THIS ISSUE'S STREAM:
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Winners
+++ MMSG and MultiMediator Launch New Media Recruiting Firm
+++ Bell Mobility and Yahoo! Canada Go Wireless
+++ Clearnet Announces Wireless Internet Service
+++ Canadian Music E-tailers in the News
+++ Famous Players to Offer Online Ticket Sales
+++ AOL Canada Offers Broadband Internet Access Trial
+++ Faster DSL Set for Bell's High Speed Internet Service
+++ Home and Teen Internet Use on the Rise
+++ In-car Internet Next Big Thing?
+++ Engage Acquires Virtual Billboard Network
+++ ACDSee Software Ships to France
+++ Pentagon Sets "Info-Con" Warnings for Computer Threats
+++ The Luddite's Lair: Twilight of the Geeks
+++ Multimedia International Market (MIM)
+++ Multimedia Ottawa
+++ Summer Institute of Film and TV New Media Workshops
+++ Content as Currency: Canada's Role in the New Media
+++ CANARIE NET 2000
+++ How to Buy Media Online
+++ Interactive Storytelling & Computer Game Workshop
+++ Geeker's Corner: The Art of Non-Communication
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[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Winners
MMSG and MultiMediator, organizers of the inaugural
Canadian New Media Awards, have announced the winners of
this year's awards. Fifty-three finalists from across
Canada vied for one of twelve Pixel Awards at what can
only be described as an interactive extravaganza. Mark
Schneider, host and producer of CTV Newsnet's "Digital
Desk&uqot;, played host to the event, held on May 18th at the
John Bassett Theatre in Toronto. Toronto's ExtendMedia was
the big winner of the evening, picking-up three awards,
including the prestigious Company of the Year Award.
Patrick Crowe, a Senior Producer at ExtendMedia, won the
Producer of the Year Award while Andy Tipping, another
ExtendMedia employee, won the Graduate of the Year Award.
Learnstream of Fredericton, New Brunswick walked away with
two awards. Founder and president Ken Reimer was presented
with the Lifetime Achievement Award while director Maureen
Newman received the Canadian Women in New Media Awards:
Mentor of the Year. Bill Buxton, Chief Scientist at
Alias|Wavefront in Toronto was the winner of the coveted
New Media Visionary Award. A full list of winners can be
found at the Canadian New Media Awards Web site.
http://www.multimediator.com/cnma
+++ MMSG and MultiMediator Launch New Media Recruiting Firm
MultiMediator and MMSG are very pleased to announce the
creation of a new offspring. It's called MultiMediator
PixelScout Inc, or PixelScout for short. As many of you
know, MultiMediator and MMSG have long been committed to
help this industry grow and prosper. An extremely
important factor in the success of this industry is the
ability of companies to find the right people to help them
achieve their goals. For years now, MultiMediator has been
a premier resource for job posting and job hunting in this
industry and will continue to be so. For its part, MMSG,
through initiatives like the Producers Survey, the Salary
Survey and the new Human Resource Training initiative
being undertaken with IMAT and SMART Toronto, has also
been committed to helping connect employers with staff.
However, MultiMediator and MMSG have become acutely aware
of the difficulty that many companies -- from new media
production companies to large traditional corporations
with new media departments -- are experiencing in their
quest to find the talent they need. This difficulty can
result in delays in implementing growth strategies, in
increased costs and in serious challenges in meeting
client demands. Consequently, they have created a new
company to help clients overcome this difficulty.
MultiMediator PixelScout is a recruiting company that
focuses entirely on the new media. PixelScout will combine
Web based resources, the skills of new media savvy
professional recruiters and the technical and industry
knowledge of MultiMediator and MMSG. This will allow
PixelScout to offer unparalleled service in finding great
people for great careers. If you either want to ensure you
might be considered for the great career opportunities
that will be flowing through PixelScout, or to take
advantage of the range of recruiting services that will be
offered, visit the PixelScout Web site at
http://www.pixelscout.com
or contact the company's principals, Al Pitt and Frank
Vecchiarelli, at 416-410-7704 or
e-mail: info@pixelscout.com today.
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+++ Bell Mobility and Yahoo! Canada Go Wireless
Bell Mobility and Yahoo! Canada are offering new features
to their wireless service, including what is being called
"North America's first wireless instant messaging service
on com.ready Digital PCS phones." The addition of Yahoo!
Messenger will allow com.ready subscribers to not only
view which of their friends are online, but also
participate in real-time, text-based online conversations.
Bell Mobility is also adding My Yahoo! and Yahoo!
