Boxcar Marketing would like to welcome Rachael Ashe to the team. Rachael is a talented office manager who is willing to jump in and help us on any project that needs extra hands and brainpower.
If Rachael is actively working on your project, you’ll receive a more personal introduction. In the meantime, I must direct your attention to Rachael’s incredible photography.
I was recently asked to share my social media expertise as a speaker at the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association’sBreaking New Ground Conference in Vancouver. The conference focus was Canada’s social housing sector, with the purpose of questioning traditional approaches to housing issues and offering fresh perspectives. In my case we were looking at traditional media approaches and fresh perspectives on media, in particular how CHRA could use online media to get support for affordable housing issues.
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association was established in 1968 and is a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening the social housing sector.
My workshop was “Everything you wanted to know about blogging, Facebook, and independent daily online magazines but were afraid to ask…”
David Beers and Lisa Mansfield of The Tyee presented first and then I did a 10 Tools review, which I’ll post shortly.
Session description: Everything you wanted to know about blogging, face book, and independent daily online magazines but were afraid to ask….
How to get your message out and achieve social awareness using the web media.
Friday April 4, 2008, 14:30 - 17:00
According to Alfred Hermida, assistant professor at the UBC School of Journalism, the start of this century has seen the advent of citizen media. Technologies such as the internet and cell phones have empowered people formerly known as the audience to share their views on the world, through blogs, comments, photos and video. The public is no longer a passive consumer of media, but an active producer of media. Attend this workshop to find out how new technologies are changing ‘what’s news’, and making it possible for ordinary citizens to get their opinions heard. You will learn how to use the new media forums, attract people to your blog, and use face book, to get your story out.
Moderator: Bruce Pearce, St-Johns Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness
Speakers: David Beers, Editor, The Tyee; Lisa Manfield, Web 2.0 Outreach, The Tyee; Monique Trottier, Partner/Owner of Boxcar Marketing, Vancouver
On March 29th I attended a community-sponsored, free event called Bridging Media, held at the Centre for Digital Media on the Great Northern Way Campus here in Vancouver. I was asked to lend my assistance to organizers Megan Cole and Erica Hargreave.
It was a fantastic event that was well attended by folks in the digital media industry and those in the broadcast and film industry. A convergence of minds.
Robert Ouimet’s made audio recordings of the event:
panel 1 - Broadcast and Social Media 101: A Snapshot of Both Worlds
This session is intended to act as an overview of both communities to help create an understanding of each industries’ process. This panel will consist of Broadcasters, Producers and Digital Media Leaders.
panel 2 - Buzz Builders: Using Multi-platforms To Build A Buzz and An Audience Around Your Project
From film to television to the internet, defining your audience is an integral portion in the conceptualizing stage of a project. Are you using the accessible channels of communication to speak to your audience, draw a crowd and create buzz around your work? This panel will focus on, and show examples of, the use of various mediums and technologies to build a community and get your project to your audience.
panel 3 - Monetize, Monetize, Monetize!
Where’s the money? How do we get it? Changing the mentality of the traditional business model is the name of the game. Case study examples and conversation around how building an online presence and community strengthens producers’ abilities to monetize multi-media platforms and projects.
panel 4 - Meet Your Monsters: Solving Traditional Broadcast Webmares
The digital world is not all that scary - despite the monsters under your mainframe! This panel will focus on successful case studies in how the medium is being used effectively. The players will present new models for the future.
Posted by Monique Sherrett | Email to a Friend | Of course, you should follow me on twitter here
In preparation for a presentation Monique gave at the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association’s Breaking New Ground Conference here in Vancouver, I did a bit of research on resources. Public housing isn’t an area either of us possess much knowledge about, so we were curious to see what could be found kicking around the internets.
Possibly the best resource for information on urban planning, design, and the development community is Planetizen.com. The site is based out of LA, has been around for six years and is chock full of great content, media, and even professional resources related to urban planning and housing. They have been compiling an annual list of top 10 planning and development website since 2002, and this in itself is an excellent resource.
Listed below are some of the local blogs I came across with a focus on specific neighbourhoods around Vancouver. They aren’t so much focused on planning as day to day life in these neighbourhoods.
And because Monique’s presentation was very much about citizen media and tools the average person can use to produce content for the web, I took a look through some of my favorite sites to see what I could find related to community planning.
* Canadian Tire Money: Helping The Homeless (a facebook campaign to collect Canadian Tire money for purchasing items, such as sleeping bags, to donate to the homeless people of Vancouver) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2361803750
* Vancouver25 (Vancouver25 is a group of young people committed to progressive policy for the City of Vancouver . Our goal is to create meaningful dialogue on important issues and to present common-sense, evidence-based policy recommendations on how Vancouver can be improved for all of its citizens.) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14902570116
From Monique: Please note that this is not a comprehensive list by any means.
If you have a suitable site to add to the list, please post it in the comments so we can share it with other interested community planners.
Dan of Cyburbia | urban planning community pointed out this site to us.
Cyburbia (http://www.cyburbia.org), founded in 1994, is the Internet’s oldest continuously operating planning-related Web site. Cyburbia has served the planning community for nearly 14 years with very little funding or financial remuneration. The Cyburbia Forums (http://www.cyburbia.org/forums) went online in 1996, and today remains a vibrant virtual third place for planners, students and others interested in the built environment ; 5,800 members, 400,000 posts, and still growing.
Thanks Dan, and anyone else, please add your thoughts.
Posted by Rachael Ashe | Email to a Friend | Of course, you should follow me on twitter here
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