Kris Krug talks about BP oilspill and social media at Remixology

Kris Krug knows how to fill the house. I had to look for an extra seat when I arrived, because the room was filled for Kris’ presentation on the BP oilspill as part of FreshMedia’s first monthly REMIXOLOGY event. The event was moderated by the Vancouver Sun’s Dig Life columnist Gillian Shaw, on the topic “Toward Cooperative Media Making: How can professional and citizen journalists collaborate?”

Kris Krug watching his slides from the TED x OilSpill Expedition, at the W2 Storyeum.

I’ve seen Kris speak many times before and he is an engaging speaker. It was clear from the passionate tone in Kris’ voice during the presentation, that he was moved by his expedition to cover the BP Oilspill. The audience was given real ‘in the street’ journalism stories about meeting Fishermen, local residents, and hearing how their environment, their livelyhood and most importantly their Cajun culture was being threatened.

Everyone in the room was touched by the enormity of the Oilspill through the vision of Kris Krug’s photographs from the streets of small towns, and flying above the ocean. One thing I’ve always noticed in Kris’ photos is his ability to bring a common humanity to everyone he photographs, in simple terms you feel you know the person and place he is photographing.

I was at once disgusted by the oil covered ocean waters, yet awed by the beauty of the oilslick. I had to remind myself this wasn’t some big abstract painting, but a real event in a real place. Hearing Kris talk in laymen’s terms about his real experience meant more to me than watching the many TV reports or talks from Scientists.

Gillian Shaw moderated the Remixology event. She was kept on her toes by Kris and the audience when the Questions & Answers or Discussion time took place. Hands were up everywhere in the room. Some questions were about the oilspill, the US Govt, and BP’s involvement in the clean up process, but many questions were about how Kris made a living travelling around the world covering events. I had to remind myself that the main topic of the event was “toward Cooperative Media Making: How can professional and citizen journalists collaborate?”

Gillian spoke with me about supporting Freshmedia’s Remixology event. She appreciates that Freshmedia is asking important questions on how citizenship journalism and traditional media who the two can co-exist and provide better content by working together.

Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun’s Dig Life columnist ,( vancouversun.com/technology/digital-life) moderates at Freshmedia night at w2 storyeum.

I interviewed Kat Braybrooke, who was a co-producer for Freshmedia.me of Remixology. It was clear from the full house that the event was successful, so we talked about the purpose of Remixology as an ongoing monthly event.

Kat Braybrooke: Beyond Robson editor, and Fresh media ( freshmedia.me ) co-producer of the monthly event, at Freshmedia night at w2 storyeum

For the final part of the evening, audience members were asked to stand up and speak for 30 seconds if they wanted to network or speak about their own social media projects. There was surprising number of people that quickly raised their hands to speak about their own work.

The following are photos and interviews with just a few of the many creative people representing amazing projects going on in Vancouver.

John Ornoy spoke about being interested in the line between traditional media and social media and how citizen journalists fit into the picture. He is producing a documentary called “With glowing hearts” that looks at the questions of how traditional and citizen journalists cover events in the context of the downtown eastside with the backdrop of the Vancouver Olympic Games.

John Ornoy- Documentary producer of “with glowing hearts” , at Freshmedia night at w2 storyeum

Gala Milne who is the co-coordinator of Media Democracy Day this year, spoke to me about the project which takes place on November 6th at the Vancouver Public Library from 12PM-5PM. One of the key focus’ of the event is having discussion about bringing together local and independant media producers. The event is coproduced by the School for Communication at Simon Fraser University, coordinating partner OpenMedia.ca and co-sponsor Vancouver Public Library (VPL). Since 2001, Media Democracy Day has provided a place for citizens, activists, media artists, innovators, policy makers, students, academics to come together and engage in a dynamic dialogue on the importance of creating a participatory, democratic media system that works in the interest of people, not just corporate bottom lines.

Gala Milne Co-coordinator of Media Democracy Day ( mediademocracyday.org/vancouver ), at Freshmedia night at w2 storyeum

David Beers who founded web magazine thetyee.com spoke about their Tyee Fellowship. The web mag suggested to it’s readership that they donate to essentially hire a journalist to dedicate themselves to a specific journalistic project. Four journalists will be given 5,000 dollars each to write a series of articles for the magazine. The readers were able to submit their own story suggestions when donating money, which gave another twist on the term ‘citizen journalist’. Not everyone actually wants to write the story, so now people can have a say in what stories are covered by a magazine and help support quality indepth journalism.

