The day started out, as most do, with the VidCamp participants filling up on caffeine and sugar. The Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue provided us with a great space and morning coffee, tea, and muffins. We were located in the Strategy Room, a fitting name for the activities planned for the day. I briefly introduced myself to the group and told everyone that the day was going to be highly interactive. However, before starting the first activity of the day, I wanted to find out what people’s expectations were. We had distributed colored Post-Its to everyone and they were then asked to write down one idea/thought/expectation per sticky note and then post these to a piece of paper I had entitled “Expectations” (see photo).

Here is a list of what the group’s expectations were:

• knowledge
• learn
• platforms for the next generation
• learn about video from true video geeks
• what’s new
• trends
• what’s upcoming
• know there is a dynamic team of new media in Vancouver
• share ideas
• meet people in media 2.0 and share ideas
• knowledge about convergence
• general understanding of 2.0 – what it is and what it isn’t
• get to know who’s here
• inspire ideas
• to connect with people who ‘get it’
• new concept web vlog
• network with media 2.0 types
• hear some new ideas for cross-platform content delivery
• meet some new people
• hear what other people have to say
• begin to understand the faces and places involved in Vancouver media industry
• to gain fresh perspectives
• overview of convergence and how it will impact the marketing world
• meet local people and hear what they’re about
• building community (online & off)
• decrease digital divide
• learn, learn, learn
• to get a better idea about state of media 2.0 in Vancouver
• is IT finally turning to entertainment? Yes/No?
• one media channel
• identify media 2.0 expertise in Vancouver
• network with people I’d like to work with
• I want to meet some interesting people
• how can new media connect people with other realities?
• where does social justice factor into media?
• how can we add to the voices of communities with less access?
• gain a more broad view of Web 2.0 applications and potential
• show me the money!
• new ways to engage young people in thought and action
• connect

After all the ideas were posted, I read through them so that everyone could get a sense of what the group expected. It was a great overview and highlighted that many were looking to connect with like-minded people and explore new opportunities.

The next task got everyone out of their chairs and interacting. All chairs were pushed to the sides of the room because we were going to do some Speed Networking. Since we were only 25 people, I had the group stand up in two lines (see photo – there was no line dancing ), which provided a mechanism for everyone to meet everyone else. I must admit that when I was describing the process, the group immediately began to start talking – even before I had a chance to say ‘Go’. I had a whistle that I blew after 4 minutes, but the participants were having such great conversations that I often had a hard time getting people to stop talking! To minimize the ‘noise’ from adjacent conversations, people started to migrate off into groups of two to have their own private conversations (see photo). We did this for about an hour, after which we took a break and many continued to have informal conversations and follow-up with people they had met. Unfortunately, everyone was not able to meet everyone else (due to time limits and the fatigue that sets in after talking constantly for an hour ), but this exercise did seem to set the tone for the day and I was pleased to see ongoing willingness to interact with others throughout the day.

After the break, we separated into two groups to discuss ‘What is Media 2.0?’ The term ‘2.0′ is being used quite frequently these days and I thought it would be interesting to hear how others might define Media 2.0. Since we had two groups, I again encouraged everyone to use their sticky notes to capture the main ideas and themes discussed. These would be helpful when the two groups shared their thoughts with each other later. The initial plan was to have a follow-up discussion about the Challenges and Hurdles, but what actually happened was that the two conversations naturally migrated into this area. As a result, these conversations lasted about an hour and some interesting points were raised.

In terms of what Media 2.0 is, here are some of the descriptions and points made:

• open loop
• democratization of access
• democratization of ideas
• collaboration
• fast
• agile
• the convergence of content onto/with various delivery/distribution channels
• media/content convergence
• device convergence
• organic
• 2.0 = indexed content
• no business model?
• community
• about ‘Artists’ (in the broadest sense of the word)
• unencumbered content
• user-defined content
• user-generated content
• end user empowerment
• open
• Peter Dekom’s 4 Value Propositions – Subscriber, Infrastructure, Navigation Systems, Content
• literacy is going visual
• shift in power
• social
• hard to define – but you know it when you see it
• 2.0 = the future
• 2.0 = what’s next; the next generation

Since the conversations were quite dynamic, I am sure that this list does not encompass all of the ideas and thoughts discussed. However, it does provide some insight as to how the group viewed media 2.0 and why it is perhaps so attractive to so many people, and naturally offers so many new opportunities. A shift in power and the ability to create community seemed to be key elements in defining a critical aspect of media 2.0. Many agreed that since media 2.0 is ‘the next generation of media’, it is quite difficult to define and predict what people will create with new media.

