Digital content is really a collection of things. More and more, I find myself using them in conjunction with one another, building a series of communications channels that work in different ways, and often reaching different people.

Twitter.

I’m doing quite a lot of work with Twitter now on behalf of clients and on my own websites. I’m using it primarily to:

• augment posts and keep the site active
• build (extend) audience

Twitter messages are short – 140 characters – but can link to longer stories as well.

So, it’s particularly good at sending out quick blasts of info like events, updates, and special offers. It’s also great for posting something that might not warrant a full article, but you still want to mention.

Twitter is really helpful in building your community because of the way it connects a variety of people who might not even know about you (through other people who ‘follow’ your twitter feed).

The short story is, I’m really pleased at how effective it is in spreading the word and building community.

If this is something you’re interested in, let me know and we can talk about how it can serve your goals. Fees are based on time spent creating and sending ‘Tweets’ and managing the Twitter account for you.

You can see my full personal twitter feed at twitter.com/bigsnit and you’ll see a selection of my most recent “tweets” in the right hand sidebar of this page.

Facebook “Pages”

You may have a personal Facebook page, and know how for some people, it’s a key piece in keeping in touch with friends and family.

While Facebook isn’t open to the world in the same way a web page is, the fact that it’s a ‘friend to friend’ community makes it extremely powerful, and its usage continues to grow despite detractors who thought it would become passé.

Now you can have a Facebook page for your business.

The functionality is similar to a personal page.  You show up in Facebook search, and Facebook members can become ‘Fans’ of your page.  It’s also a handy place to list things like events, and of course you can link back to your web page.

LIke the Twitter feeds, I’m now managing Facebook pages and content on behalf of a number of clients. If this is of interest to you, please let me know and we can talk about how it can work for you.

Video

Even though traditional TV viewing numbers are down, I seem to be doing more and more video these days. This isn’t too surprising considering that people still consume a huge amount of video – it’s just that now they are watching it online at places like YouTube and SurfTheChannel.

Authenticity is something consumers value more highly then ever.  Videos give you an opportunity to  tell your company’s story and to bring people ‘behind the scenes’.

They’re also a terrific way to show people ‘how to’ do almost anything.

Email me if you’re interested.

You’ll find an example of a simple “how to” I did recently for BasicGov.com on their home page.

Recent Community Activity

NVOCA: This week I was invited to be part of a group of people sharing ideas with the North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs. It’s a fairly serious sounding organization, but in fact, is staffed by a great bunch of people who are working hard to bring the North Shore’s incredible arts community into the limelight. I’m looking forward to seeing how things unfold over the next few months as they start reaching out into the community.

LoCoBC: In October I was one of the presenters at the launch event for LoCo BC. They’re a new network for small and medium businesses in BC. I put together some screencasts of the organizer and one of the main presenters – you’ll find that on the VanGoGreen website.

Just for Fun

I always have a few side projects going on, where I try stuff out and play around.

I firmly believe that ‘doing’ is better than endlessly ‘talking about doing’.

Here’s the latest, called BrainPicker.

Heather Johnstone runs the Edible Garden Project on Vancouver’s North Shore.

Just wrapping up its 4th year, the the project encourages residents to share their bounty with people in need, as well as putting together a variety of urban agriculture and community garden projects.

This week, Heather and team opened the Queen Mary Community Garden, located in the City of North Vancouver. Those of you who aren’t from the North Shore may not be aware that there is both City of North Vancouver, and a District of North Vancouver. Heather’s project involves both municipalities.

I spoke to Heather about the project and where things are going with urban agriculture on the North Shore. We met up at the Lower Lonsdale Community Garden…

click to play

Runs: 11:01

Podcast ISBN: 978-1-926758-03-9
photos and podcast © Robert Ouimet & Bigsnit Media 2009

Cam MacDonald is a new breed of farmer.

He has no land, and his farm is scattered around the city of Vancouver.

