Happy birthday, Isabella Mori (@moritherapy)

My dear friend Isabella Mori was the first blogger I ever met in real life in Vancouver, at (not surprisingly) one of the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup (which was organized by her at the time). In fact, it was at the January 2008 that I finally met Isabella in person. I was bestowed the leadership of the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup by her and I learned a lot from her while organizing Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2009. While we were at The Grind, discussing issues of scheduling, Isabella and I spent two of the most glorious hours hashing out who would be speaking at MHC’09 and we agreed that we MUST work together again in a project. It was such a delight. Isabella, I am always in awe of your amazingness and I am proud of knowing you and having you as a friend. Happy birthday!

Music: Cooly’s Hot Box “Over and Over”

I am very grateful to have many dear friends in the American city of Chicago. One of my dearest offline friends (ironically, while we met offline, she was the one who started me with the whole idea of blogging) moved to Chicago for professional reasons, but we shared (amongst many other things) a love for all things deep house music. This song reminds me so much of her. Dearest LM, you know I miss you. A lot. I’ll be toasting to your health whenever I listen to Cooly’s Hot Box’s “Over and Over”.

Coincidentally, and as an aside note, I think the rythm, tones and cadence of this song fully embodies how I visualize myself. Anybody care to comment whether you think this song ‘represents’ me? 🙂

Pride Toronto this week (June 22nd-28th)

I am proud to live in a country (Canada) that recognizes that love is love no matter your gender, and whose government acknowledges same-sex marriages. Canadian Pride celebrations are usually magical, full of glitter, positive energy and love. Pride Toronto is taking place this week and the actual Pride parade is this coming Sunday, June 28th). While I have not been to Toronto for Pride, I’ve always had a soft spot for this gorgeous city. Many good friends of mine live there and I’d seriously consider moving there given how many academic centers and universities are located there. I hope everyone gets to celebrate Toronto Pride. A listing of events can be found on here. If you are in the T-Dot area, pass this on!

On giving, helping people and protecting oneself

It’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me well that I’m a very giving and caring individual. When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I remember telling my parents that I thought my mission in this world was to help as many people as I could with my talents. I would like to believe that I have done good on what I think was or is my mandate. However, helping people does take a toll on my soul.

I have written before on my blog about how I try not to spend much time in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver because it really makes me feel sick to my stomach. The pain and suffering of people do have an impact on the way I feel and it usually intoxicates my persona until I can cleanse myself (usually meditating or taking some time off).

This weekend, in addition to VanChangeCamp, I had to spend substantial amounts of time with friends of mine who are going through very rough periods in their lives. At the same time, someone I care for very much but who lives thousands of miles away was also going through a difficult period. All of this has had an impact in the way I feel. I think that, as much as I still believe in my mission to help people, I must protect myself from absorbing so much pain from other people. Otherwise, the one who will end up damaged will be me.

I know that I feel a certain degree of obligation or duty to my online communities to maintain communication on a regular basis. However, I think my blogging, tweeting and participation in events will be pretty minimal. If I don’t re-tweet something you’ve forwarded, if I don’t blog about what you suggested might be interesting on my blog, if I don’t attend your event, don’t take it the wrong way. I’ll get to it. In time 🙂

Open Internet Town Hall – Digital Strategy for Canada #VanChangeCamp (liveblog)

ISP – Internet Service Provider
CRTC – Canadian Radio and Television Teleccomunications Commission

David Hume on BC as Citizen Engagement Lab: Designing Citizen Engagement with the Province of BC – #VanChangeCamp

You’re being sent on a secret mission to Paris…(Contest)

I recently interviewed my good friend Grace Carter and I asked her a question that I thought would bring the spy out in her…

You’re being sent to Paris on a covert mission. Who do you take and why?

I have been lucky to be in touch with the fantastic folks of The Arts Club, and they’ve agreed to be an awesome sponsor, so we are giving away two sets of tickets to Les Miserables. So I’ll be drawing one set on Father’s Day (Sunday) and the other one on Tuesday, the day we have the Meetup of Meetups! Thanks to the lovely people from The Arts Club for sponsoring my contest!

