the details on the land purchase were made public. I took issue with the way the news was first presented by the Journal and the City. I think the headlines they chose make the deal more confusing, not less. And yes I’m intentionally treating the City as “media” here because I don’t think it is uncommon for their news releases to be the first news people see.
  • Another side-effect of the arena coverage – inside baseball. Karen does a good job of writing about the spat between David Staples and Dave Cournoyer in her latest Edmonton New Media Roundup. I’m really not a fan of blocking people on Twitter.
  • The first issue of St. Albert’s newest paper went to press on October 19. The St. Albert Leader is edited by Glenn Cook, former editor of Saint City News, and will be published every Thursday. For more, check out MediaMag.
  • We have posted the schedule for WordCamp, which takes place on November 18 and 19. Don’t miss it!
  • I love that the Edmonton Oilers used Twitter to break the news about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins staying in the NHL. And yes, I’m using the term “news” lightly. I think Ryan Whitney said it best in this tweet: “The Nuge is staying in NHL huh? What a shocker. In other news, sky is blue, grass is green and it’s going to be cold in Edmonton in January.”
  • Will we soon be paying for access to the Edmonton Journal online? Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey said that ultimately, paywalls “will be across the chain.”
  • CBC announced last Monday that Winnipeg’s Rick Harp is coming to Edmonton to be the new host of Edmonton AM.
  • Edmonton seems to be pretty good at stealing folks away from Winnipeg! Nancy Carlson left CTV in that city to become the new late night anchor at Global Edmonton beginning tonight!
  • Tripp West, formerly of Calgary’s UP! morning show, is joining The Bounce here in Edmonton. He takes over the evening duties beginning November 7.
  • I wish the local media took up the “image” fight for Edmonton more often. The last thing we need to do is trash ourselves when others are doing such a good job of it, like enRoute magazine while recognizing Corso 32: “That kind of determination comes in useful when launching a spunky start-up in the slowly rejuvenating downtown core, which after dark looks not unlike Night of the Living Dead.”
  • The full list of winners in the 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards is up. The Edmonton Journal picked up a bunch of awards.
  • Congratulations to Carol Ann Guay, who stepped into the co-anchor role alongside Gord Steinke tonight on Global.

  • I was on CTV News at 5pm last week to discuss Twitter and the arena meetings, and I got to play with the SMART board in their new set:

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

Roundup: Reaction to the latest downtown arena vote

On Wednesday afternoon, City Council approved a financial framework for the new downtown arena. The vote passed 10-3, with Diotte, Iveson, and Sloan voting against. Council also agreed to spend $30 million to complete the design of the arena to 60%, to enable contractors to bid on the construction project with a Guaranteed Maximum Price of $450 million. From the news release:

“A new downtown arena is a catalyst for revitalizing downtown. This is a fair agreement and will help sustain NHL hockey in Edmonton while increasing economic activity in the city,” says City Manager Simon Farbrother. “It will also improve land values and the livability and sustainability of Edmonton for all citizens.”

John Karvellas from the Katz Group also issued a statement:

“We very much appreciate City Council’s strong vote of support for the downtown arena, as well as the considerable time and effort Mayor Mandel and City Administration, in particular, have put into this project. We will work with the City administration to understand the implications of the new elements of the deal introduced in today’s motion in the context of the agreements that need to be completed by month-end.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman also shared some comments:

“I am thrilled for the City of Edmonton and I want to congratulate and thank Mayor Mandel and Daryl Katz for their hard work and commitment. The future of the Oilers couldn’t be brighter.”

