Seen and Heard in Edmonton

The theme of this week’s roundup is inspired by something Kathleen Smith (aka @KikkiPlanet) said on the most recent episode of the Unknown Studio.  

The discussion turned to people who leave Edmonton for Vancouver or Toronto because they think there’s nothing going on here. “They’re complaining about a city that doesn’t exist anymore,” she said.

I think she’s exactly right, and this past week is the perfect illustration. There is so much going on here. Both the Edmonton International Film Festival and Western Canada Fashion Week generated buzz, but there were lots of smaller events as well that brought enthusiastic, creative people together. For example:

– DemoCamp Edmonton: The 15th edition brought about 200 people to the Telus Centre at the University of Alberta on Sept. 29 to see developers/makers/wizards demonstrate cool stuff. I loved being in a room surrounded by people who like to solve problems instead of just complaining about them. Mack Male has a comprehensive summary of the evening. It was also a great night to hear about other events that Startup Edmonton and others have in the works; read to the bottom of Mack’s post for the list.

– Social Media Breakfast: Social media enthusiasts (and a few who aren’t there yet but want to learn more) packed d’Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar to hear MLA Doug Griffiths on Sept. 30. It seemed like a very big crowd, which may have been because Griffiths had just finished sixth in the Progressive Conservative leadership campaign and people wanted to hear from him. (He was impressive.) I get the sense, however, that this monthly event has started to generate its own momentum under the effervescent influence of Steven Hodges and the here-to-help spirit of people like Jacqueline Fraser. This one was live-streamed by fusedlogicTV, which is a good way to bring even more people in.

– And, coming back full circle, Sept. 30 also saw the launch of KikkiPlanet.com. Kathleen Smith’s new online magazine aims to be a showcase for the best of Edmonton, focusing on the young movers and shakers who love their city and work hard to make it even better. Her inaugural examples are Brittney Le Blanc and Seth Glick. KikkiPlanet was going to be a blog, but Smith decided to turn the focus away from herself and onto the world around her, which is what I would call a journalistic approach, and one that I naturally approve of. I didn’t make it to the launch, but I’ll be watching with interest.

So that’s just two days in the life of #yeg. October is already shaping up to be busy. I’ll be going to Meshwest Edmonton on Oct. 4, Digital Storytelling at Guru Digital Arts College on Oct. 6, Girl Geek Dinner on Oct. 13 and, I hope, the big Guru party, The Subsequent Fall, on Oct. 20. For an anti-social person like me, that’s a lot of sociability.

It’s hard to keep track of everything, but ShareEdmonton is a good start. Feel free to plug your own events in the comments.

A few more notes:

– The gaming guys at User Created Content are now doing a bi-weekly videocast call New Game +. Here’s Episode 1 and Episode 2.

– There’s a new podcast in town: Shutter Time with Sid and Mac, a discussion of photography by Sidney Blake and Mac Sokulski. You can subscribe in iTunes and follow the show on Twitter.

– Finally, I don’t usually talk much about mainstream media, but I’m proud of my former colleagues at the Edmonton Journal, which has been nominated for six Canadian Online Publishing Awards. Ryan Jackson and Lucas Timmons had a lot to do with the work that was nominated, and as their one-time boss, I can vouch for their amazingness. But really, this is a recognition of the whole newsroom’s digital efforts.

OK, that’s plenty. Comment, tweet or Google+ at me if you like. I blew my Friday deadline by a lot this week – will try to do better next time. But as you can see above, it’s hard to get spare time in this town.

(Photo of What the Truck?! 2, another illustration of how there’s never nothing going on in Edmonton, is from Brittney Le Blanc’s Flickr channel.)