So what’s the contest? Drop a comment on my blog answering the question above (you’re being sent to Paris on a covert mission. Who do you take and why? and I’ll draw a random winner on Father’s Day at 11:00am and then another one on Tuesday at 2:00pm. I look forward to the entries! Be creative, and have fun with it! 🙂

UPDATE – Since I didn’t draw a winner on Father’s Day, I’m going to draw 2 winners randomly today at 2:00pm.

UPDATE – Thanks to @elijah and @jkparker for drawing the random numbers, and the winners are Richard (@mozy19) and Kirsten (@6oz). Congrats! Thanks to the Arts Club for sponsoring the tickets! Stay tuned for more contests in the future!

Moodyville’s (North Vancouver)

I make it a rule of mine to spend time with my close friends on a regular basis, and I think I’m pretty damn good at it. Also, as you may remember, I love the North Shore, especially the city of North Vancouver and the area around Lower Lonsdale. I also have always had a soft spot for Mom-and-Pop-run, small hole-in-the-wall kind of places, and brunch is pretty much my favorite meal of the day. Given that earlier this year, I spent a full 2 weeks in North Vancouver (house-sitting for Ianiv and Arieanna), I thought of coming back to Moodyvilles for brunch. Earlier this year, I had brunch there with Arieanna and we both enjoyed it a lot. The place is small enough to be cozy, yet big enough to hold about 30 people seated comfortably. I ordered scrambled eggs with hashbrowns and toast, which is as always, comfort food.

Comparatively speaking, Moodyvilles is sort of the North Shore equivalent to the Nice Cafe. Small, cozy, warm, comfort food. I have to admit, though, that just walking through the Lonsdale area (not the Quay, but the area around 1st and 5th Streets, and surrounding perimeter) there are a LOT of great-looking restaurants just waiting for me to visit for brunch. If only I had that kind of cash to just spend my time having dinner to review restaurants!

If you live in the North Shore, I’d seriously recommend Moodyvilles. Even if you’re not in the actual Lonsdale area, it’s a small little place that should provide you with a sense of home and a respite from the craziness of day-to-day life.

Reflections on Twitter, “grow your network organically” and #nofollow

I am frequently the subject of #followfriday and I am very honored and truly blessed by the people who choose me as someone worthy of being followed. I am limited by my capacity to absorb information from people and therefore, I don’t follow back everyone. I NEVER ask anybody to follow me back simply because I think that’s something that needs to grow with time. As I build relationships with people I always believe that there’ll be a point where we follow each other back.

There is a GAZILLION people I would LOVE to follow but I’m unable to, not because I don’t want to but because I simply don’t want to make the relationship non-existant. I know that TweetDeck would allow me to filter, but it’d be inappropriate of me to make people believe I am paying attention when I am not. Much rather have a lower number of people I follow than to be dismissive.

The same way I don’t like to do a #followfriday (simply because if I had it my way I’d recommend everyone both on my follower and following list) I don’t like the idea of the #wontfollow hashtag. I strongly believe that by saying “oh I won’t follow you because of … and ….” the beginning of the relationship is hostile.

I am really against popularity contests in the Twittersphere and I am also a firm believer of building real, authentic relationships on Twitter. I really strongly believe that we need to cut people on Twitter some slack. I am sure that the people who know me well and that follows me and I don’t follow back know that it’s not because I don’t want to but because I have a limited capacity for following people. At least, I would hope so! And I hope that people know that I can’t be forced into following someone back. At the same time, I don’t preclude anybody by saying “I won’t follow you”. Well, except Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and Perez Hilton 🙂

I also dislike the concept that businesses “must grow their network organically”. How the heck do people think that we are going to notice that a business is on Twitter unless the person behind the business account follows us? As I was writing this post, Todd Sieling (a friend whose opinion I respect and value) mentioned that businesses can have organic growth of followers by “talking to people talking about your domain and using hashtags”. As I answered to Todd, I don’t think both are mutually exclusive, but complementary.