Directory to its Mobile Browser service, enabling users to
receive personalized Yahoo! Canada information and conduct
Web searches -- simply by selecting Yahoo! Canada on their
Internet-enabled Digital PCS phone. "Bell Mobility is
pleased to join with Yahoo! Canada to become the first
carrier in Canada to offer its customers wireless access
to one of the world's fastest growing communications
tools," said Charlotte Burke, Vice President of Services
Development at Bell Mobility.
http://www.bellmobility.ca
http://messenger.yahoo.ca
+++ Clearnet Announces Wireless Internet Service
Clearnet Communications has announced a series of
strategic partnerships that will pave the way for this
summer's launch of wireless Internet services for both
Clearnet PCS and The Mike Network. The system will utilize
Clearnet's com.ready phones, allowing customers to easily
customize interactive Internet information services,
including personalized news, sports, banking and other
financial information, as well as sending and receiving
Internet information directly to and from their phone -
without the need to connect to an external device such as
a computer. Alliances include Phone.com, i3 Mobile,
Classwave Wireless, Infowave Software, canada.com, CANOE,
Digital Bridges, HMV.com and National Post Online.
http://www.clearnet.com
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+++ Canadian Music E-tailers in the News
SamtheRecordMan.com has signed on as title sponsor for
Toronto's North by Northeast Music Festival and Conference
(NXNE). The two-year sponsorship deal will see Sam's site
offering extensive information on Canadian musicians,
performance schedules and more during the NXNE Festival in
2001. "Sam Sniderman is turning 80 this year and has been
an icon of support for Canadian music for almost 40
years," says Rita Ferrari, Marketing Director,
SamtheRecordMan.com. "The high visibility of sponsorship,
coupled with opportunities created for Canadian
independent musicians through our Internet site, will
continue to crank up the volume of awareness around the
talent that is nurtured in this country."
http://www.samtherecordman.com
Meanwhile, HMV.com is joining forces with Cybersurf to
offer Canadian music fans free Internet service and e-mail
accounts through HMV3web. The HMV3web installation CDs are
available for $9.95 exclusively at Toronto and Vancouver
area HMV stores. Customers purchasing HMV3web installation
CDs will also receive $10 to spend online at HMV.com. "We
want to bring the world of online music to as many people
as possible," says Peter Luckhurst, President, HMV North
America. "Music lovers will be able to search their
favorite bands, download new music clips, and check out
Webcasts and interviews every time they go online."
http://www.hmv.com
+++ Famous Players to Offer Online Ticket Sales
Famous Players is slated to become part of
MovieTickets.com's online movie ticket site in September.
The site will offer showtimes for over 36,000 movie
screens, including the AMC chain in the United States and
Famous Players in Canada. Once users have registered, they
will be able to buy tickets simply by entering their
username and password. The site will also offer features
movie reviews, trailers, soundtracks, entertainment news,
and coverage of entertainment events such as film
festivals and movie premieres and merchandise.
http://www.movietickets.com
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+++ AOL Canada Offers Broadband Internet Access Trial
The first high speed cable access delivery of AOL Canada
has begun in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. The service will
offer Regional Cablesystem and AOL Canada subscribers the
ability to access multimedia content and features. AOL is
also offering AOL Plus, which will offer "rich content and
features from industry-leading providers of broadband-
enhanced news and entertainment programming." The trial is
expected to last three months.
http://www.aol.ca/press/press_05_16_00.adp
+++ Faster DSL Set for Bell's High Speed Internet Service
Bell Canada has announced plans to further improve the
speed of its broadband Internet services with the
implementation of a network platform from Alcatel. The
technology, to be in place this fall, will offer both
residential and business customers higher speed Internet
services with download speeds up to 3 megabits per second
(MBPS) or 200 times faster than a regular modem with the
potential to reach 7 MBPS. Upload speeds will be improved
to up to 800 KBPS.
http://www.bell.ca
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+++ Home and Teen Internet Use on the Rise
Canadians continue to log onto the Internet in record
numbers, according to a new poll. The number of households
that recorded at least one regular Internet user jumped to
41.8 percent in 1999 from 35.9 percent in 1998. The
Household Internet User Survey also recorded higher access
numbers from home and school, while personal usage at work
showed a slight decrease. The numbers at public libraries
remained unchanged. Home use was the most popular place to
log on, rated at 28.7 percent, up from 22.6 percent in
1998.
Canadian teens are also turning to the Internet in a big
way, so much so that a recent survey indicated that the
'Net is close to overtaking TV as the favorite pastime
among teens. The survey found that some 85 percent of
Canadian teens between the ages of 12 and 17 are online an
average of 9.3 hours a week, ranking at just two hours
less than the 11.7 hours they spend watching TV (Which
means they spend at least 21 hours a week doing one or the
other! - Ed.) The Youth Culture study found that "The
Internet has become an appliance for these kids. It is
just like a microwave oven or a TV. Each appliance fulfils
its own particular role," said Sean Saraq, director of
consumer intelligence for Youth Culture. The Toronto Star
also reported that the shift from TV to the Web "could
have devastating implications for advertisers, who now
target teens primarily through the $3 billion a year they
spend on television advertising." (Source: The Toronto
Star)
+++ In-car Internet Next Big Thing?
