Bridging Media

Shining A Spotlight on Scribus

ericahargreave — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:18:20 +0000

One of the things that I love about the online, social media part of Interactive Storytelling is that as a storytelling you can just dive right in and start telling your story. As writers and creative producers we hide behind the obstacles of waiting on others, like publishers and broadcasters to green light us and cover the scarily large costs associated with building tv series and movies or publishing a book. In this space and with open source software it removes many of those obstacles, evening out the playing field for artists, and for talent to shine through. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a hard road to walk – it takes time, perseverance and creativity on how to use the tools your given.

Recently, when we at Ahimsa Media, were producing the Reading is Sexy Calendar for Emme Rogers, I decided to see if I could design the calendar’s layout myself as I had a very clear vision of what I wanted. As I was working off of a linux system, InDesign or Quark weren’t really options, so I did a bit of research and found Scribus. Stefan sent me this great tutorial to follow and off I went. Well, thanks in part to the tutorial, I found it relatively easy to figure out and have been thrilled with the quality of the product that we were able to create in Scribus. Scribus is one of these amazing examples of open source software that I mentioned above, that evens out the playing field for artists. The Calendar looks fantastic! My one piece of advice to you, is to ignore their calendar template and design your own from scratch – the results are worth it.

Thanks Scribus! And thank you Stefan!

Twitter Tips for Beginners

ericahargreave — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:29:15 +0000

Been promising for months to post some tips for a few of my friends that are newer to twitter and are just getting started on experimenting in this space for the first time. Finally they are here!

Tips to Getting Started on Twitter:

Own Your Identity. Not always, but often it is best to own your own name online, especially if you do anything in the public eye. This prevents others from misrepresenting themselves as you and looks a little more professional. Take, for example, @EricaHargreave verses @CrazyCanuckGal. If you are a minor, however, I don’t recommend you use your own name for safety reasons.
Post a Pic. Ideally the best pics are closer head shots of you (as the avatar is small), that look fun and have a bit of character to them. But if you really don’t want to post a real picture of you, cartoon versions of you or animal pictures tend to work well. Also if you are a minor, I’d recommend that you don’t post a picture of your actual self. To find where to post a picture, click on ‘settings’ in your top bar and then on ‘picture’ in the subsequent top bar. (Please Note: This element of twitter occasionally glitches out due to growing pains. If it’s not working, avoid throwing your computer out the window and try again later)
Write something in your bio. Quirky and light work well. Or a mix of business and your personal side. But you want to say something that gives you a bit of personality so that people take an interest in you and want to follow you. To edit your bio, click on ‘settings’ in your top bar and then on ‘account’ in the subsequent top bar. Scroll down the ‘account’ page and you will find the box for the ‘one line bio’.
Add a website or a blog. Depending on the main purpose of your tweeting, you may wish to add your company’s website or your personal blog. To do this, click on ‘settings’ in your top bar and then on ‘account’ in the subsequent top bar. Scroll down the ‘account’ page and you will find the box for the ‘more info URL’. Add your web address here. It is fine not to have a web address as long as you have a pic and bio posted.
Try a few tweets. Test out your voice. Try a tweet or five, remembering that this is not the ‘Facebook is ….’. Write in the first person, not the third person. Ideas on what to tweet: you could upload a photo with a comment, share a simple recipe, share a favourite quote, share something new you’ve learned or tell people about an enjoyable event you’ve been to. Don’t expect a response as no one is following you yet.
Start following people. Twitter works because it’s voyeuristic, and as a result, spreads information beyond your current network. What this means for you, is that you don’t just want to follow your current network of people, you want to move beyond that. So who do you follow? Search a term that interests you on twitter and see whose talking about it. Add people that are saying things of interest to you. Similarly you can also look up and add people that you are interested in and follow them (even if you don’t know them personally).
Getting followers. Twitter has changed from the early days. It use to be that when you started following people, many of them would follow you back. These days with spammers and more people following, many people (myself included) have trouble keeping up with new followers, so you need to engage them. Look at what the people in your stream are saying and engage them by responding to their tweets. You do this by clicking on the curved reply arrow on their tweet and then typing in your message to them. You can also retweet something they say, if you want to help spread their message online. Do that by clicking on the double arrow retweet button on their tweet.
What to do when someone new starts following you? I like to, when I have the time, click on a new follower’s profile and check them out. If they don’t appear to be a spammer and have something interesting to say then I follow them back. I also usually try and send them a personal note thanking them for the follow and commenting on something in their stream or on their website.
@Replies You will notice on your sidebar an @ symbol and your twitter handle, which in my case would be @EricaHargreave. You want to check these replies regularly, as these are people that are replying to a tweet of yours or referencing you in a tweet. I feel to be polite and genuinely interactive, you should generally respond to these.
Direct Messages Similarly on your sidebar you will see ‘Direct Messages’. You also want to check these regularly as these are people that are sending you a private message. It ‘s generally polite to respond to these, unless it is an automated DM (direct message) thanking you for following. You should, however, beware of hacker messages here. If someone is telling you that you ‘can make x amount of dollars at such and such online’ or is asking if ‘this is a video or picture of you’, then chances are they’ve been hacked. Don’t click on the link (that’s how you too will get hacked), but do send them a DM telling them that you suspect that they’ve been hacked.
Keeping up with the conversation. Some twitter newbies think that they need to go back and read everything that their followers have said in their stream. This is next to impossible, so don’t overwhelm yourself by trying. If you want to follow particular people more closely, you can put them in a list. Lists are a relatively new feature on twitter. You will see them in your sidebar. Click on ‘New List’. Mark it as ‘public’ or ‘private’ depending on whether you want the rest of the world to see it or not. Give the list a name, such as ‘film folk’. Next, give the list a description if you so choose, and then click on ‘Create List’. Finally you will be prompted to ‘find people’. You can do this by typing in someones twitter handle (ie. EricaHargreave) or by scrolling through your following list. When you find someone you want to add, click on the list button beside their name and click on the list you wish to add them to. Similarly any time later that you want to add someone to the list, simply click on the list button next to their name and then click on the appropriate list.