Since it had been a full morning, we broke for lunch. I was pleased to see several smaller groups form and continue their conversations over lunch.

When we returned from lunch, we formed a large circle and briefly reported what we had discussed in the smaller groups. It seemed that the two groups had had similar conversations and we then started to discuss the ‘Challenges’ that had been brought up.

Here is the list of challenges that were captured:

• easily paying for content
• walled-garden access (not just in mobile environments, but with any proprietary or enclosed community)
• rights management (copyrights, producer rights, distribution rights, union contract rights, etc.)
• indexing of content (largely visual content indexing, but also other indexing of content)
• identity (managing your identity across multiple communities)
• building awareness
• how to find the content (e.g. videos) you want/like from so many choices?
• more and better metrics on viewership for advertisers

While the list for challenges was not lengthy, many of these issues seemed to be crucial to developing solid business and community models. The issues surrounding ‘Rights’ and understanding what rights are covered, seemed to be quite important and it came up several times when exploring various distribution options. Content producers need to better understand what Rights they hold and how media 2.0 distribution models affect these Rights. There seemed to be a need to understand the issues involved in content production, as well as the ’selling’ of content. These two areas probably need to be further discussed and outlined. The financial challenges in creating solid business models were also touched upon, but more discussion is needed.

We then started discussing interesting web sites and resources that we thought might be useful to others. Based on this, two lists were distributed to capture the web sites and books that we felt might be of general interest.

Here’s a list of those resources:

Books (listed alphabetically):

• Darknet: Hollywood’s War Against the Digital Generation – J.D. Lasica
• Good to Great – Why Some Companies Make the Leap…an Others Don’t – Jim Collins
• Not on My Watch: Hollywood vs. the Future – Peter Dekom and Peter Sealey
• On Intelligence – Jeff Hawkins (a bit tangential but very cool research)
• Pattern Recognition – William Gibson (Thought-provoking Sci-Fi)
• The Rise of the Creative Class – Richard Florida
• Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

Web Sites (listed alphabetically):

• 43 Things – www.43things.com
• Alexa – www.alexa.com
• Atom Films – www.atomfilms.com
• Box Office Mojo – www.boxofficemojo.com
• CBC Radio 3 – www.cbcradio.com
• CBC Zed – www.zed.cbc.ca
• CitizenShift – www.citizen.nfb.ca
• Craigs List – www.craigslist.com or www.vancouver.craigslist.com (for Vancouver)
• Create with the BBC – www.bbc.co.uk/create/
• Digg – www.digg.com (2.0 tech news site)
• Eveo – www.eveo.com (not sure that I read this one correctly
• Flickr – www.flickr.com
• Hollywood Stock Exchange – www.hsx.com (fun site of net info gathering)
• iFilm – www.ifilm.com
• IMDB – www.imdb.com
• leMemo.com – www.lememo.com
• MySpace – www.myspace.com
• Pandora – www.pandora.com
• PBS Frontline – www.pbs.org/frontline
• PitchPage – www.pitchpage.com
• Podzinger – www.podzinger.com
• Rotten Tomatoes – www.rottentomatoes.com
• Social Signal – www.socialsignal.com (interesting site for non-profits)
• Stumble Upon – www.stumbleupon.com
• TakingITGlobal – www.TakingITGlobal.org
• Technorati – www.technorati.com
• Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.org
• YouTube – www.youtube.com

I am sure that these lists will expand over time, but it was a great start and we plan to create a VidCamp wiki page where we can continue to add more resources that might be of interest.

