In celebration of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, musician Karen Fowlie will be performing with the Perkins 354 Band at Edgewater Celebration Village.
Animal Mother Films is producing a series of short films about the social and cultural landscape of Vancouver in light of the 2010 Winter Olympics called "With Glowing Hearts."
In a new segment released on Jan 30th, With Glowing Hearts documents the True North Media House campaign to encourage social reporting of the arts and cultural events and educate about best practices for creating and publishing content.
Director Andrew Lavinge sets up the WGHthemovie.ca- Webisode #2 'True North Media House' webisode in the announcement:
Vancouver Metis Artist Mark MiLan has been shut out to Olympic opportunities as he stands alongside his 2600 member Vancouver Metis Community Association, whom are not one of MNBC chartered community.
NOTE: Sent to VANOC {mediarelations@vancouver2010.com, pressoperations@vancouver2010.com} Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.
Cross-posted at: raincitystudios.com, 2010.dailyvancouver.com, nowpublic.com, etc.
Hello VANOC Media Relations and Press Operations,
I am writing today on behalf of Raincity Studios, a Vancouver-based social media company who owns and publishes a suite of media properties. We had hoped to talk about social media (blogs, podcasts, twitter, wikis etc.) at the World Press Briefing this week, however we did not receive any response from the applications we submitted to the participate in the event. So, as per Mr. Furlong's suggestion at the Vancouver Board of trade meeting last week, we are liaising with VANOC.
In brief, we'd like to have a conversation about how to allow fans and amateur media makers to document their Olympic experience while keeping out of the way of the IOC IP lawyers. As a company and as individuals, we've produced extensive, non-accredited coverage of Beijing 2008, Torino 2006, SLC 2002, and Nagano 1998. With the next games literally in our neighborhood, we'll be hosting an independent, international media centre at our Gastown loft office. As part of this, we'll organize events like photo walks and aggregate fan-made content for the enjoyment of a worldwide audience. We'd like to work with you to do this for mutual benefit.
As you likely know, Vancouver is a hub of innovative journalism with companies like ourselves, Now Public, and others plus renowned conferences like Northern Voice. Raincity Studios/Bryght are also an "official weblog service provider." My colleagues Robert Scales and Kris Krug were published in the academic paper "Pathway: Critiques and Discourse In Olympic Research," participated in the 9th International Symposium on Olympic Studies in Beijing and will be presenting about the experiences at the noted SXSW Interactive conference in 2009.
Between my colleagues and myself, we've posted thousands of photos, dozens of audio and video podcasts along with hundreds of blog posts, updates etc. from several Olympics. Additionally, we've cooperated with mainstream media and published Olympic-related coverage in the LA Times, BBC online, plus outlets in Poland, Brazil, Shanghai, and so on.
In Torino, Scales and Krug (and others) tested cutting edge equipment for Comvu and produced a cross-ocean symposium "Athletes and Social media" between Turin and Vancouver. In Beijing, they tested camera for Qik and contributed to many mainstream media outlets. Our own media properties include DailyVancouver.com, UrbanVancouver.com, Hockeynw.com, plus dozens of other presences, and we are allied with dozens of other media properties in BC and around the world.
Mr. Scales is China desk editor for Now Public and has presented to numerous international business groups about Olympics and business. Mr. Krug is ranked #4 on Vancouver Sun's "Internet Most Visible in Vancouver" list, both Krug and Scales were included on Tech Vibes "Vancouver Digital Media People to Watch 2008" list and appear on various other "best of" lists.
As for myself, I've produced extensive photo essays of event venues and published interviews with Canadian athletes like Duff Gibson, Ross Rebagliati and Crispin Lipscomb and written magazine articles about Olympians. I also appear on CBC Radio One discussing sports culture and new media as the producer/host of the Canucks Outsider podcast.
Bear in mind, aside form the occasional stipend, we do this work for no pay.
We are aware of your obligations to media rights holders and are seeking to provide an entirely different sort of coverage than the accredited media provide. We are not looking to cover events per se but are instead interested in covering the cultural stories, athletes' families' stories, and stories from fans who saved and traveled from around the world for this experience. In other words, we plan to encourage and aggregate fan coverage of the individual's "on the street" experience of the Games. We are locals who have watched (and helped pay for) the development of the Games since before the Plebiscite - as a result, we are tuned in to the issues and excitement surrounding the Games.
To begin our liaison relationship, we would like to attend the media briefing portion of the Worldwide Press Briefing on Thursday. We'd also schedule a follow-up conversation with the appropriate point of contact to discuss how we as a weblog vendor company, and as individuals, can be involved in providing amateur coverage of Vancouver/Whistler 2010.
With Best Regards,
daveo (and Robert Scales and Kris Krug)
--
Dave Olson
Community Evangelist
Raincitystudios.com
Into the thick of the Olympic sporting competition, Canada is rolling in a litany of 5th, 6th, 7th places ... but with track and field, rowing finals and trampolining yet to come, the Canucks still have a chance to visit the podium.
As Tod Maffin twitter'ed: "Maybe Beijing will at least give us a courtesy Participaction pin?(Dont understand this? Ask a Canadian over 30.)" (ed note: or view this Participaction toque).
In the social media production department, Scales continues to create video at an epic pace despite losing his co-hort Kris who was repatriated to Vancouver in time for a glorious summer weekend. Scales is staying busy by picking up more tickets for varied events at the incredible new venues including the whitewater kayak run (plus visits to the Danish hospitality house).
I'm heading to the hills with tent and beverages so here's a few highlights to enjoy with your weekend viewing:
In this installment of the Beijing Summer Olympics social media report, we join Robert Scales and Kris Krug as they spread their on-the-ground reportage around the world. Indeed, their barrage of videos, photographs and words are deepening the coverage for fans, pundits and athletes' families as their coverage is picked up by social and mainstream media outlets.
Robert Scales' second entry from his Olympic diary is up on BBC - this time he talks about the opening ceremonies (video) and their venue reconnaissance (video) with visits to the Birds Nest' national stadium, the 'Water Cube' aquatic centre, the fencing hall and the Yukeson basketball stadium while fortified by snake, silk worms, scorpian and salamanders (videos).
Krug's Olympic photos are in the LATimes blog with a photo essay called the Faces of Beijing - the candid photos show KK's skill of relaxing the subject to be themselves - you can almost feel the humidity in the photos.
NOTE: As part of on-going social media coverage of the Beijing 2008 games, this article was cross-posted at:
Raincity Studios Sino-Away-Squad of Scales and KK, are on the ground in Beijing to cover and participate in the Olympic experience as citizen journalism, technology experts, social pundits and cultural ambassadors.
The Glimmer Twins' tasks are diverse and their methods varied so here's a preview:
Take a stand for human rights in China and join in the rally, torch walk and live music with 4 bands. The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) is a global grassroots campaign to raise awareness prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics of the Chinese communist regime's human rights abuses, providing a platform for all persecuted groups to speak. Contact: 606-809-8612; 778-895-9242 relay@humanrightstorch.org
