Two years ago, Andrew Lavigne and Jon Ornoy took it upon themselves to capture the 2010 Winter Games‘ effect on Vancouver from the perspective of people directly impacted by the Olympics. Downtown Eastside residents, bloggers, photographers, activists, proponents and opponents found themselves infront of Andrew and Jon’s cameras as With Glowing Hearts documented the changes and opportunities experienced by four individuals during the lead up and execution of the largest event in British Columbia’s history.

Now, the Games are over, the cleanup is almost complete, the province is reviewing Olympic related finances and the stories have been captured. All that remains, however, is the expensive process of distilling hours of raw video into a narrative that spans two years and four stories.

In order to complete the film, Andrew, Jon and Kemp Edmonds created the Tweet and Toonie Torch Relay–a social media campaign designed to promote the film on Twitter, blogs and other online tools while helping raise the $10,000 needed to complete the film. It’s easy and fast to support this project. All you need to do is follow the steps outlined by Kemp below.

For just $2 you can become a producer: your name will appear in a word cloud much like this. A $2 donation will show your name in size one font while a $200 donation will show your name in size 100 font. All fonts are proportional to the largest contribution. An image will be posted of the cloud and made available as a poster.

Enter to win a producer credit and copy of the film with a tweet: You can also enter to win a weekly prize of a DVD or digital copy of the film and a $20 producer credit (size 10 font). Each tweet represents an entry. winner will be chosen at random. All you have to do to enter is tweet one of these messages:

• I am a proud supporter and hopefully winner of a copy of the film #withglowinghearts and a producers credit! http://wghthemovie.ca
• Only $2 makes me a movie producer #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca
• I am entering to win a film credit and a copy of the film #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca
• Support local documentaries. Become a producer #withglowinghearts http://wghthemovie.ca

(source: Kemp Edmonds)

While you donate and tweet an entry to the contest, check out this short webisode featuring True North Media House. It’s one of four clips released in anticipation of this campaign and the rest can be found embedded in Kemp Edmonds’ article announcing With Glowing Hearts’ fundraising efforts.

WGHthemovie.ca- Webisode #2 ‘True North Media House’ from Andrew Lavigne on Vimeo.

Photo by Evan "ecstaticist" Leeson (Creative Commons)

It’s a rainy, Thursday morning and there’s nothing good on tv (aside from feats of human excellence on CTV). We’ve collected some TNMH-related/social media links into a handy blog post to print off, email, or read to your friends and family.

• First up is a futuristic cyberlink to  True North Media House’s Flickr Group. The awesome image above was shared in the group’s photo pool and taken by the incredibly talented Evan Leeson.
• Jennifer Jones analyzes a few olympic tweeters including @2010tweets, @tnmh, and @W2Woodwards.
• Deborah Jones examines journalistic independence during the Vancouver Olympics.
• The Tyee covers an extensive list of social media people and sites based in Vancouver.
• Canada.com profiles their team of social bloggers including Robert Scales, Nadia Aly, Mariska Richters, Dave Olson, Rebecca Bollwitt, Kris Krüg, and John Biehler.
• Kris Krüg’s PBS photo essay on the Olympics covers TNMH, W2Woodwards, and a host of social media mavens.

Note: Originally Posted by Ethan Clow at Radio Freethinker on January 29, 2010. Re-posted here on: February 9, 2010.

Last week in January, Dave Olson joinedRadio Freethinker, a Vancouver based skeptic radio show, to discuss civil rights and security during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics with Rob Teszka, Ethan Clow, and Daniel Gipps. Throughout the hourlong show they covered the  ineffectiveness of CCTVs, how these security systems impact rights, and how media will be affected during the Olympics.

Radio Freethinker episode 47 – Hour long Olympics episode, we discuss civil rights, security and media with special guest Dave Olson.