I was paying attention to the meeting on Wednesday, and as the vote approached I tweeted much of Council’s final remarks. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Mayor Mandel: “I have not had one, not one call since SLRT opened about what it cost us to build.”
  • Mayor Mandel: “Today is about making a decision to change our downtown.”
  • Mayor Mandel: “This is a project about Northern Alberta, it’s not just about Edmonton. The province should come to the table.”
  • Councillor Anderson: “Thank goodness he lives here.” (referring to Daryl Katz)
  • Councillor Anderson: “I believe that the casino and the gravel project would sit for another several decades if this does not go forward.”
  • Councillor Anderson: “We all have to remember however, that no matter how we vote on this, it is still subject to $100 million appearing from somewhere.”
  • Councillor Batty: “I applaud Daryl Katz for his perseverance.”
  • Councillor Gibbons: “Hopefully we can work toward keeping Edmonton on the map.”
  • Councillor Gibbons: “We’ve done such a good job of growing out, maybe we can grow back inside.”
  • Councillor Gibbons: “I’ve travelled all over the world, and a great city has to have a great downtown.”
  • Councillor Leibovici: “We do have a downtown that needs a bit of a lift.”
  • Councillor Leibovici: “Do we need an arena? Yes. Do we need to change what we have? Yes.”
  • Councillor Leibovici: “A lot of this reminds me of the airport debate.”
  • Councillor Sohi: “I know it’s not a perfect deal, but it’s a reasonable deal that I can defend to the people I represent.”
  • Councillor Krushell: “It’s time to tell the Prongers of this world that Edmonton is not just a city with great people.”
  • Councillor Krushell: “The project will play a key part in revitalizing our downtown, and that is why I am supporting this.”
  • Councillor Loken: “This is a game-changer in my mind.”
  • Councillor Loken: “This is about Edmonton, this is about vision, this is about the future.”
  • Councillor Diotte: “There’s no reason to agree to a bad deal.”
  • Councillor Diotte: “I think we can all agree that the majority of Edmontonians want to see a new downtown arena.”
  • Councillor Sloan: “I maintain grave reservations about the costs and associated risks that the City is undertaking.”
  • Councillor Sloan: “I am further concerned that a lack of clarity has resulted in both Council and Admin losing face in the public.”
  • Councillor Caterina: “I’m comfortable that this is a much fairer deal than what was brought back from New York.”
  • Councillor Henderson: “I’m prepared to continue moving forward because I think at this point that our interests are being served.”
  • Councillor Henderson: “I don’t think the arena by itself is the magic wand.”
  • Councillor Iveson: “Nothing would anger me more in my old age than to see this debate play out again in my lifetime.”
  • Councillor Iveson: “I’m sold on what a new arena can do for our downtown, but I believe a better deal can be found.”

Slowly but surely, our Councillors are becoming more familiar with the tools and technologies available to them. Three Councillors blogged their final remarks, something I’d like to see the norm rather than the exception.

Many people tweeted about the news on Wednesday, and as I showed in my brief analysis, the response seemed to be mostly positive. There was also a fairly active thread on Connect2Edmonton about the deal.

Here’s what Paula Simons wrote about the deal:

“On Wednesday, Mayor Stephen Mandel described the arena as something to benefit all of northern Alberta. Sohi called on Edmontonians to petition Premier Alison Redford for financial support. Indeed, the province may be more willing to come up with the necessary cash, perhaps by some sleight of hand with casino money, now that the city and the Katz Group have come to terms. But this story, dear readers, isn’t over. We’ve just taken a whole new plot twist.”

Here’s what John MacKinnon wrote:

“Now that Oilers owner Daryl Katz’s downtown arena project is a qualified ‘go,’ maybe people can focus on what should have been the main issue all along: how this facility will help transform Edmonton’s downtown.”

Here’s what Gary Lamphier had to say:

“As I’ve said repeatedly over the past couple of years, I’d love to see a new downtown arena. But not at any price. I don’t think this deal represents anything close to an equitable sharing of risks and rewards between Katz Group and city taxpayers.”

In that same article, U of A sports economist Brad Humphreys shared his thoughts:

“It’s a terrible deal. They’re still short $100 million and I don’t see it going very far until they come up with the remainder of the funding.”

Here is what David Staples wrote:

“So did we get fleeced? Not even close. This is a good deal, far better than the existing Oilers deal at Rexall, and certainly right in line with what we see in terms of public/private funding models for new arenas in other NHL cities.”

Here is what Terry Jones wrote:

“The late great city of Edmonton has dared to be great again.”

Northlands CEO Richard Andersen hasn’t made many statements since the vote, but the Sun quoted him yesterday:

“We want to move on and get busy doing the other things we do. This is a huge distraction.”

