The International Digital Media Arts Association Conference 2010

The International Digital Media Arts Association Conference 2010 (iDMAa 2010) is happening November 4 - 6 at Emily Carr University. This year’s conference will focus on the subject of The Digital Narrative: Pushing scholarship, creativity and imagination.

Monique is speaking on a social media panel with Alexandra Samuel, the Director of the Social and Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University and Adrian Allene, Chief Technology Officer at United Media Partners.

From the iDMAa 2010 website:

Leading academics, professionals and artists will gather at Emily Carr University of Art and Design for the International Digital Media and Arts Association’s 8th annual conference to explore the world of digital technologies with a focus on the subject of The Digital Narrative. The conference will include workshops, keynote speakers, “extreme close-up” guest panels, paper presentations, networking, discussions, and social events as well as opportunities to explore Emily Carr’s state of the art facilities

New digital technologies and mediums are informing, challenging and reinventing our notions of narrative structures and storytelling. Non- linear, virtual, artificial, interactive, and cyber culture have become common terms and concepts when describing the emerging integration of science, art, and sociology. The Digital Narrative explores ideas of how storytelling and communication is influencing and influenced by new and emerging technologies.

Details:
November 4 - 6, 2010
Emily Carr University
If you register before October 20th, a member ticket costs $289, a non-member ticket costs $395 and a student ticket costs $89.
See the list of speakers.
Register here. 

BookCamp Vancouver 2010

The second BookCamp Vancouver is this Friday, October 1. BookCamp is a conference that brings together 250 members from the technology and publishing industries to talk about digital aspects of book publishing and how online media is changing the game.

The early days of the internet brought to publishing:

• Credit card payments
• Shipping trackers
• Inventory counts
• Reviews
• Buy and recommendation engines
• Communities and tribes

Sharing, collaboration, organization and knowledge exchange were reinforced through easy tools, search and recommendation engines such as those available through YouTube, Amazon, Facebook, iTunes and Twitter.

With the social web, fresh insights into the community are possible. A publisher can:

• Listen and learn: identify influencers; build up reputation and leadership
• Build awareness: create compelling campaigns and, more important, movements
• Facilitate participation: Contribute to the community, provide tools that empower others to speak on their behalf, and create connections
• Support purchasing: Accommodate individuality (customizations), provide service on-demand and support multiple payment methods
• Re-engage and empower: provide social rewards for positive behaviours that support the community and, with permission, encourage repeat behaviour

Ebook readers bring new insights to reading preferences, as well as a shift in reading from a linear model to an interactive one.

Big questions are forming. How long will we be in a transition from printed books to digital works? Will publishing houses continue to exist as they do today or will light-weight publishing condos develop instead (where a core group handles finding, making and marketing)? Will price points reflect more points along the demand curve? How will people behave in a market of infinite choice? What will they want to pay for, who will make money and how do we finance publishing new works?

Seth Godin says that publishers have done an excellent job for 100+ years. As curators, they pick the winners. As producers, they create and manufacture the works. As financial risk takers, they make the initial investment. As distributors, they manage inventory and shelf space. And as promoters, they disseminate press releases, earn publicity and buy advertising space.

His challenge to the industry is to focus on curation, leadership and connection.

This Friday, we’ll do just that. We’ll look at digital sales to libraries, ecatalogues, ebook production and the reading practices. We’ll explore how literary communities are supporting new works and the discovery of amazing authors. We’ll talk strategy, tools and tactics for fostering community and dialogue within and between online tribes.

All of this happens daily on the web, but BookCamp is a chance for us to have an in-person literary salon where innovators and problem-solvers in the technology space interact with risk takers and trendspotters in publishing to explore how digital technology continues to amplify and extend the discovery, production and delivery of new works of fiction and non-fiction, whether they be in tree format or pixels and bits.

SFU Pub 355: Online Marketing for Publishers

Starting Friday, I’m teaching at Simon Fraser University.

PUB 355-4 explores online promotion and marketing in the creative economy with a focus on publishers.

Students will learn about the formulation and analysis of marketing strategy, approaches to measurement (key performance indicators and return on investment), tactical implementation and campaign management, finding and nurturing audiences and conversations, branding, forecasting and budgeting.

Here’s a look at the course outline:

Anything missing? Different approaches? Want to contribute?

Feedback is welcome.

Schedule Posting Test

You can ignore this message. I’m testing the schedule post function because there seems to be a conflict with the server time and the localization settings. Dreary, I know. Skip down and enjoy the AT&T post instead.