Song: The Official Theme song of the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Olympic Games by Geoff Berner

Links:

Dave Olson: http://uncleweed.net/ and http://truenorthmediahouse.com/

Mike Adams “what skeptics really believe”

CCTV and security cameras: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-big-question-are-cctv-cameras-a-waste-of-money-in-the-fight-against-crime-822079.html

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors292.pdf

http://v2010isu.com/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=516&languageId=1&contentId=6821#faq-sp-venues-cctv

http://privacy.openflows.org/lyon_paper.html

Bill 13 – MISCELLANEOUS STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 2009 http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th1st/3rd_read/gov13-3.htm

Events:

UBC Freethinkers

Note: Originally Posted by Robert Scales at Vancouver Access 2010 and Mike Browne at DOXA on January 29, 2010. Re-posted here on: February 1, 2010.

Robert Scales , founder and former CEO of Raincity Studios, introduces a webisode from Andrew Lavigne’s documentary, ‘With Glowing Hearts.” The film chronicles the Vancouver Winter Olympics’s effects on the homeless in the Downtown Eastside and it’s constantly evolving relationship with social media.

Andrew Lavigne, a filmaker has been working on a project called “With Glowing Hearts” a documentary film about the use of social media and the upcoming 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver..

In this webisode, Kris, Dave and Rebecca speak about an ad-hoc project we have been tinkering with since November 2008, it’s called the True North Media House.

Mike Browne at DOXA summarized two previously released webisodes in the series and introduced TNMH’s clip with brief bios of Kris Krug and Dave Olson.

The website accompanying the film, WGHTheMovie.ca, as well as a blog,webisodes and more information about the film has brief interviews with some of the players.

…

The latest webisode highlights the folks at True North Media House, featured are two local social media gurus, Vancouver photographer Kris Krug (@kk on twitter) and his counterpart story maker and social media activist Dave Olson (@uncleweed on twitter):

WGHthemovie.ca- Webisode #2 ‘True North Media House’ from Andrew Lavigne on Vimeo.

Note: Originally Posted by Bob Mackin on 24 Hours on July 16, 2009. Re-posted here on: July 16, 2009.
24 Hour News’ Bob Mackin interviews Dave Olson and Kris Krug on the new W2 Community Media Arts Centre where the True North Media House will be housed.

An alternative to both VANOC’s official media centre and one sponsored by the provincial government is proposed for the new Woodward’s complex.

Social media strategist Kris Krug said talks are underway to host the True North Media House in the W2 Community Media Arts Centre.

“We’re just a bunch of kids who are doing social media and online media and we just want to cover the Olympics,” Krug said. “We’re banding together to share sources, resources, photographers, places to work, press briefings.”

Krug and Dave Olson are leading a local new media group that sought access to the Games through VANOC and the B.C. 2010 Winter Games Secretariat.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Note: Originally Posted by Jeff Lee at The Vancouver Sun on November 24th, 2008. Re-posted here on: July 15, 2009.

Vancouver Sun reporter, Jeff Lee, considered the media’s role in the Olympics and highlights Dave Olson’s open letter to VANOC as an example of the changing environment.

So it was a bit surprising to discover that the Vancouver Organizing Committee seems reluctant to include some types of online reporters in its planning for the 2010 Games. On Thursday Vanoc was asked in an open letter from Dave Olson, an online writer with Raincity Studios, to allow some of his colleagues to attend the World Press Briefing.
They didn’t get an answer. But on Sunday, Renee Smith-Valade, a.spokeswoman for Vanoc, sent the following hopeful email to me.

“Undountedly online media and the Internet as a news source and foum for discourse continues to grow phenominally. That’s why we have spent considerable resources to make our website our number one source of information and why we will continue to look for ways to make it a platform for discussion as well as information and purchasing. We welcome online media interest from all sources and were encouraged to see online media representatives registered for the recent World Press Briefing.

Please follow this link to read the rest of the article and the enlightening discussion in the Vancouver Sun comments.

Note: Originally Posted by Bruce Sharpe at 25 Hour Day on July 7, 2009. Re-posted here on: July 15, 2009.

Bruce Sharpe thankfully covered Robert Scales’ and Andy Miah’s Northern Voice 2009 presentation: ‘Then and Now… Citizen Media and The Olympics.’