Oilers star Taylor Hall tweeted his reaction to the news:

“Excited news on the new arena for Edmonton. In other news @ebs_14 and I got iPhones and they put BlackBerrys to shame.”

Here is what Yukon Jack wrote in his column:

“Finally! Finally another step in the downtown arena project. To say this thing is moving at a glacier’s pace is an insult to climate change.”

Bruce Urban, owner of the Edmonton Rush, is a fan of the project:

“It’s very exciting. Let’s picture Downtown Edmonton with this beautiful arena, the businesses that will follow, the restaurants and entrepreneurs who will follow. It’s very exciting for the city.”

The Calgary Herald asked Flames CEO Ken King to comment and received this statement:

“The news coming out of Edmonton regarding their new building is wonderful.  A state of the art new facility will be a great boon to their community and create a viable future for their team.”

Writing for the National Post, here is what Jesse Kline had to say:

“This is nothing more than corporate welfare, and by threatening to relocate the Oilers, Mr. Katz was essentially threatening to make business decisions based on how much money he can extract from local governments, rather than what city is the best market to do business in.”

The Edmonton Sun said that with the deal done, it is time to move on:

“City council has decided to proceed with a package that will see a major chunk of downtown Edmonton revitalized. It has been an acrimonious two-year debate, and the sensible move at this point is for the city to move forward together.”

The Edmonton Journal said the decision was the right call for our city:

“In this corner, the belief is that all Edmontonians will benefit – from economic spinoffs boosting the tax base, from the proliferation of non-hockey entertainment options that they will use, from the greater future attractiveness of Edmonton as a place to live, and from the fact that NHL hockey will now be guaranteed to remain a key part of community pride for at least the next 35 years.”

I’m sure I have missed some reaction, but I think the quotes I have highlighted are fairly representative.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #22

It has been a few weeks since my last update, so there’s a few older items in this week’s entry. Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

Media Partners Dinner

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

Media Monday Edmonton: Getting social on Facebook

For some reason I was curious about local media and Facebook recently, so that’s what I looked at this week. If you’re looking for a good rundown of recent news, check out Karen’s latest Edmonton New Media Roundup.

Here’s a quick comparison of Edmonton media organizations on Facebook (as of October 17, 2011):

ORGANIZATION MEDIUM LIKES TALKING ABOUT IT
102.3 Now! Radio Radio 55,454 3,186
91.7 The Bounce Radio 49,280 1,816
Global Edmonton TV 41,963 2,447
100.3 The Bear Radio 21,416 1,786
Hot 107 FM Radio 16,565 1,597
Sonic 102.9 Radio 14,244 1,605
CTV Edmonton TV 12,876 1,080
CISN Country 103.9 Radio 9,799 1,181
CKUA Radio Radio 9,045 198
104.9 Virgin Radio Radio 7,587 848
Edmonton Journal Print 5,695 269
K97 Radio 5,461 334
BT Edmonton TV 5,155 1,222
92.5 JOE FM Radio 3,488 175
up! 99.3 Radio 3,221 482
Edmonton Sun Print 3,134 616
630 CHED Radio 2,026 53
Lite95.7 Radio 1,727 180
Vue Weekly Print 980 14
CBC Edmonton Radio/TV 963 30
The Team 1260 Radio 945 7
96.3 Capital FM Radio 842 54
Metro Edmonton Print 803 14
the edmontonian (retired) Online 744 2
fusedlogic Online 693 12
daveberta.ca Online 581 20
iNews880 Radio/Online 354 6
The Gateway Print 336 3
The Unknown Studio Online 296 3
City and Dale Online 251 9
Avenue Edmonton Print 190 6
West Edmonton Local Online 176 11
mastermaq.ca Online 155 6
KikkiPlanet.com Online 54 14
Jay n’ J. Online 21 0

Some thoughts on this table:

  • Radio stations are clearly the heaviest users of Facebook among the local media, both in terms of likes but also activity.
  • Online properties generally don’t have many likes on Facebook. Is this because they’re already online, just elsewhere? Is it because they don’t have as large an audience to promote Facebook to?
  • I would have expected CBC and the Edmonton Sun to place higher in terms of likes. They both have a significant offline audience, but they evidently haven’t been as aggressive at converting that audience into Facebook likes as other media organizations.
  • I think it’s interesting that 102.3 Now! Radio almost never links to its website on Facebook. Instead they posts photos, videos, and general notes, and seem to generate quite a lot of discussion. Contrast that with iNews880, where pretty much every post on Facebook is a link back to the website.

