It’s been a fun week working with friends at The Tyee, Biro Creative, and WhatCounts to launch The Tyee’s new “media concentration” campaign. Have to admit that it’s been incredibly smooth and low stress; I think some of the folks at Biro even managed to get off to Social Change Institute at the same time.

The focus of the campaign is to highlight the issue of media concentration in Canada (Canada’s media ecosystem severely lacks diversity), and to help The Tyee spawn some new subscribers in the process.

Go check it out and support feisty and independent media in Canada!

I received the following (cleverly crafted) e-mail from the NDP team on Saturday:

Can you believe these Liberals?

Watching the Liberal convention, it’s clear these Liberals haven’t learned a thing. Arrogance and backroom deals are alive and well in the Liberal party.

On a better note, we’ve almost succeeded in our campaign to buy an ad on theglobeandmail.com. We just need about $2000 more to make it a go. Can I count on you to make it happen? Please donate online now by clicking here.

When people log on to theglobeandmail.com on Monday, let’s make Jack Layton and the NDP the first thing they see.

Éric Hébert-Daly Federal Secretary, Canada’s NDP Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

And, upon visiting the theglobeandmail.com this morning, found Jack Layton staring me right in the face. I’ve screen captured the page for posterity: a nice example of very solid online campaign strategy. read more »

In January, while checking out the Independent Press Association’s conference in San Francisco, Matt Thompson and I put our heads together to explore some ideas about extending the work of progressive publications — namely magazines — online. Matt’s background as a journalist and producer at Independent World Television (now called The Real News) led to many conversations about short online mini-documentaries; my background working on online campaigns had me focused on a compelling story and e-mail acquisition. And, we both struggled with some basic questions about the challenges for traditionally print-based publications as they struggle with how to deliver their content online. read more »

What does Web 2.0 have to do with grassroots advocacy and electoral politics? Well, that’s the question that we set out to explore yesterday during the workshop that I delivered (with my good friend Mark Greenspan
of the Habitat New Media Lab) at the Mesh conference. For those who were at the workshop, you can find the slides as a PDF here and Sacha’s notes on the session here (and, if you have feedback on the session, please drop me a comment below!). read more »