Mid-afternoon, we took another caffeine and sugar break (inspired by the Wosk Centre’s coffee and cookies ) and further conversations occurred. To allow for additional time to connect and to get to know each other better, we sometimes had longer breaks than planned and again, it was often difficult to get people to stop their private discussions and return to the group discussions. After the break, we started discussing feedback for VidCamp, specific next steps for the Vancouver community, and how to keep the conversation(s) going.

From this discussion, the following points/opportunities were mentioned:

VidCamp Feedback:

• create a list of those who attended VidCamp with headshots
• provide a mechanism for people to demonstrate/pull up web sites for others to see, e.g. using the projector
• offer some panels where people can discuss what they are doing or experts can share information
• break up into smaller groups more often
• expand the size of the group by inviting contacts that can provide valuable insights and perspectives

Opportunities:

• build tools to help ‘Artists’ (again, in the broader sense) market their content
• create a physical space for media 2.0 professionals to collaborate and/or co-locate, e.g. Innovations Commons
• pool financial and human resources to bring in/hire professionals of common interest to the group, e.g. a media 2.0 publicist
• barter services
• skill swaps (more on this below)

Future Get-Together Ideas:

• happy hour gatherings
• an afternoon only session – similar to VidCamp
• another full-day VidCamp session with more panels
• a DemoCamp, where media 2.0 professionals can demonstrate their projects
• visit the offices of other media 2.0 professionals

Ongoing Communication Suggestions:

• use the VidCamp Wiki
• use Skype to have ‘unConference Calls’
• build a Skills Directory
• start a VidCamp Listserve

This was a great list of suggestions, opportunities and feedback. One of the key opportunities discussed was the need for ‘Skill Swaps‘. Both the technology and entertainment people felt that there were not enough opportunities in Vancouver for people involved in these two industries to meet, network and explore opportunities together. Many felt that VidCamp was a great start to more such conversations. Everyone seemed to agree that to successfully implement many of these new media models, the two industries need to communicate and interact more with each other (and not remain in their ’silos’). A need was also expressed for technologists to specifically demonstrate how these new technology tools work and for content producers to learn how to use these tools to concretely reduce some of their marketing and distribution costs.

We are working on setting up the VidCamp listserve and I will send out a note, once it is available. Everyone at VidCamp seemed excited to continue to build and expand the group, as well as to plan future events and get-togethers. I will make sure that all future VidCamp-related events are posted to both the web site and the listserve. If you are interested in what’s happening in Vancouver, be sure to continue to check out the web site, subscribe to the web site RSS feed , or sign-up for the listserve, when available.

I have tried to provide you with an overview of the ‘First Day at VidCamp‘. However, please note that what I’ve captured is merely a fraction of the ideas and outcomes from the VidCamp experience. I can assure you that this overview, by no means, replaces all of the ad hoc conversations and discussions that happened throughout the day. Hopefully, it has given you a better sense of what the group accomplished and what we have started. It was an exciting day (albeit sometimes mentally exhausting ) and I am thrilled to have been a part of such an amazing group of great and creative minds!

At the end of the day, one participant did ask, “What does ‘VidCamp’ actually stand for? Does the ‘Vid’ stand for ‘Video’?” I then explained that the ‘Vid’ in VidCamp stands for “Visual, Interactive, and Digital (Media)” and the ‘Camp’ refers to those worldwide community gatherings that are focusing on offline interactions and connections, and the exchange of ideas. So, VidCamp is truly for ALL content producers, technologists, futurists, community leaders, academicians, and anyone else exploring new media options. I fervently believe that Vancouver is in a wonderful position to build a leading-edge Vortex of what is yet to come! VidCamp only validated my thoughts!

Thank you, once again, to everyone who attended VidCamp and for being open to sharing your passions, knowledge and expertise with others! We have begun to develop a truly dynamic network and I thoroughly look forward to future conversations and meetings!

If you are interested in more VidCamp photos, do check out Rob’s Photos and Roland’s Photos! And, if I have missed any salient points, please feel free to add your comments below!