Coverage of the Olympic Games is dominated by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) contracted rights-holder and accredited major media conglomerates. However some feel there is a role for crowdsourced documentation of both sporting events and the cultural context in which it happens.

This expert panel discusses changes, challenges, and opportunities facing grassroots media makers around the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

From Northern Voice 2009.

Please follow the link to read the comments and download the video via Bruce’s site.

Note: Originally Posted by Will Pate at WillPate.org on November 25th, 2008. Re-posted here on: July 15, 2009.

Will Pate takes a brief, but detailed look at Dave Olson’s open letter to VANOC and discusses the motivations behind Raincity Studio’s True North Media House.

Several of the folks in question are colleagues of mine, and represent Raincity Studios, the web studio I’m proud to say I co-founded. Kris Krug, Robert Scales and Dave Olson are tireless social media practitioners, trainers, authors and conference organizers. They represent the best of what Canada does when it comes to the ongoing evolution of journalism through technology. They are treated with the respect due to recognized experts outside Canada, it would be a loss for the Vancouver games to overlook great talent in their own backyard. It would be a win to build on what they learned using social media to cover the Beijing 2008 Summer Olypmic Games.
Nor should social media as a force for good and bad PR be overlooked. The news has been filled in the last few years with stories of journalists, politicians and businesses tanked by bloggers and cameraphones. But my colleages are not proposing to build a virtual lynch mob, interfere with the major networks who pay good money for exclusive coverage of the events, or otherwise tarnish the image of our beloved Vancouver.
My colleagues want to help the mass of people who will arrive to watch and create social media at the games. I would like to see VANOC and the IOC reconsider bringing them to the table, at least so their exclusion doesn’t become a story that detracts from what I expect to be a most successful event.

Please follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Note: Originally Posted by Darren Barefoot at DarrenBarefoot.com on November 25th, 2008. Re-posted here on: July 15, 2009.

In response to Dave Olson’s open letter and the Vancouver Sun’s commentary article, Vancouver blogger, Darren Barefoot, dissected the Olympic news situation by looking at the opportunities available to social media.

This feels like a good place to start. As Dave says, social media types aren’t expecting all-access passes to the gold medal hockey games. He’s right to point out that there’s a big hole to fill in the media coverage for such an event. I was thinking about it, and drew this little Venn diagram:

Venn Diagram by Darren Barefoot (CC)

The CTVs and CBCs are going to have the major, breaking news covered. It’s all that green space–that’s where social media creators can live. Through various channels, I’m seeing several ways forward for benefits for both parties. Social media creators get some tools, resources and access to help with their citizen journalism efforts, and VANOC enjoys a whole new layer of news coverage. Such a partnership would also highlight Vancouver’s place as a global for new media, citizen journalism and the like.

To read the rest of the article please follow this link.

Next Steps

With the Olympic Games barely a year a way, it’s time to organize the next steps of the campaign for an independent, alternative media centre before, and during, the 2010 Winter Olympics and Para-olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler, BC. We aim to create an inclusive, apolitical and collaborative space for grassroots media creators to creative and publish content about sport and culture.

If you are ready to become further involved in this effort, we invite you to a follow-up meeting with the aim of forming some task-oriented committees and creating a board to organize this project over the next year.

Details

February 3rd, Tuesday

6:00pm ~ 7:30pm

at Raincity Studios

1 Alexander, Suite 420 (buzz #420 for access)

Gastown, Vancouver, BC

Agenda notes

At this meeting, Robert Scales will discuss his conversations with the BC Independent (unaccredited) media centre and discuss some conversations with curious collaborators and corporate supporters. He will also preview the “Social Media and the Olympics” panel at the upcoming Northern Voice conference in which noted Olympic scholar Dr. Andy Miah from the UK will share his experience and knowledge (see his essays in “Owning the Olympics”). Dave Olson will offer a few remarks about the Vancouver2010.com web focus group meeting including the IOC’s “constraints” and VANOC’s evolving web strategy.

In addition, the agenda will include ideation time and input from all participants and an opportunity to offer skills (and superpowers). Along with forming a board and committees, we’ll plan next steps and meetings, including a possible event to mark the one year countdown to the Games.

