As an admirer of Edmonton’s new media scene, I thought there might be room for a weekly roundup of what’s going on out there. This notion coalesced after a meeting with The League of Extraordinary Media. It is inspired by the fine daily aggregation done by the edmontonian and the weekly summary put together by Mack Male. What I intend to bring is my own perspective and a strict focus on new media (having done my time in MSM-land).
So, here goes:
– The third episode of the edmontonian presents aired on ShawTV on May 22 and is now available on YouTube. The theme is Spring. I’m so impressed with the cleverness and quality of this show. (See above for a screen grab from my favourite segment.) Kudos to Jeff Samsonow and Sally Poulsen for trying something really hard and succeeding.
– Empire Avenue, the social media stock exchange founded in part by Edmontonians, is getting a lot of buzz in high-profile tech circles. Watch this video by Robert Scoble with CEO Duleepa Wijayawardhana (DUPS on Empire Avenue). You can see what Scoble and others think about Empire Avenue in this thread on Quora. Also, you should buy me – my ticker is KLU.
– The #yeg Twitter stream exploded on Saturday morning with the outdoor opening of the City Market on 104th Street. Sharon Yeo’s post and Mack Male’s Flickr set give you a good sense of what the day was like. What struck me was the number of conversations I had with people I had met on Twitter – people like Dave Cournoyer, Alex Abboud and Adam Rozenhart. For a naturally unsociable person like me, this social network has opened up a whole new world, which is just more proof that Bill Keller’s fears about the illusory nature of Twitter’s connectedness are unfounded, at least for me.
– And on the theme of social media bringing people together in real life, Andy Grabia is organizing a book club with a twist called The Trimalchio Project. Short version: We’re going to read The Great Gatsby then make stuff based on it. Sounds like it might just be crazy enough to work. So join us!
– If you haven’t listened to the most recent Unknown Studio podcast, you should. The featured guest is Kendall Barber, the smart cookie behind City and Dale. She’s a charming guest, and she shares my interest in local, local, local. I also liked it when she admitted to liking neither Star Trek nor Star Wars, thus causing the guys to pretty much swallow their tongues. Adam Rozenhart and Scott C. Bourgeois are now working on their 50th episode. (You can find their entire oeuvre in iTunes – Episode 13 of Season 1 features your correspondent.)
– Finally, a couple of Tumblrs of note:
– The new Jerry Forbes Centre for Community Spirit will physically house a number of Edmonton charities once it’s built; meanwhile, its Tumblr aims to house news about the good works being done in this city. For more, see Brittney Le Blanc’s post.
– I’m not sure who is behind the Maybe Edmonton Tumblr, but he/she consistently shares fascinating images of Edmonton past and present. Recommended.
OK, that seems plenty long enough. This is an experiment; please let me know what I could do better. I’d also love to hear suggestions of Edmonton new media to follow. It’s a vast world, and I’m just scratching the surface.
Seen and Heard in Edmonton 