That should give you more than enough to get you started.

Have fun with it!

Chicks Who Click in Town at the End of the Month

ericahargreave — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Very excited to be a part of the Chicks Who Click Conference at the end of the month! Even more excited that Meg and I will be at an event together at long last! Meg rocks!

So what’s Chicks Who Click?

It’s a conference for women that want to learn more about utilizing social media in their work and personal lives (women of film and broadcast – definitely an event for you) and to help foster further growth and professional development in women already utilizing social media.

So whats Meg talking about?

She’s on a panel called ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling – Women in Tech Start-ups’ with her partner in SPLRG, Victoria Revay, and Alexandra Samuels from Social Signal. Boris Mann’s moderating the panel. Really looking to hearing more about SPLRG.

A few other wonderful kids that have helped us out with Bridging Media events in the past will also be out speaking at Chicks Who Click, including Gillian Shaw and Rebecca Bolwitt who will be joining me on the ‘Privacy vs. Transparency Panel – Where do you Draw the Line?’, and Monica Hamburg who will be talking about tweeting.

Also looking forward to meeting some interesting new to me faces, including:

Doyle Albee whose doing the ‘Social Media 101′ and attempting to manage Gillian, Rebecca and I on our panel.
Carrie MacCarthy who will be talking about ‘Marketing Your Image On & Offline’.
Monica Guzman from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

To learn more and sign-up click here. Early bird registration ends this Friday June 19th.

Making Twitter History in Yorkton, Saskatchewan

ericahargreave — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:58:25 +0000

Cross Posted from Ahimsa Media

A very cool thing happened to us at this years Yorkton Film Festival. We hit the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’!

Festival Social Media Team: Lee, Karen & Tris tweeting away

Now I know what some of you are thinking, so what, we do that all the time at various events here in Vancouver. Well, what made this hit on the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’ so exciting for both Tris Hussey and myself is that it was the twitter community following along on the Interactive Storytelling Panel conversation from outside of the room that drove us up to the ‘top ten trending twitter topics’. To the best of Tris’ and my knowledge this had only ever been done with conferences and events from inside the room. Definitely a twitter first for both Tris and I.

yff09 delegate, Joanne MacDonald, tweeting for the first time

To make this even more exciting, this happened whilst one of the main points that we were getting across is that social media is about community and building the community around you. The twitter community demoed this for the festival delegates in real time, as they illustrated to the room how a conversation could go beyond four-walls and those that could not be present could still be a part of the conversation. The highlight of this for me was not during the panel, but at the awards gala, when @heckofamom could not be present at festival to see her sister, Teresa MacInnes win two Golden Sheaf Awards for ‘Norm’, but she could follow along in real time on twitter and be a part of the night with her parents, brother-in-law and Teresa. My eyes welled up with tears and I got all choked up when they thanked Tris and I at the end of the evening.