‘get in where you fit in’

Come with ideas and leave with follow-up items and projects to lead. To get things started, Robert, Kris and I propose to organize three committees for starters and then break out task forces and sub-committees as needed, ergo:

Robert Scales – Partnerships (sponsorships, fundraising, gov relations, corp outreach)

Kris Krug – Operations (programming, volunteer, facilities, finance, logistics)

Dave Olson – Communications (brand, messaging, media relations, web site, blog etc.)

Please use the Wiki to collaborate on organizational structure ideas and suggest topics to add to the agenda.

Sign-on

If you plan to attend, please register at the Google Group.  Sign up for the Group with a Google ID and we’ll approve your request as soon as possible. http://groups.google.ca/group/vancouver-2010-alternative-media 

There is also a Google Wiki Site – confusing? Sure. The Group manages the mailing list and has informal group work space. The Site is more of a Olympic Media resource toolbox. Your account needs to be approved but then you can add/edit content and share resources. Everyone can poke around. Twitter @uncleweed to get added to the Site as a collaborator http://sites.google.com/site/vancouver2010alternativemedia/

Notes

For the record, Dave Olson (the writer of this release) is no longer employed by Raincity Studios but continues to work with colleagues Scales and Krug on this project – it’s all good.

PS My apologies for the short notice.

Originally posted by Dave Olson at Raincity Studios on November 28th, 2008.

What:

A meet-up, hosted by Raincity Studios, of independent and grassroots media publishers and creators to exchange ideas, resources, and notes about the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

This is not an Olympic protest but rather a constructive, strategic conversation about the role of social media documentation of the forthcoming Games to ensure the ability to tell all the stories associated with the Games without censure or hassle.

Why

To discuss the possibility of an “independent media centre” at Raincity Studios office during the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympic Games in February 2010 in order to maximize visibility and quality of documentation from local and international independent media makers.

Who:

This event is convened by Raincity Studios, presided by Robert Scales, conducted by Kris Krug, and facilitated by Dave Olson. They will lead a discussion and recount past experiences gained from covering Olympic Games as non-accredited media.

To attend, please send a Twitter message @raincitystudios or email to dave (at) raincitystudios (dot) com to let us know you are coming due to space limitations (30 people max,) otherwise participate via chat channel.

Keep an eye on http://raincitystudios.com/blogs-and-pods/ for any changes to the event or info on connecting by chat.

When/Where:

Dec. 4th 5PM~6PM

at Raincity Studios HQ

Suite 420, 1 Alexander St., Gastown

Topics:

The primary topic is determining space, sponsorship, and role of Independent Media Centre.

Other topics to discuss (time permitting) are:

• Update about the IMC non-accredited media centre at UBC downtown
• Outreaching to international indie media makers – planning photowalks, etc.
• Coordinating with activist groups to receive their media releases and stories
• Gaining access to non-sports events and hospitality houses
• Boundaries of rights-holders re: trademarks, description, and coverage of events …
• Aggregating content efficiently – where/how/what
• Recap of VANOC worldwide press briefing reaction
• Chat about IOC blogging guidelines re: athletes/officials blogging
• Exchange of contacts at VANOC and Government ministries

Notes:

To keep the conversation on track and the meeting short, like “Lord of the Flies” the person holding the conch shell is the one who speaks .

This meeting is transluscent meaning you and your words are bloggable, recordable, photograph-able.

Photos

Olympic flag by Daveo (uncleweed)
Vancouver emblem ceremony by Kris Krug (kk)
Dave and conch by Phillip Djwa (phillipdjwa)

Originally posted by Dave Olson at Raincity Studios on November 20th, 2008.  This letter was sent to VANOC {mediarelations@vancouver2010.com, pressoperations@vancouver2010.com} on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 and was cross-posted at urbanvancouver.com, 2010.dailyvancouver.com, and nowpublic.com.

Hello VANOC Media Relations and Press Operations,

I am writing today on behalf of Raincity Studios, a Vancouver-based social media company who owns and publishes a suite of media properties. We had hoped to talk about social media (blogs, podcasts, twitter, wikis etc.) at the World Press Briefing this week, however we did not receive any response from the applications we submitted to participate in the event. So, as per Mr. Furlong’s suggestion at the Vancouver Board of trade meeting last week, we are liaising with VANOC.

