In our last post we looked at some of our highlights from 2011. In this post, we’ll take a look to the future and take a swing at what the coolest things 2012 will bring.

Ian

Co-Working Takes Off in ’12

Ottawa’s about to see a major shake up in the labour market. The tech-sector is still hurting, the Harper Government is after the public service and more young people are creating their businesses. MediaStyle is a prime example of the type of company that needed shared working space to grow. The recent opening of the Hub adds co-working space to the downtown core, and the co-working spaces at the Chateau Laurier will be housing more established organizations.

Watch for: The official opening of the Hub, Shopify’s official launch of their incubator project and the continued growth of the Code Factory. (MediaStyle’s former home!)

Locavores rule the Capital

Early on the go-local-scene was Apartment 613, with their energizer bunny-style posting schedule they reinforced their core ethos that: Ottawa is more fun than you think it is. Local media like OpenFile and Spacing Ottawa are now go-to news sources of the go-local movement. The emerging Hintonburg restaurant scene, the success of town (on Elgin) and the ongoing revitalization of Bank St (my work continues with the now officially designated Village) are signs of a growing local culture.

Watch for: A redesign of Apt613, more cross-promotions between local businesses, an every-growing farmer’s market network and more Ottawa-centric pride than ever before.

Sara

Nuit Blanche

Anyone who’s ever attended the all-night art even Nuit Blanche in a city like Toronto, Montreal or Paris will tell you about its eclectic energy. I’m excited to see it unfold in Ottawa, with the participation of most Ottawa Art Galleries, the National Capital Commission and the biennial photography festival, Festival X.

Watch for: Guest Curator Stefan St-Laurent takes over Nuit Blanche Ottawa, providing our wonderful city with some of the world’s coolest artists. On September 22nd 2012, grab all your friends and family and spend the night discovering art and Ottawa.

Travis

Comment sections

Filled with hate speech and wildly unsubstantiated claims, comments sections are the bottom of the bottom of the Internet barrel, but it looks like the world is finally fed up with it. Check out the latest On The Media for great discussions on how comment sections can be improved. New video games publication Venus Patrol has talked about charging for or limiting user’s comments.

Watch out for: Whatever OpenFile does in the future, Venus Patrol, and prepare yourself for major publications eschewing comment sections altogether.

Television

Remember how we re-invented radio and called it podcasts? This is the year we re-invent TV and call it something else. Netflix and Hulu laid the groundwork for demonstrating to the 1% that streaming can still be profitable, and home media centers are incorporating streaming from computers more than ever.

Watch out for: The rumoured Apple television, legal television streaming becoming available in more countries, and major movie releases streaming the same day as theatrical releases.

Banner image courtesy Chris Wild

MediaStyle loves great local stories, good design, and cutting-edge tech, which is why we are re-blogging this abridged version of an article I wrote for OpenFile. The entire story can be found here.

Canada is no stranger to independent video games. The movement of art-focused, largely un-financed video game designers has produced some of the most critically acclaimed games of the decade. And Canada is home to award-winning indie studios like Montreal’s Polytron and Winnipeg’s Infinite Ammo.

Since January 2010, a video game design collective called The Dirty Rectangles has earned Ottawa attention in the indie games world by organizing events including monthly video game showcases and 48-hour design challenges called game jams. The Dirty Rectangles, made up of Eric McQuiggan, Justin Dempsey and Derek Ledoux, includes a loose collective of members who meet up to showcase game ideas, share design philosophies and encourage independent game making in the city.

The three graduates of the Algonquin game design program work as Flash developers at local game studio Fuel Industries and design experimental games outside of their day jobs.

“We were all sort of thinking of Triple-A development [as students],” says Dempsey, referring to his hopes of working at a major studio. “Then you get this big [realization] that video games are an art form and that you can push boundaries and be really creative.”

Games to come out of The Dirty Rectangles events include Regrowth, McQuiggan’s game based on the growth cycle of trees after forest fires; The Photograph, Ledoux’s meditation on addiction and isolation; and Life of the Party, Dempsey’s multiplayer game based on cellular automata.

Check out the next next Dirty Rectangles showcase at 8 p.m. at the Avant-Garde on July 20. The Dirty Rectangles can be found on Twitter at DirtyRectangles.

