Category Archives: Censorship

Social Media Club of Vancouver presents: Olympic Lessons

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VMC Olympic Weekend Coverage!!
Image by nofutureface via Flickr

VANCOUVER OLYMPICS DEMONSTRATE BOTH GOOD AND BAD IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Local leaders in traditional and social media gather to discuss impact of social media on the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

VANCOUVER, BC – In the afterglow of the 2010 Vancouver Games, top BC media leaders will come together on March 18, 2010 to discuss the positive and negative impacts of both social and traditional media on the Games. The panel discussion will be held from 7-9pm at the BOB Coworking Space in Vancouver’s Gastown District, 163 E. Pender Street.

In its first official event, Social Media Club Vancouver, a trade association dedicated to business uses of social media, and the Vancouver Blogger Meetup will bring together a panel of established media experts to discuss expectations versus realities in media coverage of the Games—a large, high-profile, complex and geographically dispersed event.

The panel will include Kirk LaPointe, Managing Editor of the Vancouver Sun; John Biehler, citizen journalist and blogger; flashmob specialist Laurent Piche; Colin Horgan, columnist at the Guardian; freelance journalist/bloggers Jonathan Narvey and Shane Birley; and moderator Colleen Coplick, founder of Type-A PR and the MissManifesto network.

“The 2010 Winter Olympic Games were perhaps the most ‘social’ Games ever,” said Eric Weaver, president of Social Media Club Vancouver. “VANOC, the City of Vancouver, individual teams, news outlets and private companies were all utilizing social media at the Games. Many of these groups found innovative and unusual ways to integrate social media into their communication efforts. We saw some really fascinating uses, and some cautionary tales. This panel discussion will point the way toward more integrated and effective uses of both types of media in the future.”

Discussion will cover key learnings on social media at the Games, how traditional and social media impacted the event, where media shone and where it failed.

The event is free, and interested parties can register at http://smcyvrolympiclessons.eventbrite.com/

Social Media Club of Vancouver

Social Media Club of Vancouver

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ABOUT THE PANELISTS

MICHAEL ALLISON

Michael is a consultant at The Wilcox Group and provides communications support to clients including General Motors of Canada, KFC and Lesley Stowe.

Michael advises clients on approaches to social media that complement existing PR goals and strategies. He plays an integral role in creating employee social media policies, writing for the web, engaging online influencers, training clients how to use social media tools and building meaningful relationships. For General Motors of Canada, the official vehicle supplier of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Michael led an integrated social media strategy involving the Chevrolet brand for the duration of the 106-day torch relay.

Michael holds a master’s degree in professional communication from Royal Roads University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Victoria.

JOHN BIEHLER

John is a Vancouver-based e-business analyst for a large corporation, a technologist, a consultant, conference speaker, trainer, photographer and gamer. Through True North Media House he became one of the most prominent bloggers and photographers covering the Olympics.

SHANE BIRLEY

Shane Birley is a blogger, author, web developer, poet, and creative writer based in Vancouver, BC. He is a partner in Left Right Minds, a web development, arts management, business blogging and on line marketing content consultant company. He also writes Nerd Sense, a blog for non-nerds about technology and a collection blog titled Why The Internet Is Cool where he writes about random things found out on the Internet. He is the co-host of the Vancouver Blogger Meetup.

COLLEEN COPLICK

Colleen Coplick is a PR professional and popular Vancouver-area blogger. A self-described writer, photographer, instigator and connector, Colleen specializes in social media strategy & marketing, feature writing, and blog writing, teaches seminars, and is a regular conference speaker.

COLIN HORGAN

Colin Horgan is a freelance journalist and blogger. Born and raised in Calgary, Colin Horgan earned his Bachelor’s degree in history from Carleton University in Ottawa. After moving to London, England, Colin returned to Canada and became a blogger and contributor for the Calgary Herald. Recently, Colin has been a contributor to the Guardian, where his writing focuses on Canadian politics and culture. Colin currently blogs at TrueSlant.com, and his work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail and online at Maclean’s.

KIRK LAPOINTE

Kirk LaPointe has been the Managing Editor of The Vancouver Sun since 2003, and is responsible for the day-to-day online and newspaper operations of Western Canada’s largest newsroom. He is also the executive in residence and an adjunct professor at the graduate school of journalism at University of British Columbia. Kirk blogs on media change at themediamanager.com and is an avid social networker on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, among others.