The most important thing for me on any Web 2.0 platform is to maintain and continue the conversation. So, chime in with your thoughts on here 🙂

Greek Day Vancouver 2009

A few years ago, while I was finishing my Masters degree, I was living on campus at UBC, near Kitsilano. Many of my close friends still live in the area, and I always strived to know more about the history of this beautiful neighbourhood. I learned that there used to be a very strong enclave of Greek migrants in the Kitsilano area, and while the demographic composition of the neighbourhood is much more diverse now, there’s still a strong sense of a Greek community. And that’s why Kitsilano is the host of the 2009 Greek Day festival. I was lucky last year in that I attended Greek Day with my good friend HZ.

From their event overview:

The Canadian Hellenic Congress of BC, with support from the Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce and West Broadway Business Association are pleased to announce that June 2009 is officially named the Greek Heritage Month in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The event, which has enjoyed tremendous success since 2005, will include a number of exciting cultural activities scheduled at various venues in Vancouver. The grand finale to this event: Greek Day 2009 will take place on Sunday June 21st, 2009 along the West Broadway corridor in the heart of Kitsilano. [Greek Day 2009]

For a PDF version of the program you can click here – Greek Day is the culmination of Greek Heritage Month and it takes place on Sunday June 21st, 2009. Since it’s my usual JT day I might swing by for a bit, but not sure if that’ll be the case since I have my heart set on Buntzen Lake and a hike.

The Lazy Gourmet’s BBQ

A couple of weeks back, The Lazy Gourmet invited me to a summer BBQ. While I am no longer the top-ranked UrbanSpoon food reviewer, I remain in the top five and I am also heavily involved with the food blogging scene in Vancouver. The Lazy Gourmet does not actually have a full-blown restaurant (although they do provide to-go lunch options), but more importantly, it is a local business that is heavily focusing on providing sustainable food catering options. I was particularly happy when I found out that the salmon they use is Ocean Wise approved. For me, being a local business with a focus on sustainability and a genuine interest in the community always earns you brownie points. I wish I had had more space to sample all of their catering items. Unfortunately, the BBQ was on a Sunday when I was (as usual) triple-booked. Also, I was on my way for dinner with JT and he would have not appreciated it very much if I hadn’t eaten what he cooked for me! Overall, my experience with The Lazy Gourmet was very positive, particularly when I commented about my editorial and disclosure policy (i.e. I’m not obligated to write about anything nor do I endorse anything that I don’t feel right). I gave Ginger a few tips on Twitter and encouraged her to tell management at The Lazy Gourmet about getting a blog. More importantly, it is key to remain engaged with customers. I have had very little experience with caterers (only having really worked with LunchBox in Gastown for Mental Health Camp) so it was nice to learn more about The Lazy Gourmet. You can read more on their About Us page. Thanks for the invite to the BBQ! Next time, I seriously hope I’ll have more room for more tasty food!

Cabin 12 (Victoria, British Columbia)

Chris Parsons and I had been corresponding on Twitter for a while now. He is currently doing his PhD in Political Science at the University of Victoria under Colin Bennett (whose work on policy convergence and policy emulation I have both admired and used in my own research). Chris missed my talk for the Social Media Club Victoria, but we agreed to meet up for breakfast when he came back into town.

We did that recently, and Greg and Pat Aspa joined us for breakfast at a place that just has been opened for about a month and a half, Cabin 12. The decor of this cafe/restaurant is rather eclectic (as you will be able to witness from Greg’s excellent photos) but we weren’t disappointed by the food. (NOTE – the photo to the right is NOT from our brunch at Cabin 12, it’s just a photo of one of my preferred brunch items, scrambled eggs).

I ordered a traditional scrambled eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and multigrain toast (it’s hard to screw up this kind of brunch food, quite frankly). The food was actually quite good, filling and tasty. They even added some grapes and a slice of orange for garnish. Overall, I would come back here for brunch if I was in downtown Victoria (this restaurant/cafe is located on Pandora Street, relatively near the water).