A national survey in the US asking consumers if they had
any interest in accessing the Internet in their cars has
found that price is the main concern. At $5 a month, 48
percent of 5,126 respondents said they would be interested
in the service, while at $25 the rate fell to less than 15
percent. Art Spinella, VP of CNW Marketing Research,
estimates that "more than 3.5 million new vehicles
annually will be fitted with Internet-access hardware
within five years." Half of those would consist of
business-fleet and company vehicles and not consumer cars,
he said. (Source: Internet Daily)
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+++ Engage Acquires Virtual Billboard Network
Gallop & Gallop's Virtual Billboard Network (VBN) will
become Engage Canada after the newly announced agreement
whereby Engage will purchase substantially all of the
assets of Virtual Billboard Network (VBN), one of the
largest Canadian-owned Internet advertising networks. VBN
represents over 150 Web sites delivering over 30 million
ad impressions each month, offering Engage a strong
foothold in the rapidly growing Canadian marketplace.
http://www.engage.com/press/releases/052600gg.htm
+++ ACDSee Software Ships to France
Victoria's ACD Systems International has announced that
Liberty Surf, the leading Internet service provider in
France, will distribute 5 million shareware copies of
ACDSee Classic to consumers across France this year.
Liberty Surf will incorporate ACDSee Classic, the original
award-winning image viewer and browser, into its Internet
Starting Kit in a nation-wide campaign that began last
month. Liberty Surf provides free Internet access to over
1 million users and currently retains over 2.5 million
Web-based e-mail accounts. The ACD Systems' and Liberty
Surf's alliance was initiated by ABSoft, France's leading
re-publisher of PC and Mac software and distributor of PC
hardware.
http://www.acdsystems.com
+++ Pentagon Sets "Info-Con" Warnings for Computer Threats
The U.S. Pentagon has announced that in light of recent
computer threats, they will begin posting warnings when it
has been determined that computers are facing the threat
of attack, much like it does with military or terrorist
threats. Those alerts, known as "Def-Cons" stand for
"defense conditions" and range from "Def-Con Normal"
(indicating no activity) through Def-Con Alpha, Bravo,
Charlie and Delta. The new alerts will be known as "Info-
cons" or "information conditions." In the event of a major
"information warfare attack," an info-con would be posted
and actions would be taken in order to defend the
integrity of the computer networks. These actions could
range from rejecting e-mails to shutting down entire
networks. Reports indicate that these measures were under
consideration long before the advent of the so-called Love
Bug.
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[-- THE LUDDITE'S LAIR: A SKEPTIC'S VIEW --]
+++ Twilight of the Geeks
By Hartley Steward
mailto:hartleysteward@canoemail.com
It seems the computer geek no longer rules.
The latest virus invaded the office computer network at a
friend's company, scampering through directories by the
dozen and playing hell with important information.
"You should have seen the computer guys," he said. "They
were running around like madmen warning everyone not to
open this and not to open that. Man, it just made their
day. They were important again."
What did my friend do?
"I shut my machine down and left it to the propeller
heads. I went to the golf course."
Do I detect a lack of respect for the young geniuses who
make the computer world run?
Propeller heads, indeed. Aren't these the same people who
a few short years ago held us all hostage? The guys
without whom business would grind to a halt? The ones who
ate up your company's spending budget faster than a
crashing computer.
"Please, please, I have a deadline to meet. Please,
please, the client will be here in an hour. Make my
computer work., pretty please."
It seems even we Luddites are not intimidated by the
technology and thus no longer impressed with the
technological experts. The whiz kids are just mechanics
now.
--
Hartley Steward is the former Publisher and CEO of the
Toronto Sun and has written for numerous other "old media"
publications, including Maclean's, Toronto Life, and The
Toronto Star.
== Obligatory Legal Disclaimer to Appease the Lawyers:
The statements and opinions expressed in The Luddite's
Lair are those of the author and not of MultiMediator or
MMSG. Neither MultiMediator nor MMSG necessarily support
or agree with the contents of The Luddite's Lair, in whole
or in part. So there.