Kirk has held several senior news positions in Canadian media, including Senior Vice President responsible for all of CTV News, the founding Executive Editor of National Post, the associate publisher and editor in chief of The Hamilton Spectator, the editor in chief and general manager of Southam News, the Ottawa bureau chief and general news editor of The Canadian Press, and a host for CBC Newsworld.

JONATHON NARVEY

Jonathon Narvey is a Vancouver-based communications specialist, freelance journalist and copywriter. He is the founder of WRITEIMAGE, a corporate copywriting services company.

A native of Winnipeg, Jonathon moved to the west coast of Canada soon after beginning a career as a writer. He writes primarily about politics, current events, and life in Vancouver, along with other interests such as environmental sustainability, business and technology. He has contributed articles and columns to print and online media publications such as the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Granville Magazine, Business in Vancouver, Sounding Board, Winnipeg Sun, the Vancouver Courier, and the North Shore News.

LAURENT PICHE

Laurent Piche is a “flashmobber” and co-founder of Improv Everywhere Vancouver. Laurent and his team cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving thousands of undercover agents.

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ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA CLUB VANCOUVER

Social Media Club Vancouver is a local chapter of the Social Media Club, a worldwide trade organization dedicated to the advancement of social media. The Vancouver chapter is a business-focused social media association aimed at generating learning, friendships and opportunities for all of its members. Composed of marketers, media professionals, advertisers, bloggers and business owners, SMC Vancouver holds monthly meetings around the business uses of social media.

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For more information about Social Media Club Vancouver, please contact Guacira Naves at smc.naves at gmail.com, or visit http://smcyvr.com.

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The Pirate Bay -> The Prorogue Bay for a day, eh!

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Prorogue Bay eh

Yes, The Pirate Bay has become The Prorogue Bay for a day (or more) eh. No way!

Way.

UPDATE: AndreaR reports on Twitter that apparently only Canadians can see it. Awwww, we feel speshul!

(In)Famous filesharing site The Pirate Bay has decided to stick it to the Canadian government in more ways than one. Let’s face it, the music industry can spend all it wants on lobbyists, but the real reason the Canadian Conservative Party has opposed filesharing is simply that they haven’t figured out how to tax it.

Yet.

So, besides NOT paying the Tories‘ baksheesh every darn day of their lives, the Pirate Bay‘s little Scandinavian hosers was hard at work last night getting up this lovely spoof of our illustrious or at least illustrated PM Stephen Harper on their main page, and ain’t she a beaut? Nice Peace Tower there, by jee.

If the Pirate Bay can bypass your government restrictions, why sure as you’re born so can the Canadian Government. They’re pirates alike under the skin, and if you don’t believe me you are encouraged to find a Tory and dissect him yourself just to make sure.

Now THAT would be a Good Day, eh?

And don’t forget to Follow @OnionRing4PM on Twitter and join the Facebook group Can This Onion Ring Get More Fans than Stephen Harper?

Che Conrad

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Nutt Sacked!

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www.superpoop.com

This actually happened back in October, but somehow I missed it. Me, missing an opportunity for a filthy, misleading headline! I musta been drunk!

That’s right, UK government advisor David Nutt has lost his job after making controversial remarks characterizing alcohol and tobacco as more dangerous drugs than E, pot or LSD (from which the government derives no taxes).

According to the Guardian:

drug ranking

Nutt had criticised politicians for “distorting” and “devaluing” the research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs.

Arguing that some “top” scientific journals had published “horrific examples” of poor quality research on the alleged harm caused by some illicit drugs, the Imperial College professor called for a new way of classifying the harm caused by both legal and illegal drugs.

“Alcohol ranks as the fifth most harmful drug after heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and methadone. Tobacco is ranked ninth,” he wrote in the paper from the centre for crime and justice studies at King’s College, London, published yesterday.

“Cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, while harmful, are ranked lower at 11, 14 and 18 respectively.”

While the impulse to speak truth to power is, as always, the single MOST dangerous intoxicating substance known.