Banner image of The Life of the Party, courtesy Justin Dempsey

Rob Walker, who maintains the Murketing blog, recently wrote an article for Slate, taking to task designers that are creating posters and T-shirts to help fund relief efforts in Japan. I’m all for concerned designers using their skills to raise money for a good cause, so I thought I’d answer the questions raised in Walker’s article to see if I can’t understand why he’s against designers selling goods to raise money.

“Do we need a trendy object to signal that we’ve acted on our concern?”
No, and I’m not sure what’s wrong with offering incentive to donate to a charity. In fact, that’s what plenty of funding drives consist of. Besides, plenty of people don’t need incentive. Consider the money donated through text messages.

“Should empathy really be channeled through our taste in design?”
Nope, and I’m sure anyone who bought something to support Japan felt concern for those in need before they saw a fancy t-shirt.

“Does this design surge suggest that “helping Japan” is merely some kind of meme to get in on, before the next thing to hit the cool-product blogs makes it passé?”Capitalizing on a meme seems like a great way to raise money, even if it’s featured on a “cool-product blog” (watch out for those straw men). Keep in mind that a meme is a “unit of cultural information” that spreads through groups of people analogous to a virus. If that meme is concern for other humans, giving those people a means to donate money before they lose interest sounds wonderful.

“Is there a connection, or a tension, between doing good and selling good stuff?”
The connection, of course, is that selling stuff people want is just one way we can raise money for a cause. Calling it a “tension” is a great way to make the process sound ominous.

“Would it matter if everyone who texted a donation for ‘Haitian relief efforts’ actually remained keenly engaged in what’s happening in that country today?”I’d bet it would result in more coverage and in turn support for Haiti. But this means the real problem Walker is concerned with is people emotionally moving on from a cause once they feel they have helped out. While that may be a problem, it’s no reason to target designers who make nice things (like Halifax’s James White, Threadless, or the Salvation Army) for a cause.

Check out Google’s resources on the relief effort for reliable organizations to donate to.

Banner image courtesy jchong

I interviewed Rob at Northern Voice about his company and how the social web can use a laugh every now and then. (I should note that in former lives we worked on the same NDP election team, he was the dashingly funny speech writer who swanned in with brilliant bon mots – I was the rumpled press flack in the corner with the cell phone smoking a pack-a-day. At least that’s how I remember it. And, yes I’ve since quit smoking.)

Interview with Rob Cottingham from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

Anyone on Twitter these past few days might have been bombarded by messages tagged with #sxsw. I know I was. South by Southwest is no stranger to public relations. SXSW, or “South-by” as it’s known, is all about getting noticed. Here is a quick guide to what all the fuss was about these past five days.

The venerable and much loved cultural festival started with music as its roots. Created in 1987 when 700 musicians and record executives converged looking to tap into the city of Austin’s unique musical heritage and see (or sign) bands the organizers had corralled from all across America.

In 1994 SXSW moved away from an exclusive focus on music with the addition of film and interactive conference programming. For Maggie Fox, CEO of the Social Media Group, says SXSW Interactive is like “spring break for geeks.”

This is exactly why in 2007 Twitter decided to launch its now ubiquitous service at the festival. People like Fox would be there.

Early adopters are to technology start ups what street fashion is to fashion designers – a muse, a sounding board, a reality check.

What are the early adopters seeing and hearing about this year? Here three big trends highlighted at this years SXSW Interactive that I think might make a broader impact on the web:

Location, Location, Location: all the rage with the SXSW crew this year was checking in and being checked out using Foursquare and Gowalla. Online consensus from Canucks attending is that Foursquare is the application to watch. It’s broadly about more than just one application however. Twitter launched their geolocation features at SXSW. And Facebook choose the second last day to start a roll out of a truly geeky – and potentially location based feature - QR codes.

Money, Money, Money: PayPal is making major moves in the online payment space. Recently announcing PayPalX (essentially an application programming index) will now communicate with IBMs cloud services and at SXSW announcing a a new iPhone application allowing easy transfer of money via literal bumping of technology together. ZoomPass in Canada is another recent entry into a similar market.

Toronto start ups like Community Lend and Freshbooks are also at the forefront of at distinct trend away from relying on big banks and major software providers for financial management. Look to Wesabe.com and thus far US only (but Canadian owned) Mint.com for more clues on how banks and credit institutions are being sidelined by new ideas in money management.