Teresa & her husband, Kent winning the Golden Sheaf for Best of Festival for ‘Norm’

Community is also the factor that makes the Yorkton Film Festival so special to me. This Film Festival is a whole community event that the families of Yorkton, Saskatchewan put on for the film community. The community made us dinner every night for heavens sake. It was pretty gosh, darn special and I feel incredibly fortunate for having been a part of it.

Members of the Yorkton Red Hat Society at Opening Night

An enormous thank you to the twitter community, Yorkton community and yff09 delegates for making this years Yorkton Film Festival so very special to us!

Raising a glass to the following tweeters:

From Outside the Room:

From Inside the Room:

Bridging Media at the Yorkton Film Festival

ericahargreave — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:43:12 +0000

Bridging Media is hitting the road again this Spring for some Interactive Storytelling outreach at the Yorkton Film Festival. Brought on by a panel that I was asked to sit on with Richard Gustin (former head storyteller at SCN), Gresham Bradley (Director of On-line Development at e-cast in New Zealand), and Peter Raymont (Executive Producer of the Border), on Interactive Storytelling; Tris Hussey, Emme Rogers and I decided to demonstrate what Interactive Storytelling is all about by helping to tell the Festival’s Story using social media tools such as blogs, twitter, flickr and youtube. Locals, Richard Gustin, Karen Brownlee, and Lee Robertson will also be on the ground and helping to bring the Festivals story to life.

We would love it if you too would join in the conversation. For those of you, who are old pros at Social Media Storytelling, the hashtag is #yff09. For those of you that are new to all of this and haven’t got a clue what hashtags, let alone twitter and flickr are all about, no worries, I’ll start posting a few guides to such storytelling devices here.

Here are some ways to be a part of the Yorkton Film Festival Conversation:

Comment or tweet us and let us know what social media tools you’d like to learn more about.
Current social media storytellers: comment or tweet with your own tips and advice for those that are new to this form of storytelling.
Tag all Yorkton Film Festival content with #yff09
Newbies: set yourselves up on the social media devices we suggest and get your feet wet playing around on them.
Join the Yorkton Film Festival flickr group and add your photos from this years and previous years festivals.
Join us for the Interactive Storytelling Panel on Friday May 22 from 1:30 – 4 pm.
Not at Yorkton: Still join us for the panel on-line. Tris and Lee will be tweeting from the audience, so follow them, remember the #yff09 tag and add your two-cents to the conversation. I know @SookieBonTemps and @LordLikely are going to. The Panel is on Friday May 22 at 12:30 – 3pm PST or 3:30 – 6 pm EST.

Stay Tuned here, to m2o, A View from the Isle and Being Emme for more from Yorkton.

A Thank You to Our Recent WIFF NEW Media Sponsors

ericahargreave — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:18:52 +0000

I have worked as an educator most of my life and for the Bridging Media Events and others educational initiatives to happen, it takes forward thinking sponsors that see the vision and are willing to support education and professional development. For this I applaud you.

Photo Taken by: Rebecca Bollwitt

We are at a time now in traditional broadcast and the art of storytelling where changes are happening and to keep up and build rather than lose jobs, education is needed. It should not be something to fear, but rather be something to embrace. I applaud the following organizations and individuals that did embrace recently and by doing so made WIFF New Media Day possible:

Telefilm
BC Film
Molsons
New Media BC
The Banff Centre
VIVO Media Arts Centre
WIN BC
Mac Station
ProMax Audio Visual Systems
Technology for the Arts
Premier Spa Boutique
Craig Henschel

and our Social Media Sponsors:

including honorary Social Media Sponsors:

Thanks you!!!!!

Thank you!!!! (aka People to Vote for a PopVox for)

ericahargreave — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:08:32 +0000

Been a little tardy on posting a thank you to all of the wonderful people that came out to help put on a truly inspiring New Media Day for WIFF09. Was a little exhausted afterwards though.

Photographer : Tris Hussey

The advantage to my taking a two month hiatus, is that today is the last day to nominate cool creatives in our community for a PopVox Award and all of the people listed below are deserving of a nomination. Go nominate away. You can nominate as many people as you like. Don’t forget the category for individuals.

