most popular story on the Metro’s site, submissions went up 4600% and we had around 1200 page views since this morning. Thank you, media!
So, Erica, why did you start a Winnipeg photoblog?
I was inspired to start the blog by Instagram’s “popular” page. Because Instagram has a global user base, you get these fascinating little glimpses into daily life around the world.
I thought it would be worthwhile for us to share Winnipeg with each other like that. If you have stereotypes about different neighbourhoods, maybe they’ll be demystified a little by a guided tour from the people who love them.
The more we get to know each other’s spaces, and by extension know each other, the easier it is to think of yourself as part of a collective and to care what happens here.
Ok, it’s not not Tesco’s QR-code delivered virtual store, but it appears the Superstores in the, um, fancier part of town have digital displays instead of paper price tags!
Are these puppies RFID-enabled? Imagining checking yourself out before you hit the checkout by tapping your phone on each tag as you go!
“The checkout” would disappear, because you’d have a running total (scanning coupons along the way) and do a 1-click ‘debit’ from your bank or Visa when you’re ready to split.
But my star-studded life aside, what I want to tell you is the trick I discovered for better brand journalism where speed isn’t the be all.
Just-slightly-after-live-livetweeting
What I was showing the Premier was the video I’d shot of him at the press conference. It was a short event—he spoke for 1:59ish, according to my iPhone—so the usual live journalism tactics of posting live photos, quotes, etc would take too long (think uploads & phone-typing). I’d miss the soundbites.
Instead, I got in the way of the press pool & shot a low-fi vid of the speeches, ran back to my desk, slapped on my headphones & transcribed the key comments on Twitter.
Accompanied by a few establishing photos & liberal retweeting of the mainstream media (MSM) coverage after, I was able to convey all the key messages, the calls to action & the personality of the speakers, and give fans a few soundbites of my own for retweeting.
[I'm usually torn whether to shoot video or photos if I don't have ancillary shooter staff. In this case there were videojournalists shooting, no professional photogs, not much action visually, and little chance of being scooped by the MSM.]
Overall, this method achieves better, more thorough brand journalism if your event isn’t being livestreamed & gives the reporter time for accuracy with details like the spelling of names. Having all that video to draw on is awesome. Try it.
Twitter introduces us to people who can change our lives and shows us the connections between them, but proper introductions are hard to make in 140 characters.
So here’s a Winnipeg circle I’d like to introduce, if they haven’t met:
Ryan McMahon, comedian, podcaster, one of the first ever Aboriginal graduates of the Second City Conservatory, and passionate First Nations activist, who (while, I assure you, very not dumb) thinks he needs a little guidance bringing together Winnipeg Aboriginal thinkers.
Many ppl responded & emailed abt the "Indigenous TED" styled conference. I'm WAY TOO DUMB to lead this. All agree - it'd be groundbreaking.
Want a free download to review? Hit me up! As my IRL and totally pregnant friend says:
It really is amazing. It’s exactly what I was looking for and I didn’t even know it!
So there! And Tactica’s been doing so much kid-oriented interactive work recently, we’ve launched a Twitter stream devoted to kids & technology. We’ve got a few preschooler iPad apps in development, so follow if you’re a fellow techno parent
Here’s a shot by Winnipeg creative chickie k*sara, embellished to detail how incredibly fascinating it is to see me give a talk. I look like I’m contributing something riveting, no?
My friend Alyson already wrote about this, but there are just so many great Twitter things going on here at once (frank politicians showing their usual grasp of social media, you-never-know-who’s-listening conversations with a good friend‘s boyfriend who is either deadpan hilarious or actually related to my Member of Parliament…) I had to record it for posterity.
If this was an American politician, he’d be fired before he even figured out the rest of us could see his tweet. Here in Canada, I don’t think we mind. We’ll see tomorrow
Here’s what’s happening in mobile interaction marketing in Winnipeg right now. I missed a few—there was a pork one on a bus king I didn’t feel 100% comfy taking a photo of while driving, but you get the picture. Or, at least, these pictures.
My friend QR Code King Roger Marquis reminds us that mobile tagging is a link to a brand experience. In order to make it a positive one, I’d suggest using codes when your marketing question is “how do we get this in people’s hands/phones at this moment/place”, not “how can we use QR codes”.
