THIS ISSUE'S STREAM:
[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Winners Announced
+++ Microsoft Canada Set to Hire 115
+++ Canadian Companies Warm to Dot-ca
+++ Quebec High-Tech Projects to Create 2,600 Jobs
+++ Telefilm Supports 119 of 253 Applications
+++ IAB Canada Joins Forces with BPIQ
///// CONTENT //////////
+++ Sick Kids Creates CD-ROM with Shaw Street Productions
+++ Globe and Mail to Digitize Archives
+++ Falcon Software to Create "Webmercials" for Windy City Wire
///// MARKETING //////////
+++ IAB Canada Report Reveals Growth in Online Advertising
+++ Bell Globemedia and Free Impressions Join Forces
///// AWARDS & FUNDING //////////
+++ First Round Research Grants for SSHRC
+++ CANARIE Announces 2002 E-learning Program Competition
///// FACTS & FIGURES //////////
+++ Canadians Yearn for Cheaper High-Speed
///// GREAT IDEAS //////////
+++ For Sale, One Helicopter, Slightly Used
[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ DEADLINE for 2002 Applied Arts Awards Annual
+++ h@bitat Unveils Five New Prototypes
+++ Softworld 2002
[-- GEEKERS' CORNER: EDITORIAL --]
+++ Online Advertising - The Final Frontier for Charities
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[-- NEWSPEAK: MULTIMEDIA INDUSTRY NEWS --]
///// INDUSTRY //////////
+++ Canadian New Media Awards Winners Announced
Canada's new media "superstars" were feted in Toronto last month at
the third annual Canadian New Media Awards. Sixty finalists competed
in 12 different categories for a prestigious Pixel award in
recognition of their significant achievements in new media over the
past year. "This year's winners prove that with creativity and
determination, Canadians can achieve great success even in tough
times," said Adam Froman, Executive Producer of the Canadian New
Media Awards, and President & CEO of Delvinia, producers of the
Awards. The awards show featured performers from the Cirque Sublime
troupe who enthralled audience members with their acrobatic skills.
Equally entertaining was Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian
Heritage, who attended this year's event to make a special
announcement. Pixel award winners included Stacey Spiegel (New Media
Visionary), Jim Carroll (Lifetime Achievement), Mark Jones (Industry
Advocate of the Year), J!VE Media Technologies (Most Promising New
Company of the Year), Dan Fill (Producer of the Year), and Devlin
Applied Design (Company of the Year). A complete list of all 12
winners, including detailed bios, photos, and a Webcast of the
event, is available at the Canadian New Media Awards Web site.
http://www.cnma.ca
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+++ Microsoft Canada Set to Hire 115
Microsoft Canada has announced that it will "hire more than 115 new
employees to staff sales and support positions and open its new $73-
million headquarters by the end of the year." The new facility will
handle English language support for Microsoft Exchange Server
software and the company's Windows 2000 operating system from
customers throughout North, Central and South America. "The low
Canadian dollar makes it cost effective for us to have this facility
here," one Microsoft official told The Financial Post. (Source:
National Post)
http://www.microsoft.com/canada
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+++ Canadian Companies Warm to Dot-ca
A survey by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
shows that "38 per cent of Canadian companies exclusively use the
dot-ca Internet domain, compared with 48 per cent who prefer the
universal dot-com." There are currently 300,000 dot-ca
registrations, compared to 60,000 in December 2000. "This study's
results are very positive for our organization given that the dot-ca
domain name extension is a relatively young in terms of the Web
universe," said Maureen Cubberley, chair of the CIRA board of
directors.
http://www.cira.ca/news-releases/72.html
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+++ Quebec High-Tech Projects to Create 2,600 Jobs
Quebec Premier Bernard Landry has announced a series of high-tech
investment projects that may create up to 2,600 jobs in Montreal's
multimedia district. The companies involved are said to include BB
Worldlink, Ideas and Associates, both from the US, and Quebec's
Oratel. The firms will benefit from tax credits equal to "35 per
cent of the annual increase of the companies' total payroll."
Montreal is "a jewel in North America, and in the world, as one of
the most important technopolises in many very advanced fields of
knowledge or fabrication," said Landry.
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+++ Telefilm Supports 119 of 253 Applications
Telefilm Canada has announced that it has agreed to support 119 of
the 253 applications submitted by the January 7th deadline. The
Canada New Media fund is currently endowed with an annual budget of
$9 million. Of the accepted projects, 45 are for pre-development or
development, 32 for production, 32 for marketing and 10 for sectoral
development. Projects include CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and Web sites.
http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/03/311.asp?fond_id=3
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+++ IAB Canada Joins Forces with BPIQ
The Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB Canada) and the
Bureau de la publicite sur Internet au Quebec (BPIQ have announced a
joint partnership that will see BPIQ become the Quebec Chapter of
IAB Canada. IAB Canada and BPIQ will "work towards consolidating and
growing Internet advertising and marketing, continuing with their
shared mandate to deliver research and education to the Canadian
Interactive marketing industry." "This alliance will strengthen the
role of IAB Canada as the only national voice of the Internet
advertising and marketing industry," explains Gary Fearnall,
President of IAB Canada and Vice President, Sales for Bell
Globemedia Interactive.