On the upside, I bet it was a wicked going-away party at Jocelyn Elders‘ house!

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Welcome to Copenhagen!

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The coalition of the willing, to power

There’s nothing like the wholesome exercise of free speech and the right to peaceful assembly in the presence of the leaders of the Free World.

(remember the Free World? I know, so old-skool!)

Well, for those of you who remember what that was like, here’s a little slideshow of photos taken in Copenhagen during the recent summit by Vangroover homeboy Kris Krug and assembled by Vangroover muse Fiercekitty.

Enjoy?

A little background:

Krug is taking photos at the international summit for the TckTckTck coalition of prominent non-government organizations, including World Vision, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.

“It’s a little strange,” he said of his brush with Danish police.

“I’ve never been in an environment like this. I only kept myself from being arrested by showing my media credentials.”

Despite a wave of more than 1,100 arrests over the weekend, Krug said the majority of people at the conference are working peacefully to lobby through activism and social media campaigns.

And after you’ve watched this, go check the front page of your local paper. What’s on it? Happy Team Spirit Olympics? Adorable Cute Kid Story? Lost Puppy Found in Sitcom-Worthy Mixup? Single Mom of Thirty-Seven Wins Lottery? The Same Damn Thing As On The Other Paper? And then realize: You PAID for that paper.

You can do better.

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Olympic Mural Rises Again

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crying room original olympic mural

original photo by The Blackbird

Have you seen this mural?

Not recently, you haven’t, because it was removed on the orders of Vancouver City Hall, which is apparently in the business of making sure the Olympic Committee don’t get their feelings hurt, rather than in the business of defending the rights of Canadians to the free expression guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The gallery says in 10 years, it has never before been asked to remove any work.

The city issued the order under its graffiti bylaw, but it comes in the wake of a debate over a controversial city sign bylaw that opponents feared would allow officials to stifle anti-Olympic expression.

“It was pretty clear to me that it was because of the context of the work,” says Colleen Heslin, who runs the Crying Room, a small studio focusing on emerging artists.

Ms. Heslin points out that over the years she has hung about 30 murals there, and has never had any trouble. She has also used that space as a giant chalkboard, allowing passersby to write or draw whatever they wanted (which included swear words) and was never asked to remove that either.

In fact, when her landlord, Peter Wong, received a notice from the city telling him to remove the graffiti from his building, he had no idea what they were talking about. “I called them and said I cannot find the graffiti. And they said the sign [the mural] is graffiti…”

Patrick Smith, director of Simon Fraser University’s Institute of Governance Studies, said the removal of the sign is symptomatic of the high demands the “Olympic movement” places on its host cities. He believes Vancouver will be the beginning of a shift away from the modern Olympic era, with communities saying the cost of hosting is too high.

“A lot is asked of communities, and it seems to me this is a perfectly good example of where we’ve gone too far,” he said. “There’s no other way to describe it other than overreaction, but it’s the city trying to protect a brand that’s not the city’s brand. It’s the Olympic movement’s brand.”

Malcolm asked if the one in the bottom right-hand corner was Gregor Robertson.

And there was mourning throughout the land, or at least the Downtown Eastside. Even the revered and untouchable Globe and Mail, which had at first featured the image in its article, got out the virtual putty knives and scraped it right off their website, and the bittersweet little mural was removed from the face of the Earth AND the Googleplex.

But not for long, for over on Facebook a spontaneous, outraged movement started, a movement with sharpie-inscribed samizdat tee shirts and all manner of Olympic Mural as Facebook Profile Pic mayhem, and soon, just like in Peter Pan when Tink is dying and you clap your hands to save her (you DO clap your hands, don’t you? And ring a bell at Christmas, so an angel gets its wings? Of course you do, because you don’t want me to come over there and give your sorry motherfucking ass the beat-down), the heartfelt wishes of the good little boys and girls and the undecideds notthatthere’sanythingwrongwiththat all over the Downtown Eastside were heard and the mural rose again.

Here it is as of now:

Crying Room Olympic Mural Dec 13 2009

And, for as long as it lasts, you can see it in my Flickr stream, in my Facebook photos, on this blog, and at Main and Cordova.

As far as I can tell, it’s the original piece, with a little bit of touching up around the smiley face.

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