In brief, we’d like to have a conversation about how to allow fans and amateur media makers to document their Olympic experience while keeping out of the way of the IOC IP lawyers. As a company and as individuals, we’ve produced extensive, non-accredited coverage of Beijing 2008, Torino 2006, SLC 2002, and Nagano 1998. With the next games literally in our neighborhood, we’ll be hosting an independent, international media centre at our Gastown loft office. As part of this, we’ll organize events like photo walks and aggregate fan-made content for the enjoyment of a worldwide audience. We’d like to work with you to do this for mutual benefit.

As you likely know, Vancouver is a hub of innovative journalism with companies like ourselves, Now Public, and others plus renowned conferences like Northern Voice. Raincity Studios/Bryght is also an “official weblog service provider.” My colleagues Robert Scales and Kris Krug were published in the academic paper “Pathway: Critiques and Discourse In Olympic Research,” participated in the 9th International Symposium on Olympic Studies in Beijing and will be presenting about the experiences at the noted SXSW Interactive conference in 2009.

Among my colleagues and myself, we’ve posted thousands of photos, dozens of audio and video podcasts along with hundreds of blog posts, updates etc. from several Olympics. Additionally, we’ve cooperated with mainstream media and published Olympic-related coverage in the LA Times, BBC online, plus outlets in Poland, Brazil, Shanghai, and so on.

In Torino, Scales and Krug (and others) tested cutting edge equipment for Comvu and produced a cross-ocean symposium “Athletes and Social media” between Turin and Vancouver. In Beijing, they tested camera for Qik and contributed to many mainstream media outlets. Our own media properties include DailyVancouver.com, UrbanVancouver.com, Hockeynw.com, plus dozens of other presences, and we are allied with dozens of other media properties in BC and around the world.

Mr. Scales is China desk editor for Now Public and has presented to numerous international business groups about Olympics and business. Mr. Krug is ranked #4 on Vancouver Sun’s “Internet Most Visible in Vancouver” list, both Krug and Scales were included on Tech Vibes “Vancouver Digital Media People to Watch 2008″ list and appear on various other “best of” lists.

As for myself, I’ve produced extensive photo essays of event venues and published interviews with Canadian athletes like Duff Gibson, Ross Rebagliati and Crispin Lipscomb and written magazine articles about Olympians. I also appear on CBC Radio One discussing sports culture and new media as the producer/host of the Canucks Outsider podcast.

Bear in mind, aside form the occasional stipend, we do this work for no pay.

We are aware of your obligations to media rights holders and are seeking to provide an entirely different sort of coverage than the accredited media provide. We are not looking to cover events per se but are instead interested in covering the cultural stories, athletes’ families’ stories, and stories from fans who saved and traveled from around the world for this experience. In other words, we plan to encourage and aggregate fan coverage of the individual’s “on the street” experience of the Games. We are locals who have watched (and helped pay for) the development of the Games since before the Plebiscite – as a result, we are tuned in to the issues and excitement surrounding the Games.

To begin our liaison relationship, we would like to attend the media briefing portion of the Worldwide Press Briefing on Thursday. We would also schedule a follow-up conversation with the appropriate point of contact to discuss how we as a weblog vendor company, and as individuals, can be involved in providing amateur coverage of Vancouver/Whistler 2010.

With Best Regards,

daveo (and Robert Scales and Kris Krug)
–
Dave Olson
Community Evangelist
Raincitystudios.com

PS These links will provide a flavor of our point of view:

* Raincity Studios Olympics posts
* Olympic overage at Daily Vancouver
* Beijing kick off post
* Krug’s Flickr Olympics photos
* Scales’ Flickr Olympics photos
* Olson’s Flickr Olympics photos
* You Tube videos
* Olympic Outsider podcast feed
* Scales’ Olympic coverage on Now Public
* SLC 2002 photo/video essay
* Torino/Vancouver Symposium