BookCamp Vancouver is a user-generated unconference that brings print publishers, educators, community builders and the tech community together - for free! BookCamp Vancouver is an opportunity to explore the present and future of books and book-like technologies. It’s open to anyone interested in the publishing industry and the potential dynamics of the reader/creator/publisher relationship.
Join us for a day of sharing new ideas, radical notions and engaging conversation! We’ll consider the future of the Book as an object; examine its ongoing role as a delivery mechanism for stories, information and entertainment; and examine how publishers can leverage themselves for success in the digital age.
We’re encouraging BookCampers to suggest topics of discussion for the day and to suggest sessions that they would like to lead.
About the Video riiPlay.tv, a Vancouver-based video and web production company, filmed the Internet Marketing Conference held in Vancouver last year, and they have kindly sent me the video embed code for my session on Writing for the Web.
Have you ever missed an event and wished you could attend?
Have you ever held an event and wished that someone was filming it?
Have you ever attended an event and wished that you could send your co-workers links to watch the “best of” clips?
riiPlay.tv is answering this by providing the filming of live events, the production of watchable video segments, and the hosting and delivery of those videos online through free or pay-per-view means.
Adpages, the Business in Vancouver magazine on advertising, marketing and communications, features “The Online Marketing Game: How the Internet Changed Advertising” by Sara Newham.
The article is a 2-page spread featuring a glossy photo us (Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing and James Sherrett of AdHack), plus smart-sounding quotes and commentary on how Barack Obama used social media marketing and how advertising creative can be sourced through social networks.
Smart and pretty on the same day. Thank you Sara Newham for making us sound intelligent and thank you Dominic Schaefer for catching our better sides.
Update: The 2009 edition of AdPages is now available on the Business in Vancouver website.
Friend, colleague and awesome graphic designer Jason Landry created the Boxcar Marketing logo and business cards that we’ve been lovingly passing around for the past couple of months.
The font for the word Marketing is Gotham by Hoefler & Frere-Jones. And the font for the word Boxcar is a custom creation based, although there are similar fonts available. The inspiration for the design was railway tracks and the X railway crossing symbol.
Although you can’t see it clearly in this photo, the cards are a rich burgundy with a red that totally pops.
Thank you Jason!
Posted by Monique Trottier | Email to a Friend | Of course, you should follow me on twitter here
My bookkeeper pointed out the other day that the backup on her computer hasn’t been working for the past couple of months. Eek gads! What that means is that all the information she is entering for my bookkeeping purposes could disappear. By “her” computer, she means my computer, which I’ve set up for her to use.
Documents, photos, music, videos ... there’s all sort of valuable stuff on that computer because it used to be my home computer.
So here is my data loss disaster story in a series of photos.
It starts like this:
Oh, that was weird!
Oh, that was really bad.
Oh, I don’t know how to fix this.
Oh, I really don’t know how to fix this.
====
Oh, James?
Oh, geez.
Oh. Ooooooooh.
Oh. No.
Have your own story? A single photo will do.
One of my clients is PutPlace. And they are all about preventing data loss disasters like this one.
* PutPlace offers real-time backup.
* PutPlace protects and organizes your photos, documents, emails, music and home movies.
* PutPlace enables you to publish a file on multiple sites and find it later.
PutPlace is more than file backup. It’s a lifesaver and they are running a photo contest.
All you have to do is submit a photo of your shock or horror with a caption about your data loss fears. The prize is an annual subscription to PutPlace for 100 GB of data + $200 USD Amazon gift certificate.
Late last week I received an email from Google AdWords at an email address that looked like .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Except the email wasn’t from Google AdWords and the originating email address wasn’t really .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. eBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging,[1] and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used.
Most phishing attempts are pretty easy to spot. Misspellings, fake email addresses and domain names in Russia or some other country extension usually give them away if you know what to look for. But this scam was above average in its execution.
Here’s what the email looked like.
And here’s the landing page the link in the email brought up.
The actual domain name is wapisbank.cn, in China. I smelled a rat.
At the same time I was impressed. This was phishing done far better than I had seen before, and for Google AdWords, not common targets like banks, Paypal or eBay.
So how can you spot an attempt at phishing that shows up in your inbox?
Are you expecting an email from the sending organization? If you don’t deal with a bank, they won’t send you email. If you don’t have a Paypal account, they also won’t send you email.
Don’t trust email. The sender email address can be masked or ‘spoofed’ very easily. Email is inherently an unsecure communication. Email messages travel over the open Internet just as they are. A detection program called a ‘sniffer’ can watch the traffic going past and respond to specific words or cues (like passwords or credit card numbers). Don’t email sensitive information. Don’t expect large organizations to email sensitive information.
Watch URLs. The URLs are the address of the web page you’re visiting. Phishing attempts almost always use URLs that mimic the URLs of the organization they’re impersonating, but they can never be that organzation. Here’s a short example of the distinctions between URLs, domain names and registered domains.
Contact the organization sending you the email directly, not through a link in the email. Go straight to their website. Call them. Ask through a channel you’ve used before if you need to do anything to manage your account. Also, be ready to send the phishing email to the organization being impersonated.
Now that you’ve been warned, here’s the phishing webpage in case you need to see it in action.
Posted by James Sherrett | Email to a Friend | Of course, you should follow me on twitter here
Spring is traditionally associated with change and renewal. A time to clean things up. A time for new seeds to be planted. Spring also happens to be an excellent time to announce the evolution in our business.
Same great service, strategy and team you expect, with a new name. It’s still Monique Trottier and James Sherrett and a merry band of partners working hard behind the scenes. Except now the scenery has changed.
Why the name change?
We wanted to better describe the type of “Work” we do: “Marketing.” At the same time, we wanted to keep the feel of a hard-working, industrious shop, which led us to “Boxcar.” Last, we wanted to do away with inconsistency over our name (Work Industries) and domain name (www.iworkindustries.com).
So after a few sessions at the white board and too many domain name searches, Boxcar Marketing was born.
We’ve let some friends and colleagues know about the name change, so it’s percolated out there into the great Google. Now this announcement makes it official.
What does the name change to Boxcar Marketing mean to you?
Where you saw Work Industries, now you’ll see Boxcar Marketing. On invoices, cheques, business cards, contracts and in email addresses, we’ll be Boxcar Marketing. We’ll do our best to redirect all the Work Industries points of reference to Boxcar Marketing. But if you spot an old reference to Work Industries, please let us know.
As is the nature of our business and our philosophy, we expect and want your feedback. We practice and preach conversational, 2-way communications.
So let us know what you think. If you have questions or concerns or just want a little more information on the name change, please contact us. We’re still at the same phone numbers and office address. But now we’re Boxcar Marketing. Please update your email address book:
Monthly Newsletter
Conferences & Events
What we’re talking about 
Project Highlights
Did you know?
Looking for the bee? 
Subscribe to our blog.