In the meantime, I thought I would pass along a interesting entry from Mark Evans’ blog where he throws out the idea of a Toronto-based unconference “where people can get a better understanding of the impact the blogosphere is having on the media, P.R./marketing, business/finance and politics/society.” Much like VidCamp, Mark and friends are looking to make it happen quickly — in this case in May.

If you are interested, do let Mark know. This is a great opportunity to help shape what this yet-unnamed unconference could be!

VidCamp was a full day of phenomenal discussions, ideas, thoughts, potential opportunities and laughs! I was glad to see so many new connections made, as well as some re-connections! I look forward to future conversations (virtual and non-virtual) and to continuing to develop the VidCamp network.

Many, many thanks to all the VidCampers for gifting a full day of their time to this process and for making today a truly dynamic and thought-provoking one! It could not have happened without their enthusiasm, wisdom and most importantly, their willingness to share with others!

I am thrilled to have met so many insightful, smart, bold and curious people! The day was much more than I had anticipated!

For those of you interested, here are some photos (care of Rob) and more photos (care of Roland)! Feel free to add your own photos to Roland’s on Flickr. I will write up a full report next week, but I’m off to Seattle for a long weekend, returning on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend and thanks again for all the magnificent brainstorming!

COST
We were quite fortunate to receive some sponsorship funding from Heenan Blaikie! However, their sponsorship does not cover all of the event costs. So, we will have to charge $20/person to cover the remaining costs. We will be providing Coffee, Tea and snacks throughout the day. We will break for one hour to allow everyone to grab lunch and will provide a list of restaurants and nearby eating options.

ATTENDEES
I am often asked who will be attending VidCamp. Since I respect everyone’s right to privacy, I have created an online (Wiki) web page where anyone attending can voluntarily add his/her name (or initials ) to the list. However, if you give me your permission, I will gladly do this for you. I ask that you tell me exactly what information you would like to publicly publish, e.g. title, web page, email, etc. I would also like to know what you hope to gain from this experience and/or what expectations you might have for VidCamp.

AGENDA
Here is the current plan:

9:00 – 9:30	Registration
9:30 – 9:45	Welcome and Introduction
9:45 – 10:15	Speed Networking (in small groups)
10:15 – 10:45	Defining “What is Media 2.0″
10:45 – 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:30	Speed Networking (new groups)
11:30 – 12:00	Identifying the Top 5 Media 2.0 Challenges & Hurdles
12:00 – 1:00	Lunch Break
1:00 – 2:00	Ideas and Solutions to Identified Challenges
2:00 – 2:30	Participant-Led Discussion(s)
2:30 – 2:45	Break
2:45 – 3:15	Participant-Led Discussion(s)
3:15 – 4:00	Participant-Led Discussion(s)
4:00 – 4:15	Break
4:15 – 5:00	Opportunities & Next Steps for Vancouver
5:00 – 5:30	Wrap-Up

Since we are still a week away, some tweaking might occur. But, I hope this will give you a sense of what we are envisioning.

PARTICIPANT-LED DISCUSSIONS (replaces “Presentations)
As you see on the Agenda, the afternoon is largely driven by participant-led discussions. These “in-the-round” discussions will be led by VidCamp participants who would like to present a question or topic of interest and then talk for 1-5 minutes about what their thoughts are. The question/topic will then be thrown out to the group to discuss and debate. Please note that depending on the interest and number of topics, we may talk about these issues in one large group or break into smaller groups. I do not anticipate that each topic will fill up 45 minutes; we will probably discuss several topics in each of these time slots. So, short discussions are quite welcomed. Also, since not everyone present will be an expert on every topic, I ask that you focus on high-level issues and not delve too much into specific technology details. Introducing the appropriate technology issues to the discussion is important, however, keep in mind that the group is diverse and ideally, we want everyone to be able to contribute and ask thought-provoking questions.