Cam is practising urban agriculture, using yards donated by people he and his partners have met, people who are interested in converting lawns into food producing gardens. No tractor or gas-spewing farm machinery here; Cam zips between his plots on an electric scooter.

He’s the subject of the latest podcast in a series I’m producing with writers Spring Gillard and David Tracey called Can Urban Agriculture Save the World ?

runs 14:42

click to play

Podcast ISBN: 978-1-926758-00-8

photos and podcast © Robert Ouimet & Bigsnit Media 2009

Cam MacDonald is also a professional artist – his latest work and exhibits have a food and food-supply related theme. You can see examples of his work on his website, CamMacDonald.ca

I’ve started producing a series of podcasts about Urban Agriculture, hosted by Spring Gillard and David Tracey.  The series will run on Spring’s website, CompostDiaries.com, as well as on  VanGoGreen.

We recorded the first in the series on Tuesday at the YWCA downtown’s roof garden.  It’s an interesting project, and all the food grown in the garden is taken to a women’s group on the downtown east side. You can read more about the rooftop garden / food project on the Y’s website.

Ted Cathcart runs the project, and he was kind enough to spend an hour with us explaining the project and discussing the challenges.

The podcast runs just over 18 minutes.

click to play

podcast and photo © Bigsnit Media Consulting Inc.
podcast ISBN 978-0-9809054-9-6

Dr. Mendefro, who I did a podcast with recently for the Plan Institute, has just been appointed a White House Fellow.  Details here.

The PLAN Institute and BC Women’s Hospital recently asked me to record a podcast with Dr. Mehret Mandefro.

She’s an HIV/AIDS educator and activist who’s also the subject of an incredibly moving documentary called All of Us. Dr. Mandefro is the founding director of Truth Aids

You can find out more about her on her website.

In the podcast I think you’ll get a real sense of her inspiration and drive to make a difference – she’s got an incredibly dynamic personality and at the same time, is very down to earth and realistic about the challenges of health education.

It’s on the Plan Institute website here – you have to register on their site first in order to get it.

Or you can also listen to it here:

click to play

Thanks to Emily Apt of Pureland Pictures for permission to use clips from the film, All of Us .

Some shocking data (courtesy TruthAids website):

• For African American women ages 15 to 24, AIDS has been the leading cause of death for almost 10 years.
• HIV is the leading cause of death for African American men ages 35-44 (NCHS,2002)
• African American men are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic: AIDS diagnosis rate among African American was almost 11 times the rate among whites

** UPDATE **

Dr. Mandefro has just been appointed a White House Fellow.  Details here

I’ve just finished some video work for BasicGov, a really interesting Vancouver based company that’s addressing the needs of small and medium sized local government all over North America.

These folks are clever.

Using an SaaS (Software as a Service) model, they’re providing a package of admin and organizational tools to local governments.

Typically, these tools are only available through expensive enterprise software – and the little guys find themselves making do with patched together solutions for tracking things like building permits , code enforcement, or planning. BasicGov’s approach seems even more relevant given the current economy.

What these guys have done is distill the key services required and created a web-based solution. Their clients have no technology overhead to deal with, they pay on monthly subscription basis, so they can start without spending heaps of cash, and all they need in place is an internet connection and a browser.

The goal of this project was to provide a high-level overview of the suite of products – essentially an introduction to the concept of SaaS without ever using the acronym, and how these products help solve specific challenges faced by small governments.

BasicGov, wisely, is using YouTube as a key platform to distribute these videos.

It’s fitting, considering their own model.

Just like their own service, using YouTube allows them to get all the benefits of a large scale distribution platform, with zero overhead. The idea is to use the videos as an introduction to the services, not as a ‘how to’ per se – though we may do some of those later.

Creating the videos gave me an interesting insight into their product as well. The team sat down with me and walked though each of the 3 key modules. I took notes, but mostly I was just trying to get oriented. I’ve never worked in local government, so a lot of the details were new to me.

