That’s right. I’m hitting the road again to bring the “Web love” to magazine folks in Vancouver. This is the second-last stop on a cross-country tour that started in Toronto, got snowed-in in Halifax, and will conclude its first circuit in Edmonton at the end of March. So far, it’s been a hell of a lot of fun — the faculty is top-notch and the participants are reporting back that they’ve embarked on new Web initiatives already. What more could one ask?
So here are the details for Vancouver:
My partner Melanie and I are in Ottawa. It’s getting late. And I’m still preparing for the workshop that I’m leading tomorrow with Meera Karunanathan from the Council of Canadians. (I know, I know: don’t leave everything for the last minute!) The Council (along with the Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and others) have organized a teach-in that promises to be nothing less than historic.
Apparently I’m not the only one up late. My search for a little music to keep me company turned up no less than the personal music library of Avi Lewis. I feel like I’m in good company tonight.
Avi will kick-off tomorrow’s Integrate This teach-in as moderator for “The Big Business of Insecurity,” “Commandeering the Continent: Military Integration, Big Oil and the Environment,” and “The Democratic Deficit: Parliament and the SPP.” Judy Rebick takes over in the afternoon moderating the session “The North America We Really Want.”
A who’s who of the social-justice movement here in Canada, other names on the line-up include: Maude Barlow, Elizabeth May, and Maureen Webb.
I’m pretty excited to be here, and to have an opportunity to present some online campaigning strategies to activists from across the country. Heck, it’ll even be a great opportunity to update my Flickr feed.
When Terry Raininger asked me to give a short presentation at a recent day-long workshop on knowledge management for non-profit organizations and environmental NGOs, I thought I was going to cover the usual stuff: event registrations, e-mail communication, etc. However, the day of the event — freshly back from Web of Change — I had just one word that was stuck in my mind: Collaboration.
Mark Surman is the probably one responsible for forcing me to understand the importance of helping organizations come together around common needs, ideas, or technology; he spent the later years at Commons Group pursuing that quest, and continues to do so though the development of a global network of telecentres. And I’ve continued to follow that path in my own work by helping to convene similar conversations, including one that is exploring how independent media and progressive publications can work together.
I had the pleasure of delivering a session on Friday at Magazines University for the Small Magazines Spotlight. “Mags U” is a four-day conference for magazine publishers from across Canada and the US held annually in Toronto. The event is organized by a number of groups, but appears to be spearheaded by Magazines Canada — a Canadian magazine industry association and the folks that brought the Genuine Canadian logo to the cover of many Canadian magazines.
The session I delivered was given the title of “Build it (online) and they will come” and I was asked to explore ideas of how to use the Web to connect to readers, to increase circulation, and to generate revenue. I also wanted to provide some practical tips and look at the role of strategy and creative approaches in the work I’ve done with publications over the last few years. I was flattered to find that well over 30 people were interested in hearing what I had to say on the topic (you just never know at these things). In the room were folks from Canadian Art, Dandelion, Descant, Film Print, Front Magazine, Geist, Graphic Monthly, New Quarterly, Owl Kids, Style, Tart Magazine, Urbane, and many others that I wasn’t able to jot down.
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!).
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