David Beers, Founder of thetyee.com web magazine. ( thetyee.com ), at Freshmedia night at w2 storyeum

Bankground on the FreshMedia monthly “Remixology” event, from their freshmedia.me site.

THIS MONTH’S TOPIC //

Toward Cooperative Media Making: Featuring acclaimed photographer Kris Krug (TEDxOilSpill and National Geographic). How can professional and citizen journalists collaborate?

WHY //

Because inquiring minds need to discuss! Because connecting and collaborating matters. Because Vancouver needs a launch pad for media innovation, and we want you to be a part of it.

FULL AGENDA //

Social technology expert Kris Krug will share photos and thoughts from his recent trip to capture the BP disaster through TEDxOilSpill.

Following this, we’ll open up to a broader dialogue that explores a big question: How can citizens, professional media makers, and everyone in-between collaborate to produce media for social change?

Finally, there will be an opportunity for participants to do a “collaborator’s callout” where you are invited to do a 30 second introduction to a project you’re working on that’s relevant to the group. The gathering will close with a social/networking session including a cash bar, light refreshments and music.

Links

Kris Krug’s articles on the

http://staticphotography.com/blog/kk/tedx-oil-spill-expedition-visit-bird-island-southern-louisiana-heavy-hearts

The Flash slide show of my photos on flickr.com/pixelate

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Twitter/Art+SocialMedia Show at Diane Farris Gallery

The exhibition was developed from an original idea by Mia Johnson, who has been the webmaster of the Diane Farris Gallery website since 2004. She created the Twitter exhibit blog, designed the submission forms to enable artists to apply online and has been technical advisor to the exhibition. Her work can be found at kitsmedia.ca

I spoke with Lili Vieira de Carvalho and Stacey White about the purpose and background of the show. Both Lili and Stacey described how the artist’s life changes from art student to professional artist. In art school, the artist works in a shared space and gets feedback and support from other artists. Once the artists leaves art school, artists can become isolated. Lili sees social media as being the support group and way of finding your tribe. Artists can come together with social media and share, network, and organize shows. It’s becoming the new platform for work.

Lili Vieira de Carvalho curator or the Twitter/Art+Social Media show.

For the first time in Diane Farris gallery’s history, the show was an open call for artists. Over 200 submissions were received with 80-100 pieces by in the show. The artworks were selected by a multidisciplinary committee from submissions to the gallery’s open call during February. The selection committee was composed of 43 Artists. Lili Vieira de Carvalho, curator of the show and Associate Director at Diane Farris Gallery; Kris Krug, photographer and web strategist; Dr. Maria Lantin, Director of the Intersections Digital Studios (IDS) research centre at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design; and Hank Bull, the Executive Director at Centre A.
There were size constraints such as the work had to be no bigger than 24×24 inches and selling for no more than a thousand dollars. The process to choose artists for the show were based on a 150 word artist’s statement and their work. The traditional importance of the artist’s bio or previous art experience wasn’t part of the selection criteria.

Lili said that the gallery was trying something new, instead of following their usual template for selection process. The open call approach meant less control over choices by the gallery but also created opportunities for unsigned or unknown artists to show in an established Vancouver gallery.

The Diane Farris gallery hopes that other art venues pick up on the idea. The gallery will wait until after the “Twitter/Art+Social Media” show before they start thinking about what they’ll do next or if they’ll have another similar show.

I had a chance to interview a few of the artists presenting at the gallery on opening night.

Debra Stringfellow calls herself a “photo conceptual artist” and is currently attending Emily Carr. More photographic work by Debra can be found at debrastringfellow.com.

Debra Stringfellow found a series of police sketches of criminals which she found online. The sketches were placed together in a checkerboard pattern. According to Debra, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as “playgrounds for criminals”. She elaborated to say that people’s identity’s were being stolen and people were being stalked online without the victim’s even knowing the criminal beyond the computer screen. She told me the piece was created to put a face to the criminals on both a figurative and literal level.

Glenna Evans is a third year student in General Fine Arts at Emily Carr. Her creative work can be found at glennaevans.ca.

