As I took my seat at the very front of the auditorium (like a keener) for Northern Voice 2009 I realized I forgot my card-reader as well as my camera cable. The result of this being none of my photos will be uploaded until the evening so in the meantime I’m going to grab a bunch from John Biehler (who is uploading his pics on the fly). That in itself is not a terrible thing, it’s actually a fantastic system since John’s photos from last night’s dinner are pretty spectacular, here’s a sampling:
Update: The fact that I’m sharing John’s photos from Flickr is fitting seeing as how our morning keynote is none other than Stewart Butterfield — one of the founders of Flickr.
Update: Stewart’s keynote begins as a photo story, from an image of a shack in the woods to illustrate his home town of Lund, to black and white hippie photos of him and his parents, and a young Stewart in a “Radio Shack Computer Camp” trucker-style hat.
“Back then, in 1992, the internet was a way to keep in touch with people going to university in other places,” mentions Stewart while sharing some of his old usernames and email addresses (that, at the time, were at least 20 characters long). He’s also showing some postings he’s made to groups online (circa 1993) including his first online community rec.music.phish.
“There was a web when I first got online but it was such a small thing, there was so little content there that it didn’t pop on my radar til about 1994.” His first real expressions on the web was Sylloge, and he shows us an example of its activity using the Wayback Machine.
Update: “When I first got online, Howard Rheingold had already written a book, The Virtual Community.”
Update: Stewart moves on to “this is who I am” and shows images of various ways people express themselves and who they are, from bumper stickers to hairstyles and clothing. “People tend to pick up more adhoc bits of culture,” while a photo of a crowded auditorium pops up with Apple notebook symbols glowing (and a little red arrows points out the single PC user).
Update: “In the early days, photography was about memory preservation,” notes Stewart as the Flickr logo spins up on to the screen. Trends Stewart highlights include: Ubiquity of capture devices, Spread of the network, Change in perception and attitudes — participating is no longer weird.
“Obese man in underwear hunched over computer in basement,” pops up on a slide as Stewart addresses some of the stereotypes of internet users and mentions another trend: The desire to participate became very wide spread. Stewart shows an image of Obama and the crowd before him, each person with their own camera. “You can see a whole wall of LCDs.”
“There was a time when you wanted to make music, you would head into the parlour and friends and family members joined you,” moving on to a brief discussion about Web 2.0. “This will probably be the last time I have to do this presentation because I think we’re going to stop calling it web 2.0.” It’s about creating and sharing rather than consuming.
A graph representing internet usage pops up on screen, “when you look at this graph you must know it’s totally made up — but it’s super positive!”
Stewart address the changing role of computing over the years including, ‘Relationship-based computing’ which replaces document-based computing which replaced application-based computing (from Stewart’s slide).
Update: The presentation ends with “Anyway, this is why I love the internet.”
The keynote has ended so it’s time to pick up the schedule and see where I should head next. There are so many tracks and presentations today (including an unconference track that will have sessions added in a few minutes). Ill continue my coverage today in another post but so far, NV09 is off to a great start.
This weekend the UBC Forestry Sciences building will be filled with a sold-out crowd of 300 social media enthusiasts. Canada’s largest personal blogging conference, Northern Voice, will kick off tomorrow morning with two special keynotes, a main conference track as well as an unconference track. On Saturday there will be another keynote and several panels, including two of mine.
Tonight everyone is gathering at Frederico’s for the official conference dinner (which is also sold-out) but it will be Bollwitt-less. Last year John was under the weather and I went to the dinner without him. To say that I was missing him / thinking of him all night long would be an understatement. This year after going strong for the last few weeks with his day job (which often spills into the night when there’s a Canucks game) on top of our work for sixty4media, John is feeling under the weather yet again. This time, I’m staying in with him; making some dinner, steeping some tea, and covering him with our super awesome Iowa fleece blankets.
Photo credit:
Raul on Flickr
We’re not boycotting (but some others are due to certain sponsorship) we’re simply taking time out for ourselves, which just really needs to happen tonight otherwise we’ll both run entirely into the ground.
Conferences, dinners, and networking events are important — especially to folks like us whose entire business is based on such things — however taking care of yourself, and the person you love most, must come first.
I look forward to seeing the pictures pop up on Flickr (tagged: northernvoice09) and I’ll post a few here when they start rolling in. I hope everyone has a fantastic time tonight and I’ll see you bright and early at UBC for the morning address and keynotes.
Tips for the morning: How to get there, bring your own lanyard, child care is provided, there is an iCal-friendly Northern Voice schedule, the conference hashtag is #northernvoice09.
It’s the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time and World Vision is trying to spread awareness across our nation with the One Life exhibition that shows you the effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on a child growing up in Africa.