Canadian Marketing Association (Manitoba)‘s Digital Day 2011, Fort Garry Hotel
Thursday, Oct 20, 7:00am (jeez) – 5:00pm I know this one’s in October, but I had to include it! I was asked to speak at it, and though I decided not to, it’ll be an amazing event featuring Amber Mac! You’ll wanna be there!
Hosted at the Winnipeg News Cafe by Free Press social media reporter Lindsey Wiebe, the chat used CoverItLive, a nifty live participation tool journalists use to update realtime from events, take questions, curate tweets by hashtag and liveblog.
The stream moves turbo, questions fly, and it’s a lot of fun. After, I asked Lindsey how she thought her first totally-on-her-own live hosting for the Free Press went.
Me: Were you nervous!? I totally was, until we got rolling & got swept away by the speed & the fun!
Lindsey Wiebe: I totally was! (But) I was really happy with the overall level of engagement and participation. According to the CIL data we had 416 readers total & 156 reader comments.
There are a few things I might do differently in future, based on suggestions and feedback. Numbering the questions, for one, would have helped (thanks for that, Matthew Shepherd!), and I think soliciting for questions prior to the event would have allowed us to target the conversation a bit better, and narrow down the number of similar questions.
The chat tended to veer off in different directions, which was fine with me, but I’m not sure how easy it was to follow for readers who weren’t used to live chat formats.
Me: We went about an hour – did we talk about everything you hoped to (in the depth you hoped for)? If not, what would have made it work better?
LW: I had a few questions I didn’t get to, or that didn’t really get taken up by the panelists, and there were some areas where I think we could have gone into more depth. But the unasked questions didn’t really bother me – the chat was for the benefit of participants, and if their questions are addressed, I’m happy.
Me: I’m curious about how the comment moderation works. Did the moderator hold back a lot of reader comments to keep it making sense, or let everything through except unacceptable stuff?
LW: The goal of moderation was mainly to guide the conversation and make it easier for readers to follow along.
Since a lot of the comments were in the form of questions, we tried to stagger them a bit so there wasn’t a question deluge. But I realize this might have been confusing for people who posted questions and wondered about the lag time, and for our panelists (like yourself), who might not have been clear where they were meant to direct their energy when new questions popped up.
I’m still thinking on how we could fine tune this in future, and whether it was the best approach: would it have been better to allow a commenting free-for-all? To close comments entirely until a designated period? To set clearer comment rules?
I find that live chat conventions tend to favor the speediest typists and thinkers, and the pace and rhythms (plus keeping track of various question threads) can be a little daunting if you’re not accustomed to it. But it’s always going to be a challenge to keep the conversation moving quickly enough for more active participants, while making sure it stays coherent and well-paced for newcomers.
What do you guys (participants & lurkers) think? Was it fun and satisfying from an audience perspective? Any suggestions for improvements?
Update: some tweeted replies, in the interest of keeping all the feedback in 1 place for Lindsey
@EricaGlasier @mediacircustv I think giving panelists the first couple of questions in advance would help. 1 or 2 answers could be ready
My husband grabbed my arm, spinning me around in the middle of the mall, mouth agape and finger pointing.
“Look!” he cried. And lo, for the first time in my life, I saw actual people scanning a QR code. My photographic evidence:
HMV, of all places to still exist, is implementing quite the fine mobile tag at a mall near you. The poster is big, pretty, and instructive.
The scan resolve has the greatest thing I’ve ever seen: “Show this message to the cashier to save $5“. Utility at last!
I know they could just give you a paper coupon or whatever, but don’t forget about the “win prizes” part. Who doesn’t want to win prizes? The prize offer captures email, physical address & your damn birthday, mandatory. All rich data for future marketing efforts.
I’m so pleased with HMV I could just pinch their little cheeks.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about mobile livetweeting, it’s get hooked up with the event location’s wifi. You don’t want a surprise in your connectivity when the big metal doors close and things are getting real.
In preparation to livetweet from the Convention Centre recently, I made the astonishing discovery that it’s not that well-equipped to handle modern-day conferences. Spoiled by the glorious, copious and relatively turbo free wifi blanketing the Austin Convention Centre, I thought free internet was the norm, but ours doesn’t really* have it (yet?).