Hung side by side was a photograph of a young girl by Polly Nomial and an oil painting by Glenna based on the photo by Polly. Glenna told me that her artist’s statement was actually the conversation between her and Polly on artist’s right. The painting had originally been done for a painting class at Emily Carr. Polly found out that the painting was based on her photo and asked that she be credited. According to Glenna, it’s very common for photo realist artists to use photographs without crediting the photographers in their final art work. The debate on artist’s ownership and rights was turned into ongoing dialogue with the gallery goers by showing both photo and painting at the Diane Farris gallery.

Robyn Drage is an artist, illustrator, web and graphic designer. Her work can be found at robyndrage.com.

The piece presented by Robyn was called “Feels like Home” and based on her Narrative Series. She describes the Narrative Project as collective storytelling, which builds a narrative with many different voices. To determine what she’s going to create, Robyn collects stories through her blog, email, facebook, and meeting people. The work is a mix of drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and installation. Her inspiration for the “Feels like Home” piece was from two different people who suggested that “home is where I take my pants off”. From having a BA in Creative Writing, it makes sense that she finds hearing other people’s stories interesting. As Robyn mentions on her website “social media + collaboration + traditional art practices = one interesting story “

Zoe Pawlak is a painter. Her paintings can be found at zoepawlak.com.

I could describe Zoe Pawlak’s colorful painting with it’s abstraction from nature in reds, oranges, and blues, but honestly it’s her personal story that most intrigued me. Zoe says that “I’m interested in business as much as I am painting”. Business is creative, according to Zoe. Social media is the means by which she conducts herself in business and as an artist. She spends fifteen minutes a day submitting her art work to interior designers online, writing on blogs, and keeping up her social presence. Zoe has carved out a niche and creates custom pieces for homes.
She originally had one of her pieces featured on Designspong.com. The feature led to twenty of her paintings being sold in three days. She was then taken down to San Fransisco to work with Interior Designer Cloe Warner. Zoe and Close where photographed for a Martha Stewart piece. While the article wasn’t published, Zoe made use of the photos to promote and pitch her work. As Zoe describes it, she reuses all the social media content including the Diane Farris gallery coverage and (eventually) this article. She proudly mentioned that she supports her family, as her husband is a stay-at-home dad who takes care of their two children.

Peter Combe lives and works in San Fransisco. His work can be found online at http://stylembe.wordpress.com.

Peter Combe showed several digital collage pieces, were created on a Mac and uploaded to HP Digital Screens ( like a digital photo frame ).
The Twitter/Art+Social Media show does well at telling stories through the art and/or the artist. I’d suggest that these days, art and artist are just extensions of each other.
During the show the Diane Farris gallery is going to have several fun events.

NOTE: Registrations for the workshop on the 13th and panel on the 17th are being taken through
email facebook@dianefarrisgallery.com or phone 604-737-2629. Draw by Night is taken registrations by RSVP on their event page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105654146142191&ref=mf

On April 13th, the gallery is hosting “Social Media for Visual Artists” for 35 people. The workshop will be run by Rebecca Coleman and Kris Krug. The event is FREE and the works created during the night will be shown on the Gallery walls for the rest of the “Twitter/Art+Social Media” show.

On April 17th, the selection committee (of Lili Vieira de Carvalho , Kris Krug, Dr. Maria Lantin, Hank Bull ) with be hosting a panel discussion on “Art & Social Media”.

On April 27th, the Gallery will have a drawing party. The event will include 10 artists and 25 RSVP requests. The 35 people workshop will be private to provide a comfortable environment for creating at the Gallery. The event will be FREE.

Morgan Black and Rachel Ellenord were at the Gallery opening to support Zoe Pawlak.

I spoke with Morgan and he commented that while he appreciated the opportunity the gallery was giving artists, he wished the pieces had been more separated in the space. He pointed out that the artist’s pieces were placed together in groupings, but the labels weren’t placed next to each piece making it confusing to determine who had created which art piece. Morgan is also an artist who lived in Portland. He thinks that people will pick and choose what they like. The beauty of art is an excuse to bring people together says Morgan. Ultimately he believes that the relationships we have are more important than the show.

Bill Scherk, Paulo OConnor, and Bernd Mueller attended the show.

Bill has been coming since when the Diane Farris gallery was in Gastown. He considered the gallery the best Independent gallery in town. Bernd is from Munich Germany and is curious about the Canadian art scene. He thinks that the artists in Canada are not that different from German artists. He believes that people take their inspiration from all the world these days.