There’s a ton of additional analysis that could be done (which organizations advertise their Facebook pages, which have it integrated into their websites, etc.), but I think this is a useful start.

What do you think about the results?

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #21

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

  • Meshwest is happening tomorrow! Stay tuned to #meshwest for updates.
  • The biggest media news of the week was probably the PC Leadership vote. I was up late that night with a lot of other people, watching the results come in and enjoying the discussion on Twitter. I agree that it took a ridiculously long time for the results to be finalized, but it bothers me that some of the mainstream media keep complaining about it. In a different scenario they’d be jumping up and down about how these kinds of stories would not be covered if the mainstream media no longer existed or was diminished, because you can’t count on social media users to go and sit through the four or five hour process. To say nothing of the fact that the complaining reflects archaic distribution mechanisms more than it does any problem with the actual vote process.
  • Metro Edmonton reports that it now reaches 71,600 readers daily and 205,100 weekly in the greater Edmonton area, an increase of 4% daily and 20% weekly over the 2009-2010 numbers.
  • Congratulations to the Edmonton Journal, recognized with six nominations for the 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The awards will be presented in Toronto on October 24. Maybe I should enter next year…
  • OMNI is set to become Canada’s first national multi-language broadcaster to move beyond French and English. Stories filed from Edmonton and Calgary will “include national significance.”
  • Ara Adonian will be taking over the PM Drive on The Bounce starting in November. Speculation has Jake Ryan moving to Virgin Radio.
  • Gordon Klassen has been named Sales Manager for 105.9 Shine FM and AM 930 The Light here in Edmonton.
  • Could local radio find its way back to Leduc? Mark Tamagi is behind the push to get Leduc One FM Radio approved.
  • In Karen’s latest Edmonton New Media Roundup, she talks about how lots is happening in Edmonton. There’s so much going on, and we need a better way to tell everyone.
  • As Karen pointed out, a new online magazine called KikkiPlanet launched this week. The launch party video features a number of familiar faces from Edmonton’s new media scene:

  • I’m not sure how long these have been around, but I only just noticed the new Sum Media stands around town. This one, at the Italian Centre Shop in the southside, features the Examiner, 24 Hours, has Italian Centre branding, and has room for them to make other newspapers available as well. I like it. The newspaper area is cleaner, and Sun Media benefits with the prominent branding.

Sun Media Stand

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #20

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

EIA Infographic in the Edmonton Sun

  • Here is the Edmonton Journal’s Community Advisory Board. I’m in such great company! At our first meeting last week, Postmedia’s Director of Social Media Alex Blonski showed us The Bridge, the forthcoming community news site:

Edmonton Journal: The Bridge

  • Planning is well underway for MediaCamp Edmonton 2, but we need your input. Fill out our online survey to help us determine what the day should look like. Thanks in advance, and save the date – January 28, 2012!
  • mesh west is making a stop in Edmonton next Tuesday, October 4. I’m on a panel about open data, and am looking forward to the other sessions as well. See you there!

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #19

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

  • I thought Karen (pictured below with Clay Shirky in the background) did a fantastic job at Pecha Kucha Night 11, talking about what journalism needs now. She told journalists to “french kiss change” and to “hump change’s leg”. Here’s my recap, in case you missed it.

Pecha Kucha 11 - 572

  • Tonight was the opening reception for the 2011 GoMedia Canada Conference at the Art Gallery of Alberta. This is the first time Edmonton has hosted the event. More than 120 travel journalists are attending and will get the next few days to experience Edmonton and the capital region.

GoMedia Canada 2011 Opening Reception

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #18

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

Here’s a recap video of Pecha Kucha 10, courtesy of Telus TV:

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!