With backchannel tweets (conferences) and livetweet reporting (conventions; events), ample wifi is becoming necessary at Convention Centres. So what’s up with ours?
Current status:
Wireless internet = $105 (daily) + tax for “medium speed” wifi
High speed available for $5/hr or $15/day
The new system:
First 45 mins free; then system logs you out
Not high speed. “Medium speed”. High speed still available for above price.
They’ve been working on this for a while, but apparently the building itself is constructed of kryptonite & there’s some issues getting it to work. I did log on to the free service for a few moments, but the glacial delivery of the one tweet I managed to squeeze out terrified me and I switched back to 3G, not wanting to take any chances during the event.
The person I spoke to didn’t know when free wifi would be rolled out, *but we agreed on “soon”. As for my Metro tweet, pictured above, I was told there’s “not much demand for individual wifi” at our Convention Centre—so all you livetweeters & backchannellers, make your needs known. Businesses only supply what’s in demand.
A few yummy local visuals spotted in Winnipeg this week. If you designed any of these, let me know in the comments & thanks for pleasing my eye.
Winnipeg Folk Festival Illustration
Even better as a billboard, where the palette sets it apart from other advertising (& looks lovely against a blue sky). I’m not even mad at these guys for beating me out for a Signature Award in 08 anymore.
Baked Expectations Window Clings
Always with the cute branding, but these ones really shine typographically. And they’re shiny.
Plugin Institute for Contemporary Art
The new building is one of the more beautiful sights in the Peg, but get a load of the colour on the van. Pop!
Tactica will be at the Forks for Aboriginal Day with APTN’s Tiga Talk, where we’re hosting an interactive station that lets kids playing with the iPhone/iPad app.
I’m going to call mobile tagging mainstream in the Peg! Thank Ace & Chrissy & the Mayor—QR has tipped and is appearing in places positioned for very broad audiences.
Note: “Coolness” is of interest because you can still rely on novelty and surprising creative in the “attention” phase of advertising. You still gotta deliver the goods once the code is scanned. Doing so will solidify the value of the tool & it’ll join the ranks of normal-use tech (meaning you can use it—probably in even more workhorse ways—after its no longer cool, but the way you implement it visually will be less focal/glamourous).
QR is everywhere in Winnipeg.
Check out the giant code on the APTN building on Portage. (Incidentally: scannable from the street, went to nonmobile but still cute site. Because the code appeared alone & was held for a usable length of time, I didn’t realize it was part of the Aboriginal Day ad that immediately preceded it. Some minor branding on the sides of the ad could have situated it—on its own it was compellingly ominous).
Turn down your speakers or you’ll get an earful of Portage.
This code appeared outside of Danier in Polo Park—not exactly the supertechno early adopter crowd, I’m assuming (but maybe I’m wrong—leather tank top, anyone?), so it’s interesting they felt the target audience would use it. I’d love to know how many entries this has received.
The legendary animator was on hand to introduce the film and talk about it afterwards.
If you’re not a fan of alternative animation, you still probably know Bakshi from his work on classic Saturday-morning Spiderman. Yes, he admitted to the crowd, he is personally responsible for the amount of time Spidey spent swinging from building to building—a tactic he hopes wasn’t obviously being used to kill time. It obviously was.
Manitoba bombshell
Bakshi dropped the hopefully-happening bombshell that a Toronto backer wants to pick up production of his unfinished Last Days of Coney Island, and produce it here in Manitoba (thanks to our delicious tax breaks).
Huge!
Winnipeg isn’t too big and it isn’t too small. I think it’s perfect for artists. You’re very lucky.
On the “overwhelming totality” of social media
Bakshi was glad he didn’t start out in a time where you could see the other talent that’s out there 24/7 on Facebook & blogs, because it might have been paralyzing.
There’s nowhere to hide anymore. Everybody’s a genius. Sometimes being quiet & looking around is good.
On truth in art
[Disney] never looked around at what was happening in America. My thing in animation is not to lie to audiences. You have to choose whether you want to lie to yourself and make a buck, or try another way.
On filling Saturday-morning air time with excessive swinging
So, Erica, why did you start a Winnipeg photoblog?