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
Although we will be discussing cutting-edge business models and new media ideas, I have decided to take a somewhat low-tech approach to VidCamp . I want this day to be about discussions, debates, and conversation. In other words, I want this to be about people’s ideas and thoughts and less about fiddling with technology to make PowerPoint presentations. We will have limited wireless access should people want to showcase examples of their projects or check email. But, the day will be much more about using our physical brains rather than the virtual ones in our computers .

WIKI
For those of you who are interested, we have added a Wiki to the VidCamp web site! (Many, many thanks to Geoff for his hard work on integration and design!) Once you sign-up for an account, you can contribute and edit any and all content on the wiki. I envision that this will become an online resource where we can publicly highlight the expertise and knowledge base here in Vancouver. After VidCamp, I plan to summarize and transcribe all of the ideas, thoughts and results discussed and allow others to see and comment on them, especially those who were not able to attend VidCamp.

READING/LISTENING MATERIALS
I have been adding articles and podcasts that I have found interesting to the VidCamp Resource page. I recommend that you read some of these articles and see what is being discussed and debated in the digital entertainment and new media worlds. If you have any specific resources, feel free to add them to the wiki resource page or send me the link/information and I’d be more than happy to add them myself.

I believe that is everything for now. If I you have any other questions, comments or suggestions, please do let me know. As I said, there may be some tweaking happening in the next week and often these changes are based on recommendations from you — the participants!

Also, don’t forget to either send me your contact information or add your name to the Attendees web page.

I look forward to seeing (and meeting) all of you next week and thank you in advance for your contribution to VidCamp!

Rochelle

Given the complexity of copyright and distribution issues related to media convergence, comprehensive legal advice is absolutely critical. Heenan Blaikie is a law firm that can provide you with the innovative and solid legal guidance you need to navigate these waters.

Many thanks to the entire Heenan Blaikie team for their generous support of VidCamp!

Media Revolution: Podcasting Part I
In part one of a two-part article, learn about the who, what, why and how behind the newest form of media information and entertainment — podcasting.

Media Revolution: Video Podcasting Part II
In part two of this two-part article Steve Garfield and David Tames focus on video podcasting.

Captain Crunchberry Gang
Another interesting podcast discussion where Mike Arrington of TechCrunch fame joins Dan Farber, Mike Vizard, Doc Searls, and Dana Gardner for a rowdy trip down the Yellow Brick Road to OZ, where Mickey and Goofy are caught smoking dope with Steve Jobs on the iTunes back lot. Or something like that. (Warning: this description bears no actual resemblance to the show contents.)

Web threatens TV:Â report
Canadian broadcasters are among the most vulnerable to an onslaught of new technology that is changing how people watch TV, warns an IBM report titled “The End of Television as We Know It: A Future Industry Perspective”. For another report on the study, read BackStage’s article.

Digital Rights Management (DRM): Media Companies’ Next Flop?
Big media players are accustomed to watching the ratings for the most popular music, video and book content, but perhaps they should pay more attention to how consumers feel about three letters at the bottom of most charts — DRM, which stands for digital rights management.

I’ve also added these to the Resources web page. If you know of other resources that provide an interesting or different perspective, please send me an email.

Enjoy!

• How Is Digital Content Delivered – An overview of some technology, tools, bandwidth requirements, etc.
• Bit Torrent - Is it inherently evil? What is it and how does it work?
• Streaming vs. Download-and-Play - What are the pros and cons to these video distribution models?
• Video Formats and Standardization - Will there be a universal video format? How do we best deal with competing formats/codecs in the interim?
• Video Resolutions and Their Impact on Bandwidth Costs - Will we have different resolutions for different programs, e.g. talk shows vs. movies.
• High-Definition - How is this new media format affecting content producers and content distribution?
• Commercial vs. Amateur Content Production - There are several topics that can be covered under this topic, for example:
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Videocasting / VideoBlogging
• The Future of Copyright and Distribution Rights – How will ‘territories’ and ‘media’ formats be monitored/controlled in an increasingly digital world?
• DRM - Is there a DRM system that consumers will accept and be willing to pay for or will consumers only pay for DRM-free content? Here’s an interesting article about this: Digital Rights Management (DRM): Media Companies’ Next Flop?
• Gaming Companies: The Entertainment Studios of the Future? – As gaming companies expand their entertainment offerings to music, films, etc., they are starting to look more like entertainment companies. So, are these companies the ‘Studios’ of the future?
• Mobile Phone Standards and Walled Gardens - How can content-providers gain access to walled gardens and what format standards will be required?
• Games on 3G Next-Gen Mobile Devices – As games move onto Mobile handsets, will this create a new competitive market for mobile revenues?
• Home Theatres and Their Impact on Social Networks – Will home theatres create a new kind of social networking? Will groups get together for “Movie/TV Series Nite”?
• The Long Tail – (This concept can be applied to just about any area of new media development.) In the past, revenues have been focused on the head of the curve, but with new distribution models, the ‘Long Tail’ is looking quite attractive. How will this change organizations’ long-term strategies? Read Why Practically Everyone Is in Dogged Pursuit of the Long Tail.