http://www.iabcanada.com
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///// CONTENT //////////
+++ Sick Kids Creates CD-ROM with Shaw Street Productions
Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has partnered with Toronto's
Shaw Street Productions to produce a "human resource recruiting
support tool." The interactive CD-ROM features "video based
information about the hospital, its nursing program, and the city of
Toronto" and "will accompany the hospitals team of nurse recruiters
on an upcoming overseas trip to Australia and the United Kingdom,
where their goal is to recruit upwards of one hundred nurses for
relocation to Toronto."
http://www.shawstreetpro.com
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+++ Globe and Mail to Digitize Archives
The Globe and Mail is about to embark on an ambitious project to
digitize its archives. The project will be handled by Cold North
Wind of Ottawa who will use its own process, called Archive
Publisher, to "turn newspaper pages stored on microfilm into high-
resolution, searchable, digital images suitable to be shown on the
Internet." The Globe says that 1.4 million pages will be archived,
covering a period of 158 years and will include "1.4 million pages
and covers most historical events in Canadian history." The address
below contains samples of Cold North Wind's work for The Globe and
others. (Source: The Globe and Mail)
http://www.paperofrecord.com
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+++ Falcon Software to Create "Webmercials" for Windy City Wire
Victoria's Falcon Software has been contracted to create and produce
nine "Webmercials" for Windy City Wire. The two firms have been
working together for over six years and Windy City Wire "recently
contracted [Falcon's] assistance to produce the Web-based
commercials to aid in the training of new staff and promotion of
their products and services." Chicago's Windy City Wire specializes
in the distribution of low voltage wire and cable for fire/life
safety and security/access control.
http://www.falcon-software.com
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///// MARKETING //////////
+++ IAB Canada Report Reveals Growth in Online Advertising
Online advertising budgets are on the increase and more companies
are trying online advertising for the first time says a new survey
by the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada. The 2002 Advertiser's
Executive Survey, conducted by ComQUEST Research on behalf of the
association, reveals that 32% of the companies surveyed who
advertised online in 2001 report budget increases for 2002 online ad
spends, a higher increase in budget than for any other medium. The
survey also indicated that of all interactive advertising
executions, email is becoming an even more important part of online
advertising activities, according to 65% of respondents.
http://www.iabcanada.com
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+++ Bell Globemedia and Free Impressions Join Forces
Bell Globemedia has announced a partnership with Free Impressions, a
Toronto company that "designs, implements and manages new media
campaigns for non-profit organizations." The partnership will "offer
a discounted inventory of on-line advertising from across Bell
Globemedia Interactive properties, including Sympatico.ca, TSN.ca,
CTV.ca and the globeandmail.com group of sites to the charity and
non-profit industry through Free Impressions." The pair are
launching the alliance with an online campaign for The Canadian
Cancer Society Relay for Life.
http://www.freeimpressions.net
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///// AWARDS & FUNDING //////////
+++ First Round Research Grants for SSHRC
The Government of Canada has announced $8.1 million in funding for
the first round of research grants under the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada's (SSHRC) Initiative on the
New Economy (INE). Covered are 57 projects at universities across
Canada, including a research on "the impact of Internet stock
message boards on international financial markets, modern
manufacturing in the automobile industry and online teaching." "The
work of these grant recipients will teach us how new technologies
can help us achieve our innovation goals," said Allan Rock, Minister
of Industry.
http://www.sshrc.ca
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+++ CANARIE Announces 2002 E-learning Program Competition
The competition for this year's CANARIE E-learning Program is now
open. The CANARIE E-learning Program is a $26 million funding
initiative to support development of broadband applications that
promote learning at all levels. The objectives of the program are
"to enable innovative projects to be undertaken by consortia of
institutions and companies and to reduce structural impediments to
effective use of advanced networks for education and training." In
the first two competitions, 16 projects involving 138 organizations
were selected for funding support of $18 million. Those projects
include development of repositories of learning objects, multi-
institutional implementations of broadband-enabled education, and
innovations in multimedia learning.
http://www.canarie.ca
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Internet for over 200 leading Canadian organization. For more
information about Activate Canada, call (416) 642-6532 or visit:
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///// FACTS & FIGURES //////////
+++ Canadians Yearn for Cheaper High-Speed
Canadians not only want high-speed Internet, most would be willing
to upgrade if prices were lowered. In a recent survey conducted by
NFO CFgroup, almost half of Canadians who currently access the
Internet via slower dial-up modems said they would switch if current
prices fell to between $20 and $25 per month. The current average
monthly price is $45 per month. The study found that "46 per cent of
all online households in Canada accessed the Internet via high-speed
connections in April, up from 34 per cent in July 2001." (Source:
NUA Internet Surveys)
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357984&rel=true
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///// GREAT IDEAS //////////
+++ For Sale, One Helicopter, Slightly Used
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. A 13-year old boy from
Ohio has "spent" about $2 million dollars on the Internet to buy a
few items on eBay. His purchases included a $1.1 million helicopter
and a $199,000 jet. He also used a password belonging to his
mother's friend to buy a motorcycle and a pickup truck. The
purchases were discovered by the mother when the owner of the
helicopter phoned to ask how she intended to pay for the item. The
boy's mother is hopeful that the sale of the items can be cancelled.