The partner of the owner was telling us that they host fundraisers and independent music events (even jamming sessions) so I’ll have to come back to Victoria and have a chance to enjoy it to its fullest. Greg and Pat were telling me that they noticed the modem and wireless router so I’m going to assume that Cabin 12 offers free wireless.

Overall, while the food was good, the ambiance was nice, it was spending time with Greg, Pat and Chris what made it all worth it. I look forward to coming back to Victoria and maybe doing an evening music session here at Cabin 12.

My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp

Vancouver’s first-ever ChangeCamp (VanChangeCamp) is taking place this Saturday, June 20th, 2009 from 8:30am to 5:30pm at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) downtown campus (near Seymour and Dunsmuir). I have planned to pitch the following talk:

Harnessing Social Media Tools to Mobilize and Engage Citizens in Climate Change Adaptive Strategies

Description of the session:

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use a variety of strategies to galvanize public opinion and increase pressure on governments and industry to minimize pollution. My scholarly research has shown that NGOs have more effectively engaged citizens when (a) the issue is related to environment and public health and (b) there is ample room for information dissemination and a strong public awareness campaign. Climate change has become one of the most relevant environmental issues of the past few years. However, it appears as though BC residents are more concerned with mitigative measures rather than adaptive strategies. I am puzzled by why this would happen. I am wondering if one of the elements that is missing is a strong social media campaign on the part of the BC government to raise awareness and educate citizens about potential strategies to adapt to climate change.

The goal of the session is to:

Showcase a number of social media tools, as well as educate governments (and academics) on how to harness the power of social networking sites to disseminate rigorous research findings on adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The session would be also intended as a brainstorming discussion on best practices on the use of social media to raise awareness in climate change policy.

You know what would be great? Three things:

1) If you could please tweet, re-tweet and/or about VanChangeCamp.
2) If you could forward the registration information (on EventBrite) – http://vanchangecamp.eventbrite.com to your social networks.
3) If you could encourage non-social-networked folks to come and attend the event.

Also, if you’d want to hear me speak about this topic (or other topics associated to citizen participation in public policy or environmental policy) at VanChangeCamp, feel free to leave a comment here.

The launch of Qmunity (@qmunity)

I am very lucky in that I always get invited to awesome events. Many a time, these events are in support of the GLBT community. For example, I recently covered the LOUD Awards. On my blog, I’ve previously written at length about the fight against homophobia, the sad upholding of Proposition 8 by California, World AIDS Day, the gay-bashings on Davie Street, the National Coming Out Day and issues of sexual identity. So I was most delighted when Jennifer Breakspears, the Executive Director of (formerly The Centre, now Qmunity) invited me to be a part of the unveiling of the new branding and image for the regional (BC) resource centre for the gay, lesbian, bi, trans community (overall, the queer community). The role of Qmunity cannot be stressed enough. I was pretty impressed with the website itself, the new branding, image, and the fact that Qmunity has embraced social media. I had a chance to speak with Spencer Herbert, the MLA for Vancouver Burrard. He is such a nice guy, and so interested in the well-being of his community. No wonder why people voted for him in the past BC election. I hope he’ll be able to chat with me in the near future in an interview mode (because, really, our chat at the Qmunity launch, was really very much not an interview but more that of two members of the community who were sharing viewpoints and thoughts). Congratulations to Qmunity and to Jennifer Breakspear on the new website and branding! I look forward to hearing more from this great initiative.

Silk Threads (upcoming theatre play)

Andrea Loewen has kindly offered two tickets to her upcoming one-woman play titled “Silk Threads”. She’s even so awesome that she is offering the tickets to be valid for opening night (Thursday June 18th). So, I thought that the best way to give away the tickets would be through a quick instant contest. Here’s the rules – to enter the contest, drop a comment speaking about the last time you went to a theatre play. I’ll draw the winner at 6:30pm on Wednesday June 17th and announce it on Twitter and here on my blog.