All the Lovely People

the wildly creative Leah Nelson from Giant Ant Media for her being an award worthy ‘Computer Click Gal’
Tris Hussey for ensuring my sanity by stepping in to lead up the Social Media Team
of course, the two delightful ladies that planned and schemed the day with me, Danika Dinsmore and Maayan Cohen

The Social Media VJs / Sponsors (aka my angels):

Photographer : Tris Hussey

Raul Pacheco aka hummingbird
filmmaker Peter Marshall, aka bcfilmmaker
Marina Antunes of Row Three
the devilishly handsome Dan Udey
April Smith and Peter of Fearless City
Rebecca Bollwitt aka Miss 604
Tris Hussey of m2o media
Mobile Muse

The Inspired Speakers and Moderators:

Getting Your Feet Wired

Photographer : Tris Hussey

Bridget O’Neill, Confluence Creative Media
Dennis Chenard, Centre for Digital Media
Catherine Warren, FanTrust
Daniella Sorrentino, New Forms Festival
Danika Dinsmore, Writer / Director

Social Media How To

Photographer: Invoke Media

Monica Hamburg, Writer / Social Media Evangelist
Carol Sill, Creative Producer / Social Media Consultant
Gillian Shaw, Journalist with the Vancouver Sun & Canwest
Erica Hargreave, Writer / Creative Producer / New & Social Media Consultant

Emerging Trends and Technology

Photographer : Tris Hussey

Thecla Schiphorst, SFU
Jean Hebert, Mobile Muse
James Eberhardt, Echo Mobile
Shannon McKarney, Overlay.tv
Jennifer Ouano, Elastic Entertainment

Monetizing Your Content

Bradley Shende, M2O Media
Maura Rodgers, Strutta
Amielle Lake, tagga
Rochelle Grayson, work[at]play
Tracey Friesen, NFB

Some Very Cool Apps:

The Highly Impressive Exhibits:

Photographer: Tris Hussey

“Egg Cinema” – Angela Smailes
“Tongue Tales” – Tassia Poynter & Sharon Lee
“I Know a Place” – Maia Iotzova
“Fluxus” & “Mordant” – Karin Schmidlin
“Murmur Video” – Maayan Cohen
“Lost Cause” – Kirsten Johnson
“Graffiti Wall” – Alex Beim
“Don’t Stop” – Julie Gendron
“Grafik Dynamo” – Kate Armstrong & Michael Tippett

Thank you all so much for such an incredible day!

WIFF Host VJs

ericahargreave — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:19:54 +0000

WIFF New Media Day has been in the Press a lot this past week and much of that is due to our incredible Social Media Sponsors, aka our Social Media Ambassadors and the WIFF Host VJs. I know I’ve mentioned them before, but I’m doing it again, because these whiz kids rock and have been going out of their way to help me out. Thanks guys!

The Social Media Sponsors / Ambassadors:

Honourary Host VJs:

Here are a few of the pieces I found on wiff09:

Miss 604 on the Women in Film Festival 2009 New Media Forum
Hummingbird604 on the Forth Annual Women in Film Festival
Dan Udey on the Women In Film Festival
In the Vancouver Sun – Women In Film Festival New Media Day Coming Up
On M2O Media – Women In Film Festival – M2O Represents
Monica Hamburg on the Women in Film – New Media Day
Carol Sill on Women in Film Festival New Media Day
On Do Something Different – The Fourth Annual Women In Film Festival and New Media Day
On the Overlay Blog – Overlay.TV in March: Women in Film, TVOT and SXSW

If you know of others, please forward a link to them along to me and I’ll add them.

Don’t Forget the wiff09 Tag

ericahargreave — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 06:41:13 +0000

Jean Hébert and Mobile Muse are pulling all the Women in Film Festival buzz together using their Mobile Social Media VJing Platform. This platform will pull in all blog posts, video, photos, tweets ..etc. tagged with wiff09. So be a WIFF VJ by tagging all WIFF buzz with wiff09.

Photo taken by Roland Tanglao

Don’t have a blog or various social media accounts? No worries you can still get involved in the VJ chatter. Text 778-320-6873 on your cell phone with your WIFF insights. Just start the text with wiff09 followed by a space. Then type the rest of your message. If you have a subject line, wiff09 must appear in the subject line.

Jean will be demoing this platform and you as the VJs as a part of the WIFF New Media Day on Wednesday March 4th.