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[-- PLUG: INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS --]
+++ Multimedia International Market (MIM)
The MIM, billed as "the international event on digital
convergence for the Information and Communications
Technologies market" will be held October 4-6, 2000 in
Montreal. The MIM 2000 will be represented by more than 30
countries with 400 innovative exhibitors and top level
speakers from North America, Europe and Asia. MIM will
coincide with the World Telecommunication Standardization
Assembly (WTSA) meeting of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is taking place in
Montreal from September 27 to October 6. Coinciding with
the WTSA event, MIM offers an opportunity to demonstrate
Canadian expertise to 600+ key delegates from 60
countries.
http://www.mim.qc.ca
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[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ Multimedia Ottawa
June 12, 2000 in Ottawa, ON
http://www.multimediaottawa.com
+++ Summer Institute of Film and TV New Media Workshops
June 20-25, 2000 in Ottawa, ON
* Hypernarative - The next wave of online storytelling
This course will delve into the new mode of storytelling
on the Net while exploring the changing role of both
author and audience online. It's ideal for experienced
writers who would like an intensive, hands-on course on
the exploding world of online writing and content
creation.
* Creating Interactive New Media - Introductory Workshop
This workshop will focus on the design process behind
interactive new media with a hands-on approach that will
allow participants to gain an in-depth understanding of
the medium's major design elements. Perfect for those
interested in exploring techniques for creating new media
products.
http://www.cstc.ca
+++ Content as Currency: Canada's Role in the New Media
June 21, 2000 in Ottawa, ON
A Summer Institute of Film and Television new media panel
presented in collaboration with MultiMediator - Canada's
Multimedia Guide and hosted by Bill Sweetman, Executive
Producer, MultiMediator. In today's wired society, real
value is based on grey matter: knowledge, information and
creativity. We know the talent is here, but how can it
best be nurtured and rewarded? Join some of Canada's most
provocative new media minds as they debate how -- and if
-- Canadian-made content can reach beyond national borders
and play a more active role in the new media world.
http://www.cstc.ca
+++ CANARIE NET 2000
June 27 -29, 2000 in Ottawa, ON
http://www.net2000.ca
+++ How to Buy Media Online
June 29, 2000 in Toronto, ON
Presented by the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada,
this conference focuses on how to buy, plan and integrate
online media into your overall marketing/media plans.
Featuring Adam Froman of MMSG.
416-596-2542 / Toll free: 1-877-301-9590
event@marketingmag.ca
http://www.iabcanada.com
+++ Interactive Storytelling & Computer Game Workshop
July 10-28, 2000 in Toronto, ON
Do you want to kick-start a child's new media career? The
Interactive Storytelling & Computer Game Design Workshop
could be just the ticket with its intensive, project-
oriented program consisting of animation, storytelling and
design. The program, for youth aged 14-19, is designed by
the Canadian Film Centre's Bell h@bitat and shares the
same high standard of instruction offered to industry
professionals. For more information contact Robin Farb at
416-483-4325 Ext. 2740 or e-mail rfarb@bss.on.ca.
http://www.bss.on.ca/summerartsbrochure.htm
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[-- GEEKERS' CORNER: EDITORIAL --]
+++ The Art of Non-Communication
By James Porteous
mailto:jporteous@multimediator.com
I still remember the days when the main form of formal
communication involved mailing a letter. First you wrote
(and re-wrote) or typed (and re-typed) the missive, put it
in an envelope, affixed a stamp and then --whenever the
mood struck -- took it off to a mailbox. Of course in
those days there were mailboxes on just about every
corner.
Now lest you think I have fond memories of those times,
let me assure you that until the advent of e-mail, family
and friends rarely heard from me for the better part of a
decade.
With e-mail, however, the act of communication became
almost instantaneous. Well, for a while at least. As more
and more people turned to e-mail as their main form of
communication, it wasn't long before we found ourselves
inundated with dozens of messages each morning. Some were
important, others were simply trash. Rather than panic, we
learned how to prioritize our e-mail time.
Lately I've noticed that some people have taken this
&uqot;prioritization" to new levels. I call it the art of non-
communication. In the art of non-communication, not
communicating has become a form of communication.
Let's say, for example, that someone approaches you -
exclusively via e-mail -- with details about working on
one of their projects. Through a half dozen e-mail
messages, you discuss fees, deadlines, content and
whatever else is necessary to strike a deal. And a deal is
struck. Or so you think.
But then something unusual happens. Suddenly the e-mail
pipeline runs dry. You send a follow-up e-mail but you
don't receive a reply. You wait a few days, and then re-
send the original. Still no answer. You wait, and wait and
then, eventually, you stop waiting.
In time it becomes clear that the lack of response in
itself is a response. For whatever reason, you are
unlikely to hear back from that person. Maybe they've
abandoned the project, found someone cheaper, or failed to
find the financial backing. Who knows, but they clearly
lack the - what is it? The fortitude, guts, spunk and/or
common courtesy -- to actually tell you what has actually
transpired. Welcome to the world of non-communication.
In a way I guess it's not really all that different from
those guys who never return your phone calls, but I think
some of us were expecting something more from the
Information Age.
James Porteous, BitStream's editor, also contributes Web
site reviews for Yahoo Internet Life and writes the
syndicated column NetNomad for AlterNet.
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No electrons were harmed in the making of this newsletter.
