I’m going to blame the tardiness of this week’s roundup on my grief over the retirement of the edmontonian. It may not be an entirely accurate excuse – I was busy getting ready to teach and finishing off a super-cool project I’ll tell you about one of these days – but it is completely true that I am choked to lose one of my favourite blogs.
Many others share my sadness. Jeff Samsonow and Sally Poulsen have made a tremendous impression on this city, and the response to their decision to move on surprised even them, they told Mack Male in this interview. Mack’s was one of many fine tribute posts (Gregg Beever had another good one and so did Adam Rozenhart of the Unknown Studio).
So I thought I’d do something a little bit different. Here’s a Storify curating the best of the Twitter reaction, and Sally and Jeff’s reaction to the reaction, starting with their announcement on Aug. 29 and ending with their inspiring final post on Sept. 9.
Judging from the reaction, one of the most beloved services offered by the edmontonian was the daily headlines roundup. If you are clever, well-read, super-focused on local news and thinking “I’d love to blog, but what should I write about?”, do this. An audience is poised to gobble your words.
OK, what else has been going on?
– The Unknown Studio is about to get going again in earnest, and you are invited to join the audio fun. You have until Sept. 30 to pitch a segment for the podcast. This is a great opportunity for anyone eager to break in to podcasting, as this one already has a considerable audience.
– Speaking of podcasts, I am so happy that research for this post led me to subscribe to DVD Afternoon. It is such an enjoyable listen. Co-host Paul Matwychuk has launched a new Tumblr for movie nerds: The Cinematic Jokebook, a compendium of clips of movie characters telling jokes. If you know of such a joke, Paul wants to hear from you.
– Also on the movie podcast front, Jay n’ J have started doing “sliders” – mini-episodes the slide in between their big monthly podcasts. Here’s the latest.
– In awwww news, tech mommy and SEO ninja Jen Banks shared some awesome news on Mom Nation.
(Addendum: Modern Mama Musings asked Albertans to vote on their favourite mama blog, and Edmonton’s City and Baby won. Congrats!)
– Plans are underway for another MediaCamp Edmonton. We are aiming to have it on Jan. 28. If you would like to be in on the organizing but you aren’t on the MediaCamp Google Group, email me at karen(at)unlandmedia.com. We’ll be meeting again on Sept. 19 before splitting off into committees; stay tuned for details.
– Meshwest is coming to Edmonton on Oct. 4, and tickets are on sale now. It’s pricy, but I got a lot out of the Calgary event and I bet this one will be good, too. Plus it will bring Mathew Ingram here, which is always a good thing.
– The formidable Dana DiTomaso is offering a seminar on social media for business at Guru Digital Arts College on Sept. 20. I learn two or three new things every time I talk to Dana, as I did at Edmonton’s first Women in Wireless event, a nice little get-together put on by Lisa Hagen.
– Dana is one half of the dynamic duo behind Edmonton Girl Geek Dinners, the other half being my favourite unicornologist, Brittney Le Blanc. The next dinner, on Sept. 15, features Karin Weekes of BioWare. If I could go, I would, so if you can go, you should.
– And finally, speaking of things you should go to, Pecha Kucha Night 11 is on Sept. 14. It’s at Myer Horowitz Theatre at the University of Alberta, which is a big venue, so there are still tickets available. The speakers list is full of cool and crazy stuff. If you stay until the end, you will see me give a talk called What Journalism Needs Now. If you can’t come, it will be livestreamed on edmontonjournal.com. And it will be all over Twitter at #PKN11.
When I started doing this new media roundup, I aimed to have a new post every Monday. I’m going to keep with the regularity, but my new publication date will be Fridays. So I’ll see you then. If I’m missing something, comment, tweet or Google+ at me. You can always get more media news in Mack Male’s Media Monday.
(If you want a T-shirt like the one you see up top, it’s not too late to buy merchandise from the edmontonian, a bargain at twice the price.)
Seen and Heard in Edmonton 