Testing Localization Settings

Today we are testing the localization settings for our website and server. There appears to be a disconnect between when we think posts are going to go live and when they actually go live. Rather annoying. So now we’re going to test our theories.

Some days you are the scientist, some days you are the guinea pig.

iPad At the iOffice

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:

1. Amazingly crisp screen
2. I already know how to use it (I’m an iPhone user)
3. The apps are cool, especially Epicurious
4. It’s in colour vs. Kindle which is black and white
5. 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?

Namaste Publishing Launches New Website

Boxcar Marketing has been busy in the trenches lately as we worked to re-launch the Namaste Publishing website.

Namaste Publishing is a small, financially successful Canadian publishing house with a worldwide presence. Known as the publisher for leading authors like Eckhart Tolle, Namaste has a solid reputation for publishing transformative, leading-edge books on self-help, spirituality, alternative health and personal transformation.

Namaste’s original website was built using flat HTML files and grew over the years as a disconnected collection of sites and blogs under Namastepublishing.com and various subdomains. Without standard navigation between interior pages, the site was difficult to navigate, and the key ecommerce functions required unnecessary steps to purchase products in the store.

Screenshot of the Original Design

Namaste’s online presence needed a radical reinvention and expansion. The team wanted a deeper long-term engagement with their community of fans, authors, spiritual leaders and staff. The project required a full re-branding and entire re-experience and re-interpretation of what publishing meant for the company.

Screenshot of the New Site Launched March 11, 2010

A re-design is more than just design.

Boxcar Marketing started with a month-long strategy session to convert Namaste Publishing’s business from a traditional publishing company to the leader of a global spiritual community. Jordan Behan of Tell Ten Friends Marketing Co. and Boris Mann of BMann Consulting and Bootup Labs contributed their expertise during the strategy sessions and subsequent social-media training sessions. Once the team established the goals of the project, we sent out an RFP to various vendors.

Namaste Publishing’s goals were:

1. To support and engage readers in an ongoing experience that deepens and adds richness to their understanding of the written materials.
2. To dispel the distance and ‘one to many’ dynamic between author and reader.
3. To distribute spiritual and inspirational information through new methods that are engaging, easy to understand, inspirational, fun and engage a wide audience.
4. To expand the commercial viability of the already-profitable online store without compromising the intentions and integrity of the informational and community aspects of the website.

As for technical requirements, Namaste wanted an easier system for publishing their content (events, blogs, store products), a more user-friendly online shopping experience, and support for online and offline groups that form around Namaste’s publications (book studies and interactive courses).

In order to reach these goals the project was divided into 3 distinct but interdependent phases:

Phase I: Re-Experience
Namaste Publishing and Boxcar Marketing worked with Todd Sieling of Corvus Consulting on the information architecture, user experience, and interface design. Key to this phase, and taking the design lead, was Lift Studios, who provided the brand redesign (logos, business cards and other identity) and worked closely with us on the website redesign and desired user experience. 

Phase II: Store Renovation
Boxcar Marketing’s experience with publishers and online marketing primed us for taking the lead on the product page requirements that would remake the online store and improve usability for customers. (A separate case study on this phase is coming.)

Phase III: Community Expansion
Namaste Publishing’s connections to the global spiritual community are extensive and they wanted to build social web tools within the Namaste site, as well as actively participate in other online communities where their fans and customers gather.

Throughout the project Boxcar Marketing and Namaste Publishing established practices for building and managing online communities, handling digital and print online sales, establishing online courses, such as The Journey to Higher Consciousness, promoting events, such as Namaste Radio, and incorporating the publisher and author blogs.

Boxcar Marketing, along with our expert partners, did extensive workflow planning, which translated to detailed wireframes that drove design and development decisions. But, of course, we would be nowhere without the guidance and amazing work of our Drupal development team from Raincity Studios. Raincity Studios turned our designs and user experience requests into the dynamic, fully functioning website we launched this month.

Truly a group effort, thank you again to Todd of Corvus Consulting, the design team at Lift Studios (Haig, Cam, Frederick), the development team at Raincity Studios (Erik, Francis, and many other behind-the-scenes folks), and the inspiring team at Namaste Publishing (Constance, Howard, Mary, David, Lucinda, Nora and Kathy).

The accomplishments of this small Canadian publisher knows no bounds. The Namaste Publishing team are my inspiration. Thank you for a wonderful project!

(And like in any Oscar speech, any oversights in the shout-outs are mine alone. If I’ve missed you, please announce yourself!)