WIFF 2009 New Media Exhibition

ericahargreave — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:26:25 +0000

Pretty gosh darn excited to see the new media exhibition that Maayan Cohen has been organizing as a part of WIFF New Media Day. Knowing this gal, the Exhibition will be more than a little cool and will be a sight not to miss.

Tangible Interaction’s Graffiti Wall

The full exhibition will be up from lunch time (noon) throughout the Molson’s Reception to 6:30 pm on Wednesday March 4th. The exhibits will be joined by some very cool social media / technology applications to check out and inspire your imagination with some new form storytelling at the Molson’s Reception.

You really don’t want to miss this event, get your tickets and join us at the Vancity Theatre on Wednesday.

Here’s a sneak peak at the exhibits:

Lost Cause – An Interactive Film by Kirsten Johnson
Lost Cause is an online interactive film, which allows viewers to navigate between three character’s perspectives at anytime throughout the duration of the film.

Egg Cinema - Art Installation by Angela Smailes
Egg Cinema is a multi-media installation that allows participants to experience the reflective nature of cinema directly. One or two at a time, you are guided to make a short clip on that particular moment in your life. Playback follows almost immediately and may be surprising and revealing.

Tongue Tales - Documentary Series for the Mobile by Tassia Poynter & Sharon Lee
Are Languages dying out? How do we create new words? Is technology hurting saving language? Tongue Tales is a three-part documentary series for mobile platforms that explores the fascinating topic of out language and the changing way in which we communicate with one another.

I Know A Place – Locative Media Installation by Maia Iotzova
I know a Place is a community-mapping project which will create interactive maps of places that people find significant in the are where they live. The project will collect the geographical coordinates of the places, the stories that people tell about them, and photographs they take.

Mordant - Interactive Story by Karin Shmidlin
Inspired by true events, Mordant (meaning an acid or other corrosive substance used in etching to eat out the lines, areas) explores the nature of inspiration and love, suffering and redemption. Carson, the central character, is swept from her life of familiar hardship to artistic opportunity through a chance encounter with an art gallery owner; ultimately, she is forced to chose between the life she knows on the street and the unknown world of material success.

Fluxus - Visual Conversation by Karin Schmidlin
Fluxus is an exploration of the art of conversation. In a digital environment dominated by emoticons and abreviations, Team Fluxus has created a system which abstractly elevates standard text chat to a stimulating, organic, and emotive visual experience.

Graffiti Wall - Art Installation by Alex Beim
Now, artists can digitally “paint” a surface in the same way they can tag a wall with traditional spray paint. This multi-user application is perfectly poised to engage large groups of people at parties or festivals, and immerse them in a cool common activity.

Murmur Video - Multi-Platform Project by Maayan Cohen
How do seemingly isolated places, people and events connect? Inspired by real stories, murmur video brings to life brief moments of interaction in the streets of Toronto. Everyone can engage with this multi-platform media venture using a cell phone, an ipod, a website and out own innovative touch screen kiosk. One click takes you into the heart of the city where places are revealed and stories unfold. As you watch, we invite you to share your own stories and join the common thread that shapes this colourful landscape.

Fearless City
The Fearless Mobile City project is a two-way social media system for marginalized residents and artists of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). It is an interactive communication system that uses Mobile Muse’s technology platform, a free wireless mesh network, distribution and training with mobile handsets, and live screens in public spaces. Fearless City will use mobile muse platform to stream video, text and still images live from New Media Day at Women In Film Festival.

Don’t Stop - Interactive Sound Installation by Julie Gendron
Don’t, Stop is a playground for people to create sound compositions using their voice. Using 40 small recordable boxes labeled with a word of a phrase, the participant is inspired to record sound and create an inspired output. Every participant becomes enmeshed in the madness because they inherently enjoy creating it.

Grafik Dynamo - Web Live Action Comic Strip by Kate Armstrong and Michael Tippett
Grafik Dynamothat loads live images from the internet into a live action comic strip. The images are accompanied by narrative fragments that are dynamically loaded into speech and thought bubbles and randomly displayed. Animating the comic strip using dynamic web content opens up the genre in a new way. Together, the images and narrative serve to create a strange, dislocated notion of sense and expectation in the reader, as they are sometimes at odds with each
other, sometimes perfectly in sync, and always moving and changing.

The Applications that will also be demod during the Molson’s Reception include:

Come be inspired on what a little imagination can do with new and emerging technologies.