One of our clients, BC Book Prizes, is holding their Summer 2010 Online Auction. They have some amazing prize packages that are open to bidding and the proceeds go to supporting the achievements of British Columbian writers and publishers.
Prizes Include:
The Illustrator Pack. Bid on an original, framed, gouache illustration on watercolour paper by Kathryn E. Shoemaker entitled “Snowy Eye” as well as four children’s books (Good-bye Marianne, Floyd the Flamingo, A Telling Time, and My Animal Friends) that feature the illustrator’s work. Value: $950. Bidding ends: July 28th at 11:00am.
Betsy Warland Writer’s Retreat. Bid on admission to the upcoming writer’s retreat with Betsy Warland at Annie’s Acre Bed and Breakfast in Nanoose Bay. Value: $250. Bidding ends: July 28th at 11:00am.
The Heart of Vancouver. Bid on a one night stay for two in a one-bedroom deluxe suite at the Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel (valid after October 1st), a voucher for two tickets to the Vancouver Opera’s December 7th or 9th production of Lucia di Lammermoor, and a gift certificate ($50) to book’mark, The Library Store at the Vancouver Public Library. Value: $540. Bidding ends: July 28th at 11:00am.
Bidding ends in August. As the auction progresses, prizes will be added and removed weekly, so check back for updates.
How Bidding Works
Send an email to cody[at]rebuscreative[dot]com with your name, address, phone number, email address and your bid for the package you’re interested in. The minimum bid increment is $5.00. Bids and bidders are updated as frequently as possible. Additionally, most items can be shipped worldwide. (Note: Additional costs may be incurred to cover shipment of item(s) when necessary.)
Clay Shirky fascinates me because he thinks about the world within the context of thinking that has gone before him. In his recent post, The Collapse of Complex Business Models he references Joseph Tainter’s 1988 book called The Collapse of Complex Societies.
Shirky is able to take Tainter’s work, on how several societies (such as the Romans and Mayans) arrived at a remarkable level of sophistication only to suddenly collapse, and apply those lessons to media’s plight today. The media industry being the complex, sophisticated system on the verge of collapse that is under his examination.
Tainter’s argument, as introduced by Shirky, follows that, as a direct result of complexity and sophistication, we see systems fall because the elite at the top are unable to see a different path. Shirky points to how this plays out in the business models of mass media, where the elite cannot foresee a scenario where users don’t pay for what they consumer. Spelled out, Shirky says big media’s argument for who pays for what would sound something like this:
“Web users will have to pay for what they watch and use, or else we will have to stop making content in the costly and complex way we have grown accustomed to making it. And we don’t know how to do that.”
The ecosystem of our planet is perhaps trapped in the same dire circumstances, where the burden of change drives our collapse. But in the less frightening scenario of what happens to old media, Shirky champions ingenuity by saying:
“But there is one compensating advantage for the people who escape the old system: when the ecosystem stops rewarding complexity, it is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.”
Todd Sieling of Corvus Consulting is a Boxcar Marketing officemate with an iPad. We covet the iPad. Todd kindly let us play with it. Then he polished our mucky finger prints off the screen.
Things I like about Apple’s iPad:
Amazingly crisp screen
I already know how to use it (I’m an iPhone user)
The apps are cool, especially Epicurious
It’s in colour vs. Kindle which is black and white
Size and shape is lovely. Apple really gets this right
How would I use it?
Client meetings where I didn’t want to bring a computer but need more than a notebook and pen.
Showing people docs and diagrams. It’s easy to put down flat on the table and gather around.
Watching TV and movies at home and on airplanes
Taunting geeks without an iPad.
Reading ebooks and pdfs.
Playing.
Overall, the iPad is lovely, it’s cool, I want it. I don’t mind waiting for the 3G version and iBookstore Canada so I shall defer my purchase until all the players are in place. I’m looking forward to seeing how people discover the iPad and how they will incorporate it into their lives. Will it be the game changer everyone says it will be?
Socialnomics: How social media transforms our lives and the way we do business by Erik Qualman, published by Wiley Publishing, is in bookstores and on eReaders.
What better way to show the world that reading is sexy than through a pin-up calendar that raises funds to support dyslexia?
The Reading Is Sexy Calendar, featuring some of Vancouver’s finest (and sexiest!) readers, is being launched this week. The calendar aims to promote literacy and to raise funds to help kids (and adults) with dyslexia become literate.
The idea for a “Reading Is Sexy” calendar was sparked back in the spring, when Ian Martin (http://www.twitter.com/IanAMartin) of Atomic Fez Publishing (http://www.twitter.com/atomicfez) began goading Emme Rogers, founder of the blog Being Emme, into saying “reading is sexy’ as often as possible on twitter.
The calendar is modeled on a “pin-up girl” style, similar to the one that Bryne Pen created on Salt Spring to raise funds and awareness for The Land Conservancy. In this case, the calendar supports the Canadian Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.
And if you’d like your calendar signed by the men and women of “Reading Is Sexy”, please come out to the Launch Party and Literary Celebration on Thursday.
Local: Gudrun Wine & Cheese Bistro (150-3500 Moncton Street, Steveston, BC) Date: Thursday December 3, 2009 Time: 7 pm until late
Stop by for author readings, calendar signings by the models, and the auctioning of some of Robert Shaer’s photos from the shoot. Plus Gudrun goodies, wine and beer will be on sale.
Created by Backbone and KPMG, the PICK 20 is the only national ranking of its kind and some of the judges and winners are our friends.
Among the Judges
Super-smart social media and digital marketing expert, Kate Trgovac is president of LintBucket Media, a boutique marketing agency headquartered in Vancouver which focuses on social media, community building and digital content creation. We love Kate and her marketing and technology blog.
A winner last year, “NowPublic continues at the forefront of the reinvention of news media,” according to O’Connor Clarke. “They continue to impress with the rate of their growth, their constant innovation and their overall leadership in defining the future of citizen media.” Napier said the company’s “scan tool, which acts as a filtering system, appears to be positioned to help readers get the information that is most valuable and relevant to them,” but Trgovac, while impressed by the company, is “still not sure how they make money.”
11 ThoughtFarmer Friend Chris McGrath, and social media gurus Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo who introduced me to ThoughtFarmer http://www.thoughtfarmer.com
Intranet software which incorporates social networking features
A winner last year, ThoughtFarmer “is still great, although they’ve got some tough competition. Still, it has a solid team, smart products and really cool marketing,” according to O’Connor Clarke. Trgovac also sees “lots of competition in the marketplace” but also calls ThoughtFarmer “one of the best social intranet applications I’ve seen, with a great interface and features.”
#20 Pixton Friend and CEO/Creator Clive Goodinson and Creative Director Daina M. Goodinson http://www.pixton.com
A site where people create, publish, share and remix comics
Geist enjoyed seeing something “new and creative” and Shende said Pixton “outputs creativity, collaboration, crowdsourcing and community all in an innovative new spin on an old, previously non-democratic medium.” The judges hope Pixton can monetize the service. “If the company can continue to attract classrooms willing to try the solution, and highlight the value delivered to entice institutions to pay for the subscription, the company could turn a fun comic-strip tool into something that’s really adding value and providing a revenue stream,” Napier said.
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