From now until March 1st the One Life exhibit will take up 2,000 square feet at Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby. During a 20-minute audio tour, you will follow the life of a specific child and hear their story. The goal is to, “inspire Canadians to move beyond the statistics by hearing the voice of a child in the midst of this struggle.”
I was given a preview of One Life this morning at the media opening and all I can say was that it was enlightening and compelling. Just to know all the myths and stigmas floating around these cultures with regards to HIV/Aids and learning of the alarming rate at which children and adults are dying across the globe because of this is staggering.
When you stop by the One Life exhibit at Metrotown (in the Grand Court), you’ll be given an iPod shuffle and audio will play with the voice of a narrator guiding you through the life of someone very special – giving you just the slightest idea of the impact of this crisis on one helpless child.
Today I heard Olivia’s story and as I walked through the exhibit I started to feel bad just thinking about where I was and what I was experiencing while surrounded by dignitaries and the glow of commerce in a shopping mall. I then started to realize that point of the entire exhibition is hope; giving hope to those thousands of miles away, letting them know we are aware of their situation (although cannot even fathom the extent) and that people are very willing to help out.
One of the people I look up to most in the world is my sister, and with 5 amazing children to raise they all still have the time to support a World Vision child as well. “Especially in these economic times it really makes us appreciate what we have and that we have the opportunity to help someone that hasn’t had the fortunes we have, living in Canada.”
Today I also ran into Stephen Fung and John Chow — now say what you will about John’s money-making ways online but out of every single event I have attended for a non-profit, John Chow is the person I run into the most at each one.
Hope resounds through personal notes, the sponsoring of a Hope Child, or simply getting the message out and doing your part. We only get one life and I’m pretty sure what I want to do with mine is to make sure that everyone gets a fair chance at theirs.
The New Forms Media Society is presenting Midforms 09 from March 5th until the 7th as a part of Vancouver’s Cultural Olympiad.
The exhibition features over 75 artists working within the digital medium including interactive installations, film, digital art, performance, robotics, music and visuals.
Thursday March 5th, 1pm to 4pm, Media sneak peek
Thursday March 5th 7pm – late, Opening Reception including tour of installation and Mosaic Sounds [Facebook Event]
Friday March 6th, 1pm to 4pm, Shell exhibition free public access and school tours
Friday March 6th 9pm to late, Techforms and Raw Materials [Facebook Event]
Saturday 1pm to 4 pm, Shell exhibition free public access
Saturday 9pm to late, Breaksform [Facebook Event]
“New Forms Media Society exists to unite creative communities and push the boundaries of art through the digital medium. Midforms provides Vancouver with a chance to explore New Media Art by some of the most progressive local, national and international artists, as well as the opportunity to engage with new technologies.”
Midforms will take place at the Great Northern Way Campus, 577 Great Northern Way, at the Centre for Digital Media Arts and you can sign up today via the main Facebook event page.
Disclosure: This space was purchased on Miss604.com along with the banner ads that will appear around the site.
Just as many are conceding to the fact that Vancouver has yet again become a “no fun city” numerous events filled with family fun are popping on my radar and this is another — and it’s for a great cause to boot.
Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile on Flickr
Chip’s really not dead yet, so save the date as the second annual Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile will be taking place June 20th, 2009.
For every dollar in proceeds of registration or sponsorship, Chip Wilson, the founder of lululemon has pledged to match their entry fee with a contribution up to $150,000 in support of BC Children’s Hospital and all kids who really know what an uphill battle feels like! Chip’s three-year plan is to raise $1 million dollars.
It’s simply a 1 mile run, uphill, in West Point Grey, that has various “waves” such as the elite wave (last year’s winner from Kenya took home a $20,000 prize) along with super fun and silly costumed waves such as superheros, uniform, underwear, rockstar (sponsored by 99.3 The Fox), and the brides — although you don’t even need to be an actual bride to sport a taffeta dress and take the run.
There’s also a contest this year to come up with your own themed run. Would you want to see a stream of pirates jogging by? Some robots perhaps? You can submit a video entry to the contest to suggest a wave and let them know what you’ll be wearing on race day.
But there’s much more to CNDY than the run, there’s also a family entertainment zone (at West 10th Avenue between Sasamat and Tolmie) and the best part is that proceeds go to support the BC Children’s Hospital. Being an auntie of 5, this is something I will always support.
“Children are precious and the most vulnerable members of our society. They rely on us to care for them.” [The Cause]
The group of people that are helping to get this event off the ground are committed to making it a success and getting the word out to the biggest audience possible. As such, they invited a handful of local bloggers to a special social media launch party this evening at the Loden Hotel where we got to learn more and also toss around a few ideas on how we can all help.
Chip Wilson and me
You can register for the run, become a fan on Facebook, enter the theme contest, check out the video from last year, or follow their updates on Twitter to participate or simply help spread the word.