(Source: AP)
http://www.ebay.ca
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[-- DIGERATI DATEBOOK: UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS --]
+++ DEADLINE for 2002 Applied Arts Awards Annual
June 28, 2002 in Cyberspace
This is your opportunity once again to show your best work to
competitors, clients and colleagues. The Annual has consistently
honoured outstanding creative in advertising, design, and new media.
http://www.appliedartsmag.com/contests/awards_annual.html
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+++ h@bitat Unveils Five New Prototypes
July 3, 2002 in Toronto, ON
This unique event brings together leaders and decision makers in the
new media and entertainment sectors looking for the latest Canadian
talent to emerge from h@bitat's Interactive Art & Entertainment
Programme (IAEP). Five new prototypes created by the residents of
h@bitat will be presented at the Canadian Film Centre.
http://www.cdnfilmcentre.com
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+++ Softworld 2002
September 8-11, 2002 in Charlottetown, PEI
Softworld 2002 provides an opportunity for technology sellers to
hear from, and present to, potential users or buyers about their
business solutions or service offerings. For the first time, the
program for this year's conference is designed to focus on four
specific industry tracks, including Arts and Entertainment
(comprised of new media, TV, theatre, multimedia, and music).
http://www.softworld2002.com
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[-- GEEKERS' CORNER: EDITORIAL --]
+++ Online Advertising - The Final Frontier for Charities
by Paul Cowan
info@freeimpresssions.net
This year's Canadian New Media Awards saw John David of the United
Way propose a new challenge to Toronto's technology and
communications industries to increase their community support by
giving to the United Way of Greater Toronto. The announcement marked
an important invitation to collaboration between the highly
creative, cutting-edge world of interactivity and the charitable
sector, which rarely enjoys a comparable level of technical
sophistication. Indeed, the world of not-for-profit is only just
beginning to appreciate the power and potential of interactivity to
forward its goals.
Now that the gauntlet has been thrown down and we have been
challenged to bring technology to charities, what do we do as new
media professionals? The biggest hurdle that has stood in the way of
the charities and non-profits going online has been education. The
not-for-profit sector simply has not had the time or money to invest
heavily in the technology space. While the rest of the world was
dumping money into building Web sites, populating databases and
creating IT departments, charities were more cautious and concerned
with the return on investment that the Internet could potentially
offer.
What we really need to do is demonstrate how the Internet can
actually help their business. (Quite a novel concept!)
Many charities have started to get their feet wet by creating Web
sites where donors can learn about the cause and give people a more
concrete notion of what their donation is doing. Even more
sophisticated approaches have integrated transactional capabilities
(donations, product purchase) and included retention mechanisms like
email newsletters.
Still, charities have largely avoided the Internet as a mechanism to
attract users through online advertising. This is quite interesting,
as the charity category has been built on relationship marketing,
direct mail and other tools that lend themselves extremely well to
the Net. Internet advertising is the natural progression for
marketers in the charity category as it is the most cost effective
way for charities to attract, gather information about, and convert
users into donors. And once they have increased their donor
database, they can maintain the relationship in a much more cost
effective way than direct mail and other traditional tactics.
We have to treat charities like traditional brands. With over 70,000
registered charities in Canada, they are one of the most highly
competitive categories that exists in the country. We have to
demonstrate that charities have the opportunity to drive traffic to
their sites, build relationships, can convert users into donors and
maintain that relationship for years to come. We have to show them
how to move beyond the conventional charity messaging and implement
tactics that have proven successful on the Internet. Rich media,
games, contests, promotions and incentives are all great ways to
help capture users through online advertising. We have to make their
sites destinations for users to continually have a new and
interesting experience with their brand.
Many marketers are concerned with their return on investment and
making the advertising dollar work harder. They have turned to the
Web to help make this happen. The charity community should be no
different and they should consider the brand building power the
Internet offers. As Internet professionals, we can help them to do
this, and in turn potentially help many poor or otherwise
marginalized Canadians and people around the world who find
themselves in need.
/////
Paul Cowan is the Marketing Director at Free Impressions, a Toronto-
based consulting firm dedicated to the design, implementation and
management of new media campaigns for non-profit and charitable
organizations across North America. Free Impressions partners with
top tier new media companies to provide advertising inventory
allocated for the exclusive use of non-profit and charitable
organizations.
http://www.freeimpressions.net
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