More information on the play from the media release:

This girl has BIG dreams: she’s going to be a ballerina/actress/writer/ballet
teacher/model/photographer/counselor/interior designer. She’s got a lot to accomplish, and she’s
not going to let her all-too-practical, physics-teaching Grandpa get in the way. Silk Threads,
written and performed by Pacific Theatre apprentice Andrea Loewen (You Still Can’t) tells her
story of figuring out what she really needs to get out of life.

Drop a comment to enter the contest and win tickets for two to this play!

WHEN: June 18th to 20th, 2009, 8pm
WHERE: Pacific Theatre (12th and Hemlock)

Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile (Saturday, June 20th, 2009)

A few months back, I was amongst a group of bloggers who were invited to be part of the launch of the Chip is Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile. I had even promised to run in my underwear if I raised $5,000. Unfortunately, Vancouver’s first ever ChangeCamp is also taking place on the same day and I kind of have already committed to ChangeCamp as well. Not a good idea to over-commit, I know, but what can I do? All I can say is that I’m committed to the cause. Also, my good friend Arieanna posted a great and very heart felt entry on the role that CNDY is playing in raising funds for BC Children’s Hospitals. You may know that not I have several friends who are pregnant – Arieanna, Kerry and my brother’s partner CS. Children are very near and dear to my heart. I’m good friends with several mommy bloggers in Vancouver and I personally enjoy the company of the little ones. Moreover, as you might have read on my previous entry for CNDY, one of my nephews spent some time in intensive care and thus I am always passionate about children’s health. To register for CNDY you can follow this link. Hopefully LOTS of people will participate!

Launch Party 7 (June 2009)

Launch Party is an event that is near and dear to my heart. Danny, Maura, Jordan, Boris, (actually pretty much everyone up at Strutta and Bootup Labs) are good friends of mine and I always look forward to an opportunity to hang out with them all. This particular Launch Party (# 7 in the series) was very interesting as people whom I follow on Twitter and other friends of mine were participating (Colleen with the Wantsa referral engine, Nick with the Protagonize site, Let’s Go For Dinner, etc.) For me, given that my primary activity isn’t really tech, attending Launch Party Vancouver is just a chance to see a wonderful showcase of the bustling activity that our community is engaged in. Ever since I became the organizer of the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup and started hanging out with the social media/PR/tech folks, I have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know about the great work our local tech startups are doing. Kudos to Strutta and Bootup Labs for promoting the local tech talent!

Ideas on Tap June 2009

Ever since I started socializing with the Vancouver tech community I’ve become a fan of Ideas on Tap, the recently resurrected event that 6S Marketing (Chris Breikss’ company). The last installment was put together last week but I’ve attended previous versions too. With Marc Smith (Amuse Consulting) as the event organization sponsor, this was a great event where I got to see many of my good friends. It was arguably the largest social media/tech event that I’ve ever attended, and the 60 second pitches were a lot of fun. My good friend Rebecca liveblogged the event and you can find her post here (along with a couple of photos of Rebecca and myself and Gary Jones and myself). Again, this time I was the “Designated Drinker” for Gary from BlueFur (though don’t even think for a minute that alcohol was overconsumed. Not at all!). This time, Ideas on Tap followed up on an idea of mine and accepted digital tickets to prevent wasting paper (800 tickets at one page a ticket it would have been well, a bit of a waste). Kudos to Chris, my friend Jenn Lowther and Marc for a great event. I look forward to the next one!