I am planning a presentation entitled, The Charts – The Entertainment Market Numbers and Opportunity. I will look at the some of the latest market research figures and present a summary of What Is and What Is Projected.

Hopefully, this preliminary list will get you thinking about areas you would like to talk about! Please also note that this list is by no means exhaustive and you are not limited by it. If you have a topic that you are more comfortable discussing, just prepare that. I merely want to get people thinking about some potential discussion points.

I do look forward to hearing some interesting and insightful presentations!Â

Initially, we will break up into six smaller groups (~12 people each) in the morning and start with Speed Networking. Each person will have 2 minutes to present him/herself to another person. After this, the group will be asked the question, What is Media Convergence? Each person will have 2 minutes to come up with a definition and then the group will have 5 minutes to come up with a group definition of media convergence. After this, each group will be ‘merged’ with another group (of 12) and have 5 minutes to create a new media convergence definition base on the resulting group definitions. This process will be repeated until finally, the whole group (i.e. the 75 people merge and a definition is created for the day. The groups will then be disbursed and new/different groups will be assembled. In these new groups, we will repeat the Speed Networking with 1 minute/person. Then the group process will be repeated with the question, What hurdles and challenges are currently present?, with the final result being the top 5 challenges and hurdles. I anticipate that this will take most of the morning, including brief coffee breaks and some general networking time.

During lunch (or ideally beforehand), I would like for all participants to think about a ‘presentation/talk’ focused on how these challenges and hurdles are affecting their industry and/or what they are doing to address some critical new media issues. (In preparation for VidCamp, IÂ will be putting together a wishlist of ideas/topics I’d like to see, but I do encourage others to share their thoughts, as well!)

After lunch, there will be 15-minute sponsor presentations to the entire group showcasing what they are doing in this industry space and how they can be a beneficial resource/partner to those attending. Following all the sponsor presentations, we will have a 15-minute break for any Q&A and general networking. After the sponsor presentations, we will ask participants to make 10-minute presentations (either previously-prepared or impromptu ones based on the day’s activities). We will plan for ~5 presentations/hour, with a break every hour for participants to ask questions and network. Depending on the number of presentations, this timing may change. However, given this general structure, I envision that we will have approximately 3-5 sponsor presentations and up to 15 participant presentations. To allow for a free-flow of ideas and conversations, I do plan to have several short breaks.

My goal for the day is to create a Vancouver-based ‘brain-trust’ where people understand what various Vancouver companies are doing in the new media space and what challenges they face. I also want to facilitate concrete professional connections, where everyone can meet someone who might be able to augment their area(s) of expertise.Â

My ultimate goal is to get Vancouver organizations working together so that we can become a North American Centre of New Media Excellence. Vancouver has all of the requisite industries present and I strongly believe that we are extremely well-positioned to make it happen. We simply need to join together and support each other as we build this new industry and market.

Those are my latest thoughts on the process and the outcomes. If you have some specific wishes, I’d love to hear them and if there is something specific you would like to see happen, please let me know and I would be more than happy to consider it.

If you need more information or are interested in collaborating in other ways, please contact us. Thank you for your support!