Often with this type of software, a casual observer (me) will find it difficult to retrace their way through the various functions. I was surprised when I logged on back at my office, and discovered I was able to work my way through all the pieces with ease. Which of course was one of the goals BasicGov laid out when they started.

PRODUCTION

We worked through an iterative process, using storyboards to identify key screens and copy.

I often use Final Draft A/V for this kind of thing, but in this case, I opted for Story Board Quick. I like being able to generate HTML and FLASH versions of the boards – I work virtually most of the time and it makes sharing the info with the client quick. I also strip out the copy and provide the client with a clean copy deck – often this is the easiest place for them to identify changes.

For screen capture, I knew I wanted something other than Camtasia. It’s not really a Mac or PC thing, I work with both (I do all my audio on PC). Given that I planned on editing on Final Cut at high resolution, I wanted something clean and lean that made it easy for me to get the screens I wanted, with the zoom factor I wanted, etc.

I opted for I Show U HD. It plays nice with Mac and was rock solid. It was a real bonus being able to select from a variety of resolutions and frame rates – I imported all my clips directly to FCP.

Through the process I created rough cuts for the client to review. These I provided to them in Flash Video – using Adobe’s CS4 media encoder. I was then able to load them up on a server for them to grab and review at their convenience. What this meant was that we were able to move through more iterations faster than would have been the case with ‘in person’ reviews.

Once we finalized the copy of flow, I created a ‘finished’ voice track to replace my working tracks. I record all my audio on a Sound Devices 702T through a 422 field mixer. Then I haul the audio into Adobe Audition for editing, and master with T-Racks 24, then haul the mastered files back into Final Cut.

Because BasicGov wanted to take advantage of YouTube’s HD options, everything was captured at 1280 x 720, and the YouTube versions, both regular and HD, looks great. You can see them here:

• Overview
• Permits and Inspections
• Code Enforcement
• Planning

The team at BasicGov was a real delight to work with, and I hope we’ll do some more projects together soon.

Podcasts can serve a variety of purposes, so the important thing is to be clear about goals before starting production.

New Media BC is an industry association for new media professionals. Their goal with this podcast was to extend the organization’s  brand, and at the same time, get people excited about the kind of  keynote speakers they attract at their annual conference.

So, in this case, I produced a mini ‘show’ for them, covering a variety of topics meant to highlight NMBC’s personality, its position in the industry, and the kind of guest speakers who’d be at the annual VidFest conference (now called Vancouver Digital Week)

click to play

Raincoast Books of Vancouver has always been an innovative company. I was thrilled when (then) digital marketing manager Monique Trottier asked me to help create a series of author podcasts for the company.

Many of the titles we worked on are now with other publishers, but the podcasts still hold up. Enjoy.

On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidentialand host of the TV show No Reservations, spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.

He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing me to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions. It’s Bourdain as you’ve never heard him before.

Part One: Bourdain’s World includes…

Anthony Bourdain’s most surprising questions.

• How to train for a career in the entertainment business
• Listener mail
• Grossest Canadian Food
• Getting sick from food
• How Anthony stays trim
• How to succeed in just about anything you do
• Advice to would-be culinary school students

Runs: 14:57
 

click to play

Raincoast Books of Vancouver has always been an innovative company. I was thrilled when (then) digital marketing manager Monique Trottier asked me to help create a series of author podcasts for the company.

Many of the titles we worked on are now with other publishers, but the podcasts still hold up. Enjoy.

On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidentialand host of the TV show No Reservations, spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.

He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing me to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions.
Part Two: The Book Signing
8 a.m. at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver

• Anthony is greeted with a breakfast of champions.
• Barbara-Jo talks about why she had to have Anthony visit her store.
• Anthony meets the fans.
• Anthony gives advice on “must sample” street food vendors in New York City.
• He talks about who comes to book signings and why.
• Bourdain just doesn’t seem like your usual kind of cookbook author
• He reveals the best hidden cooks in New York.
• And Bourdain talks about turning 50 and why life is like pinball.

runs 12:46

click to play