Shannon Falls and The Stawamus Chief (day hike)

One of the great things about my blog is that it does actually serve as a repository of all the cool things I’ve done in my life in Vancouver for the past three years. While quickly searching for the last time I wrote about Shannon Falls and The Stawamus Chief, I found out that JT and I had last visited these provincial parks in September of 2007, almost two years ago. However, both of us have very fond memories of this hike, and we wanted to ensure to at least come once a year. So this past Sunday we headed north in the direction of Squamish (British Columbia) for a quick day trip. We both thoroughly enjoy hiking and we’ve done it enough times together that we know the pace that we enjoy. Moreover, this is perhaps one of the few hikes where we can actually have meaningful, in-depth conversations, an activity that (while tiresome, at times) we very much appreciate. I find that The Chief is a day hike that is usually best enjoyed when you engage in 2 or 3 additional activities, such as a short visit to the Shannon Falls Provincial Park, or a stopover at Pourteau Cove, a picnic near the lake, or even a quick visit to Squamish. I do have a couple of friends up there whom I am sure would have loved to have me and JT over to hang out and maybe have some tea. Next time, I am sure. JT and I went up for a couple of hours (we just reached First Peak) and then came down and stopped at Mountain woMan for burgers. I’ve written about this cute little place before but its history deserves its own entry. If I had to recommend a day hike, I’d always go first for Shannon Falls/The Chief. Not to be missed if you live in British Columbia.

Bluewater Adventures Boat Trip

Yeah, twice in a row I’ve been on a boat this week. But this time, it was an experience that was also much more intimately associated with what I do both professionally (as an scholar of environmental studies) and personally (I love nature adventures). A small number of local bloggers (myself included) were invited by the good folks of Bluewater Adventures on a short (3 hour) boat trip around Indian Arm, on the North Shore. This is not traditionally their route (as they travel to the Queen Charlotte Islands, coastal British Columbia and South East Alaska amongst other destinations), but they wanted to showcase what they do and I think I speak for everyone in saying that we had a fantastic time. As many of you know, I am a big fan of local businesses, particularly those that have overarching sustainability goals that are embedded in their day-to-day practices. Bluewater Adventures is the first carbon neutral eco-tourism adventure company (I know for a fact that they acquired their carbon offsets from Offsetters, a local Vancouver non-profit company that helps companies become carbon neutral by offsetting their emissions through donations to projects generally focused on carbon sequestration and/or other carbon minimization strategies).

I was kind of disappointed to hear that this local, environmentally-focused adventure travel company wasn’t more well known in the local community, but I would like to believe that our coverage (Colleen‘s, Rebecca‘s, John‘s and mine) will help somewhat raise their profile, as the company is very much deserving of kudos, in no small part for their commitment to sustainability, carbon neutrality and eco-tourism. We boarded the Island Odyssey around 4:30pm at the municipal dock of Deep Cove (one of my absolute favorite destinations, as you may have read previously on my blog) and headed up Indian Arm. We toured the Indian Arm and were given an extensive descriptive tour of the beautiful surroundings we were witnessing. For wonderful photos of our adventure, check Rebecca‘s and John‘s Flickr streams. For me, this was also a bit of a lesson in history as Rebecca gave me a few tidbits here and there on the history of the region, particularly when we were crossing the area near Buntzen Lake, a hike I’ve wanted to do for years (maybe one of my readers/fellow bloggers would like to join me in a Buntzen Lake trip).

For pricing details and a thorough overview of bookings and spaces available in the 2009 calendar of BlueWater Adventures you can click here. Thanks for the invite and for the awesome tour!

Wantsa Boat Cruise

Vancouver is a gorgeous city surrounded by oceans, equipped with mountains and blessed with two months of amazing sunny, warm and beautiful weather. The wonderful city I’ve called home for the past 13 years is also home to some of the most talented people in the tech and social media communities. So what happens when you combine the two of them in launching an uber cool project that aims at creating the largest, most trusted recommendation engine? Well, you get some of the coolest bloggers in Vancouver all together on a boat and show them the plans you got. And that’s exactly what happened last week. In an outstanding social media event that brought together a number of social media, traditional media and PR folks together on a boat cruise around the Burrard Inlet and a bit of the Georgia Strait. The most interesting part of the evening for me was the discussion around Wantsa’s recommendation engine and the charitable component (i.e. when you recommend something on Wantsa and somebody picks your recommendation, a donation is made to the charity of your choice). I think the embeddedness of the Wantsa engine within our social networks and the charitable components are the most interesting for me. I told my friend Colleen Coplick (the main force behind the social media outreach and marketing strategy for Wantsa) that the event in and of itself had been superbly executed, but the relevancy of Wantsa as a recommendation engine with an aim to offer an option to use social media to effect social change (even without you as a recommender purposefully attempting to do that) was actually quite an interesting and intriguing concept. The launch is still relatively soft but I look forward to testing the platform. Kudos to the Wantsa team, exciting times ahead!