Kathy Zhang, Sean Mills, and Jeremy Green.

They were at the show to support Glenna Evens. Jeremy Green told me that they are all Emily Carr students and artists. They would submit work if the Diane Farris gallery were to have another open call show. They see it as good practise in writing up an artist’s statement and a good experience for new artists.

Diane Farris gallery staff ( Katherine Ferns – gallery assistant, Stacey White – Associate Director; Alison Sagar – assistant to the Curator (intern), Lili Vieira de Carvalho – Associate Director / show Curator, Christopher Fadden – Art Preparator)

A full list of all 43 Artists showing at the Twitter/Art+Social Media show.

Alex Firmani, Vancouver, BC
Andrew Buszchak, Edmonton, AB
Artie Vierkant, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Baschz & Selfcontrolfreak, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Brian Piana, Houston, TX, USA
Colin Moore, Vancouver, BC
David Niddrie, Vancouver, BC
Deanne Achong, Vancouver, BC
Debra Stringfellow, Bowen Island, BC
Glenna Evans, Vancouver, BC
Heather Saunders, Bronx, NY USA
Helen Eady, Vancouver, BC
Janet Wang, North Vancouver, BC
Karine Guyon, Vancouver, BC
Kelly Schovanek, Canmore, AB
Kristofir Dean, Vancouver, BC
Laara Williamsen, South Surrey, BC
Léola Le Blanc, Dartmouth, NS
Lilac Lang, Vancouver, BC
Liza Eurich, Surrey, BC
Liza Lee, Vancouver, BC
Maurice Li, Vancouver, BC
Megan Smith, Leeds, UK
Melanie Cossey, Port Moody, BC
Michael Alstad, Toronto, ON
Myron Campbell, Vancouver, BC
Peter Combe, San Francisco, CA, USA
Rachael Ashe, Vancouver, BC
Robi Smith, Vancouver, BC
Robyn Drage, Vancouver, BC
Rosamond Norbury, Vancouver, BC
Ross den Otter, Vancouver, BC
Rukmunal Hakim, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Sandra Dawson, North Vancouver, BC
Sandrine Pelissier, North Vancouver, BC
Sarah Mulder, Vancouver, BC
Sarah Pinder, Toronto, ON
Shari-Anne Gibson, Vancouver, BC
Sol Sallee, Vancouver, BC
Sona Safaei, Toronto, ON
Sylvana D’Angelo, Vancouver, BC
Viven Chiu, Richmond, BC
Zoe Pawlak, Vancouver, BC

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Socializing with more than 140 characters at Vancouver Twestival

A rainy day in Vancouver presented an interesting opportunity for Tweeters of all stripes to come together this past Thursday at the CBC radio building for the second
Vancouver Twestival (#YVRTwestival, #Twestival ). Beyond being a chance to meet all the people they previously only knew online, the Twestival may just demonstrate how the face of fundraising could forever be altered by social media. Indeed, the attendance of between a 150-200 people successfully raised over $9000.

1st photo: Volunteers, Tarlan (@capsusbridge ) and Sonia (@sonsryan), 2nd photo: Rebecca Bollwitt (@miss604) Vancouver Twestival Organizer

Nick Molnar ( @nickmolnar ) is a self-described web-strategist who has worked on several social media projects in Vancouver and recently started a web-site called adoptaband to pair indie musicians with aspiring photographers to boost the profile of both. He describes his most recent endeavor as a means of making poor people less poor as opposed to making wealthy people more wealthy. He’s been excited to watch the emergence of Twitter as a real force for social change. “If this were a gathering of all the people on Twitter in 2006, it’d be pretty boring,” noting that the existence of these tools becomes even more powerful when real people start to use them.

Danielle Sipple (@fiercekitty) and Kris Krug ( @kk )

Danielle Sipple (@fiercekitty) agreed that Twitter is an amazing forum for bringing together people of many stripes and giving communities that otherwise would not interact the chance to do so. A “word nerd” whose been tweeting for over a year and a half joined because she found it fascinating before any of her friends has even heard of it. She follows 600 people and is followed by around 1700. Danielle noticed her initial Tweets have evolved from snarky insights into her own personal life to more profound and reflective and less self-deprecating as a function of how her way of being and community have changed so much with her involvement in the Twittersphere.