Format, Format, Format: The SXSW format itself was the topic of much internet banter. The SXSW organizers estimate 17,000 in attendance officially at the festival and this included players from the worlds biggest brands. This isn’t the crowd that attended SXSW when it first started, and as one online wag put it, “you do have to wonder where the cool conference no one knows about is now?” SXSW music festival works on a scalable format, music concerts work small and large. Attendees regularly reported this years keynotes – the largest events at SXSW – were not as engaging as in previous years. In particular, the Twitter “interview” with founder @ev was subject to many in the hall simply abandoning the talk. The size and scope of the festival is precisely what attracts some people – while others in the interactive community are surely seeking out less frenetic experience. And, as SXSW gains a reputation for being “spring break for geeks”, will managers and business owners ask their staff to find a less exciting trade show to attend in these austere times?

For more on SXSW

Friend and colleague Jaime Woo has been reporting from SXSW for the Torontoist. Take a look at his dispatches here. And, review his travel Twitter account for a neat inside view on the festival.

And, if you thought the SXSW madness was over for this year, think again. The music festival has just started; slightly smaller and less connected than the interactive side the classic SXSW experience creates just as much buzz in music circles – and like everything that too is spilling into our daily social channels.

So, were you at SXSW? How is my “from afar” assessment? Thinking about going next year? Comment below.

Photo credit

The store is a nostalgic favorite for many. One friend online recently tweeted that “That was one of my favourite stores in Ottawa growing up! A small piece of modernity in what was (once) a small town.”

Special thanks to @shawndearn for editing this video.

Modern furniture icon gets makeover from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.

O’Malley on the prorogation protest from Shawn Dearn on Vimeo.

It’s been a busy day. When I wasn’t freezing and tweeting at the Ottawa protest, I was tracking the crowd-counts from across Canada. With 32 communities that I could find tweeted reports on; I estimate that over 25,000 people rallied against the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue parliament. I’ve uploaded and embedded below a PDF with the community totals and my methodology. I’m hoping to continue to add to the list, please comment if you have numbers from cities not listed (or if you have a correction.) Update: as of Sunday at 8:00 am I have added 7 more communities; including New York City and St. Johns. I’m still looking for smaller communities to report. About twenty listed events could push it to over 30,000. Again, please comment with corrections or more information.

Estimated Crowd Attendance for #CAPP Rallies

To provide a visual look at today’s Ottawa protest, this is Gregory Pang’s shots of the demonstration today from Flickr.

And lastly, a quick look at the instant popularity of the #noprorogue hash tag on Twitter.

No Canadian Member of Parliament carries an iPhone.

No Canadian MP has a smart phone other than a Blackberry. [Update: Stephen Taylor suggests he knows two MPs that have non-Blackberry smart phones; "I know of at least 2 CPC MPs (one cabmin and one MP). Remember, two cellphones particularly useful when one is paid for by the taxpayer and one is for personal calls."] That is how strong the RIM brand is on the Hill. The ubiquitous Blackberry presence on Parliament Hill extends to virtually every member of the House of Commons and the National Press Gallery.  A few hold out MPs refuse the device all together, an iPod Touch  can be found here and there and a few journalists use both a Blackberry and iPhone.

The rise of RIM

How did it happen? John Manley. It really is that simple. One MP made it all happen. Well, at least he got the ball rolling. At first, derided by his colleagues for toting around the device – then a bit larger than a pager and featured a signature orange key – soon all the Ministers wanted one.

Former Minister Manley was influenced by a few key factors:

1. It’s Canadian. Legislatures like buying Canadian. (and they spend a lot on RIM)
2. It was the tech boom in Ottawa; Manley was eager to be part of it. “Silicon Valley North” was snapping up Blackberrys.
3. It worked. And, it worked really well. The battery lasted for a week. The emails never got lost and the direct device-to-device contact (PIN) even lead to a new Ottawa verb “to PIN”.

It caught on in a big way. And soon enough all offices on the Hill were clamoring for the devices. Blackberry has a near total dominance on the political market. A quick check with friends in other legislatures across Canada reveals the same patterns – perhaps one or two vanguard reporters and MLA/MPPs but very few iPhone users.  Is it all really John Manley’s fault?

The Keyboard Question

Well, no. As, David Akin points to the most reasonable argument “against” the iPhone. The keyboard. Or, rather, the perceived lack of a keyboard.

(I note quickly here that David is one of the only reporters who is actively using an iPhone in his daily routine.)

