The biggest new media event of the past week was Pecha Kucha Night, the 10th in a series of stimulating conversation-starters put on by Edmonton’s NextGen committee. If you missed it or want to relive it, the Edmonton Journal has archived video of its livestream, and presenter Mack Male has a comprehensive summary and commentary, as well as a word cloud of what was said on Twitter on the #pknx hashtag. There are tons of pictures from the night floating around as well. Greg Scratchley has a neat set.
Besides the ideas, what I love about Pecha Kucha is just being in a room with engaged, intelligent, civically minded people, talking back and forth on Twitter during the presentations and in real life afterwards. The Pew Research Centre suggested last week that social media bring people together rather than isolating them, and to me, Pecha Kucha Night is clear evidence. I had so many great conversations that night with people I met online.
I was also lucky enough to hang out with some former colleagues from The Journal, captured in the picture by Ryan Jackson at the top of this post. Todd Babiak gave a rousing talk on his Interventions project that ended the evening with a much-needed call to action. Barb Wilkinson is in charge of The Journal’s community newsroom project, which has great potential to push the paper in the right direction. Elise Stolte (accompanied by her husband Fred Brisson, who is an architect), is working on a summer series about the neighbourhoods on Edmonton’s edges. I’m excited about this series and the accompanying blog, not only because I want to understand more about that part of my city, but also because Elise demonstrates how much deeper and more inclusive journalism can be with the tools now at our disposal in the digital world.
I came home from Pecha Kucha X and scribbled down a bunch of notes that could form the basis of a talk I’m thinking of pitching for the next one, if I keep my courage up. If you have a good idea for a presentation, Pecha Kucha Night 11 will be held at the University of Alberta on Sept. 14. NextGen will put out a call for presenters in the coming weeks.
A few more notes:
– The Edmonton Girl Geek Dinner marks its first birthday on June 24. This is another example of the sociability of social media. I have met so many great ladies (and a few great fellas) through this more-or-less-monthly event put on by Shauna McConechy and Brittney Le Blanc. The dinner is sold out, but I see some people trying to sell their tickets, so watch #yggd on Twitter if you’d like to go. I’ll be there briefly, before heading off to Trimalchio, another social media social. (What’s with June 24? What the Truck?! is that day too!)
– The Charrette is looking for some audience participation. The urban planning and design blog wants to hear about your commute. Even if you don’t have a commuting story to tell, click on that link to watch Scott Lilwall’s jazzy walk to work.
– Sunday was Father’s Day, which elicited some nice papa posts. Here’s Kiri Wysynski’s tribute to her prince of a husband, and Adam Rozenhart’s nod to his dad.
– Speaking of Adam, The Unknown Studio has a new podcast just sitting there, waiting for me to listen to it (this week, I promise). The men behind the podcast – Scott C. Bourgeois and the aforementioned Adam – have been blogging more than usual lately, which is grand. To learn more about podcasting, come to the Social Media Breakfast on June 24 to hear Adam speak. It’s free, and last I looked, there were still tickets available, so come. I’ll be there.
For more media news, check out Mack’s Media Monday. And if you want to bring a new media thing to my attention, please use the comment field below, or find me on Twitter.
Addendum: Media Monday has the scoop on the June 21 launch of YegNews.com, the new online newspaper published by Scott McKeen and Alain Saffel. I’ll have more on their new venture in the next new media roundup.
Seen and Heard in Edmonton 