Academics and activists – a dual life

I just finished reading my friend Kate Milberry’s recent post and that prompted me to write one on my own research blog. Since my most popular website is this one, I’m going to now ask you to click once more and head over there to see what I think of her post. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Happy birthday, Melanie Hoyt! (@discolights)

The magic of Twitter brought me close to another friend (based in Chicago), Melanie Hoyt. I started reading Mel’s blog as it was focused on figure-skating. You all know how much I love this winter sport (perhaps the one I love the most – yes I know, I should love hockey but…ANYWAYS). While I missed last year’s opportunity to see Mel, I had a chance to meet her this year as she came for the Four Continents tournament, held at the Pacific Coliseum (PNE). To be quite honest, Mel was definitely the way I imagined she would be… smart, funny and a delight to hang out with. She’s a great photographer and I look forward to spending more time with her when the Winter Olympics are held here in Vancouver. Happy birthday Mel!

Interview Me: Grace Carter (Invoke Media)

I have really good taste in friends, I really do. My friend Grace Carter is one of the people whose company I enjoy the most and she works really hard with the Invoke Media team. I also know that she’s associated with Vancouver Is Awesome (something that I actually think is super-awesome). A few weeks back I mentioned that I’d like to interview her (I’ve done other interviews but this particular one is a continuation of a meme that Keira-Anne sent me a while ago – here are my responses to Dr. Beth Snow’s questions). And below you will find the answers to my questions to Grace. I loved them, Grace! Looking forward to seeing you very soon!

1. Your profile says that you were a journalist in a former life. What made you change careers?

An oft-asked question. I had a great run with journalism, working at a well-known magazine in New York, and then as a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. If it sounds glamorous, well… it was. Journalism was magical–it provided me with a constantly expanding education and fantastic perks.

When I moved back home to Vancouver, however, I needed to pay the bills, and journalism’s a much smaller industry here than in those big cities in the States. Hence, I set aside time to dream about what I wanted to be in my second career. During the course of a couple writing projects I’d done for Nike Running, I’d worked with two digital agencies. I realized that more than anything, I wanted to be an Internet strategist–and here I am. The skillset from journalism is remarkably transferable. The approach is the same: seek to understand, and then to be understood.

2. Being a journalist demands a certain code of ethics. Do you see new media/emerging media/social media having that kind of a code of ethics?

This is a tricky one. Any content provider should have a responsible code of ethics. Naturally, not all do. The fear with emerging and social media is that there are sometimes no checks and balances to ensure that a code of ethics is in place as there are with traditional media formats–fewer editors, no producers.

The good news is, that with the emerging media, the general public is empowered to take on those roles themselves. Is everyone in the general public as experienced as a formally trained and employed editor or producer? No. But many people subscribe to the belief that the voice of a multitude can be far more powerful than that of an individual. At present, anyone can put their opinion into the public sphere more easily than at any other time in our history, and similarly, anyone can respond. Under the best circumstances, information put out over emerging and social media channels is of high quality because it invites the public to become a participant, a policeman, an opponent, a fan, or something we haven’t even thought of yet. Most people reading this can probably conjure a plethora of examples of this–Wikipedia, the success of sites like Digg, Yelp, NowPublic….

I’m a relativist. To me, it always depends on the context of the particular situation. But frankly, my opinion doesn’t matter. Emerging media and social media are now, unequivocally, part of the information delivery system we use. Whether or not there’s a code of ethics at the moment, one will evolve.