I agree, but only to an extent. I also think it’s a bit like language. One of the most regular excuses I used to hear from Blackberry-resisters was “my fingers can’t use the tiny keyboard.” (I guarantee somewhere in the Senate there is an august fellow dribbling those same words. I digress.)

Think of it like this: it’s like the time your meager French vocabulary sudden multiplied when dropped into Gaspé and you found you knew more French than you thought. Same thing when I made the mistake and ordered one of those teeny tiny Blackberry’s with half the keys (yeah, made typing harder…but I learned.)

Certainly, the iPhone is not a Blackberry. It’s not engineered for only email. But then again, I don’t really think humans are made for email either. We like to talk to one another. Instructions are clearer when spoken. Perhaps slowing down the pace of email, the endless CC train and forcing MPs to talk to their staff a bit more (instead of just pointing them about by email) would make the Hill a more civil place to work.

Laura Payton of Embassy Magazine uses both and had this to say:

Getting an iPhone onto the Hill

Sure other platforms have been kicked around on occasion. NDP Whip Yvon Godin was one of the last hold outs when the House of Commons IT department yanked their pilot project of Handspring Treo.

It will only be so long before an MP demands an iPhone. What happens then? Here is a prediction:

• First, they would say no. They like to do that. If pressed; and persistently requested – many, many reasons will be proffered for why it’s impossible;
• The iPhone would be viewed with great suspicion by a few specific bureaucratic branches of the House; Finance will worry (rightly) about cyclical replacement costs and (wrongly) about application costs;
• Information Services (ISSI), the division of the House of Commons responsible for all IT on the Hill is notorious at being slow to adopt new technology; much of this due to costs and security reasons; will balk at the request. A lot.
• So, a business case would need to be written. Memo drafted to the MPs that sit on the Board of Internal Economy to request approval of a pilot project – what’s this board you ask? It’s the all-party consensus based committee that allocates and makes all decisions related to the House of Commons administration. (I know! Shocking, MPs getting along to make decisions.) Catch is: you need to get one of the MPs on the board to bring the proposal to the board (and they will only do that with the support of their Caucus leadership).

Lets face it, since the mid 1980’s the House of Commons has responded to every change in mobile communications (pagers, giant cell phone, flip-phone craze, Blackberrys of all stripes.) And, it’s not like the addition of the cell phone and then the Blackberry didn’t cause a few headaches on the Hill. From the high-security models required by the Forces to the near constant cycle of replacements required for the clumsy or careless -  the administration has adapted. SO as I said, it’s only a matter of time until an MP requests an iPhone. And, I’d guess she will eventually get it.

Next up in our Mobile tech series

On Monday in the Mobile technology series: Picking the best applications for reporting and politicking on the iPhone

Photo

Q) It’s looking like “geo-tagging” is one of the most cited tech-trends-to-watch for 2010; the first move advantage goes to the little application that could from New York City – Foursquare. Some have called the geo-aware game “Boresquare” for its frequent pushes of information and broadcasts of information using social channels; how have your online communities reacted to your use of Foursquare? Any user revolt or new relationships built?

Several major announcements recently made in the smartphone market and my ongoing research (read: playing) on Foursquare – a hyper-local social network based on “checking in” at locations (office, restaurant, home, etc.) to earn points with your phone, are perfect fodder for a set of MediaStyle.ca posts.

Over the next few days I’m going to be featuring developments in the mobile space. We will be posting on new smartphone applications that feature of this years most-mentioned online trends: geolocation; as well a couple ideas on how political parties and unions could be using mobile technology and I’ve got a few amazing interviews lined up.

Tomorrow: Pro and Con of Foursquare. Two seasoned online communicators from Toronto are interviewed about their Foursquare views.

Monday: we explore why geolocation may be the tool that gets politics really (and spending real money) on social media channels.

Tuesday: ideas on how unions and NGOs could be using text messages, mobile applications and wireless communications.

But first, I wanted to hear from my online community on Foursquare – a couple days ago I asked via Twitter what users/non-users thought of Foursquare. Here are some of the responses. Some love it, some hate it  and many see opportunity.

PS. If you want that Nexus One from Google? I’d look to the new kid on the block. WIND Mobile COO tweeted yesterday:

Wow! Lots of interest in the Nexus. http://bit.ly/5XZQ9e Yep, works on AWS, and we’re chatting with them… will let everyone know soon.