There were plenty of folks on hand helping out the local organizer Rebecca Bollwitt (@miss604) who were stoked about the charity benefiting from the efforts of the Twestival, Concern Worldwide ( @concern). Kirsten (@6oz) is inspired by their holistic approach to combining health care and education strategies to the alleviation of poverty, although a few people I talked to knew only the basics about the organization, gleaned from the link on the Twestival website. So although a few people mentioned the “good cause” they were supporting not many actually knew a whole lot about the charity itself, which in no way detracted from their enthusiasm for the event and socal media itself. Second year marketing student at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, Vivian Lou ( @vivianlou) was exuberant about the power of Twitter for social good. She went so far as to say “social media is breaking down the old school corporate culture.” When I asked her to clarify she proclaimed, well, if they want to know how to be effective in social media, they have to come to us. It was a powerful, confident statement delivered with an assured smile.

After the event I spoke with Vancouver Twestival organizer, Rebecca Bollwitt.
“We don’t have all the silent auction donations in yet but our grand total is above $9,000 so far.

From what’s been calculated an inputted globally (see here: ) it looks like Twestival around the world has already raised enough to build 18 schools, provide close to 12,500 meals, and educate over 3,000 children with Concern Worldwide.
In Vancouver it’s about getting out from behind your computer and being social with those you know through your social networks. So many people met for the first time last night even though they had been communicating over Twitter for years, it was great to see those connections. The fact that this is 100% volunteer-driven and that it’s all for a cause makes it that much better. As you can see from the numbers, this is our most successful Twestival yet in Vancouver – we have doubled what we raised last February at the first Twestival and tripled what we did in September at Twestival Local. This is my third time organizing and my first time rallying an amazing team to help out. Azita, Kirsten, Kim, Melissa, and Sonia were key. They worked the door, brought prize sponsors on board, and gave valuable input. Marc Smith from Amuse Consulting donated his event planning services which were a big part of the event’s success.
Volunteers, organizers and sponsors were all rallied through Twitter – it’s just so amazing that social media can be used for social good.”

Article co-authored by Jaia ‘Quarian ( @jaiaquarian ) and Jonathan Hanley, with photos taken by Jonathan (@musicgiving )

Photo gallery: Social Media & Twitter folk at Vancouver Twestival

Rob Cottingham ( @robcottingham ) and Victoria Ronco ( @victoriaronco )Rob’s twitter quote ( 140 characters ): “irresistable combination of great cause and bringing social network into the real world. Love seeing so many friends. Thanks miss604″ Victoria’s twitter quote: “nice to put faces to names and meet people in person”

Chris Mathieson ( @cogno ), Rebecca Bollwitt ( @miss604)

Dave Olson ( @daveohoots ) and Noah Bloom ( @nbloom )

1st photo: DJ’s Patrick Lok ( @djpatlok ) and Jeremy Lim ( @jeremylim ). 2nd photo: Live band Mojave ( @mojaveband ) with Paul and Lisa Jarvis )

Jen Grebeldinger ( @jgrebby ), Adam Cullen ( @simonfiction ), Trina Isakson ( @telleni )Jen’s twitter quote ( 140 characters ): “CBC green glass artwork display is cool” Adam’s twitter quote: “Glorious sushi. Too many social marketing types.” Trina’s comment on why she is at Twestival: “My New Year’s resolution was to meet new people and socialize more.”

( Alisha Mann @iglooqueen ) Cole Johnston ( @vanragazine ), Josh Rimer ( @joshrimer ), Raul Pacheco ( @hummingbird604 )

Janis Behan ( @janisbehan ), Erin Buttler ( @EzzaAtGap ), Emily Inram ( @emilymarieinc )Erin’s comments: “I came to socialize. It’s a great opportunity to meet other twitter peeps. I work for an adventure Travel company. I’ve been on twitter for a year, and I’m learning it for business. “ Emily’s twitter quote: “Cheap drinks. Good people. Nice and open atmosphere”

At Registration table: Kim Werker ( @kimpwerker ) and Miranda Lievers ( @mirandaL )

Susan Main ( @susanmain )Comments: “I’m not here for business, but to socialize and meet people who I follow on twitter more than I should. I go to lots of tweetups.”

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W2 Culture + Media House Holds Conference on Olympics and Social Media

An archived stream of Conference keynote discussion

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W2 Culture + Media House Holds Conference on Olympics and Social Media

An archived stream of Conference keynote discussion

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