3. You are being sent to Paris on a covert mission. Who do you take with you and why?

I take a powerful and wily accomplice, Mr. Jon Cartwright, the most resourceful man I’ve ever met. Once, in Oregon, he fixed my motorcycle with some electrical tape and a bolt he found on the ground in a parking lot, and I rode it all the way home. (In fact, I still haven’t switched in the correct part.) He builds furniture and masterful marketing plans. He’s tri-lingual. He also has Jedi-mindpower. And despite his spy-like prowess at just about everything, he’s exceedingly humble, an admirable quality indeed.

4. What’s your favorite sport figure and why?

Raul, this is going to make me sound arrogant, but I don’t watch sports. I play ’em!

5. Social media and web 2.0 are all about the conversation. How do you see web 3.0 evolving? What is the next wave of social media trends?

A while ago I watched a TED talk on these interactive computing blocks called Siftables. The blocks couldn’t do much on their own, but together they could create interactive experiences–creating math games, storytelling, blending paint colours, and even producing music with fades and gradients of sound. Alone they were cute. Together they were REMARKABLE.

Then today I read this story theorizing about how Netbooks could impact the future of the print media. It described new Netbooks which used the open-source operating system Linux, and posited a future in which, in the face of diminishing sales margins, hardware companies produced devices less as monolithic COMPUTERS and more as multi-purpose media machines. The kicker of a sentence for me was this: “Consumer-hardware companies increasingly have to become media companies, and vice versa.”

Both these news items made me think about how constrained we are, at present, to our particular computer, or our iPhone, or our newspaper. I think the WSJ put it best. Web 3.0 is “the complete integration of computing into every part of our lives in a way that is seamless, ubiquitous and, ideally, dead simple.” The possibility exists for greater interaction between devices themselves, and with the advent of cloud-based softwares and services, more ubiquity, speed and accuracy. Overarchingly, the social mediums we use will increase both in terms of software and hardware. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Internet!

Upgrading and adding WordPress plugins to my blog

I’ve written a lot on my blog very publicly about how much I’ve learned from my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss604). She was, and still is in many ways, my blogging Jedi Master. This past year, 2008, was a total breakthrough for me in regards to my use of content management systems tools (like WordPress), my involvement in social media and my growth as a blogger, and it was in great part thanks to Rebecca. I absorbed an immense amount of bits and pieces of knowledge about all things WP. As you know, I like to do my own stunts. I cleaned my own URLs last year, I bought and re-directed my domain to WP.com and even gave a presentation at WordCamp Fraser Valley. Last year, at WordCamp Vancouver 2008, Rebecca presented on how to insert photos to your posts and make them very pretty. This year, neither her nor myself have really had the time to spend together geeking out (even though we thoroughly enjoy doing that at either coffee shops or during our traditional lunches) and therefore I have had to do much of my own stuff, including upgrading my plugins and learning by doing. This is the best way to learn, albeit the learning curve is sometimes steep. Rebecca is naturally geeky and her technical skills way surpass mine. I could ask my good friend Karen Parker (who has helped me a lot in the past) but I know she’s busy too. So I have had to test much of the stuff I want to use on my own this past year.

As JT was driving me last Friday to my office (he tried very generously to solve a problem I had with my computer but there was a problem with the electrical energy and we couldn’t work on my stuff), we were chatting about how much time I was wasting going to my Flickr account and trying to find a photo to use (from me or from my own friends). JT suggested that I needed to spend the time exploring a number of new plugins that would give my blog more functionality ONCE and that I would be set for the future. JT was right. I just installed WP Touch (which should make your visualization of my blog on any smart phone like Android or iPhone much prettier), developed by our friends Duane and Dale; installed also Flickr Photo Album which allows me to insert photos much faster (although I still need to figure out how to do the footers quickly, I need to create a QuickTag). There are a couple of plugins I still need to upload and activate, including the one that allows you to tweet a post (or RT) and the one that lists the tweets that have mentioned your post.