The event was held on November 7, 2011, at UBC Robson in Vancouver, sponsored by UBC Continuing Studies and the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.

UBC j-student Alexis Beckett wrote up the session for J-Source.ca.

Print PDF

Also up for the award are Erica Ehm, who set up the online magazine YummyMummyClub.ca, and YouTube personality Nadine Sykora.

The winners will be announced on December 6th at the finale of nextMEDIA Toront,.

The social media maven award recognizes “medialites that demonstrate innovation in creating and connecting online communities.”

It goes on to explain that  “the top Canadian social media mavens will have demonstrated leadership in the field, skillfully using social tools to bring in likes, check-ins, tweets, and more to deliver an unparalleled level of community engagement.”

The Digi Awards, formerly known as the Canadian New Media Awards, are described as“Canada’s premier showcase of the remarkable digital media companies, projects, products and pioneers that are placing Canada at the forefront of the international mediascape”.

The Canadian New Media Awards were founded in 1998 as Canada’s first nationwide platform recognizing the achievements of the fast-developing digital media landscape. They were rebranded last year as the Digi Awards.

The Digi Awards are organized by Achilles Media.

(Cross-post from alfredhermida.com)

Print PDF

The title of the talk was Share, Like, Recommend: Decoding the Social Media News Consumer.

Abstract: Social media is becoming ever more ingrained in the experience of news consumers. Social networking sites are evolving from being more than spaces for personal exchanges, becoming one of the mediums for sharing and recommending the news as users appropriate computer-mediated technologies for their own purposes. While the dissemination of news through social interaction has always played a role in the diffusion of media, sharing is becoming central to the way many experience the news. Research into how networked publics are reframing the news and shaping news flows suggests people are using social media to complement, rather than replace, more traditional media sources.

Print PDF

In a wide-ranging talk, Lacroix touched on CBC’s mandate, public funding, access to information and the feud with Sun Media.

Print PDF

The Stats Canada survey found that more than two-thirds of Internet users (68%), read or watch the news online. Keeping up with events is one of the top online activities, following e-mail (93%), browsing for goods or services (74%) and electronic banking (68%).

The figures also point to rapid uptake of social media in Canada, with 58% using social networking sites. The number jumped to 86% for younger net users under 35.

Women, too, were slightly more likely than men to use social networking sites (62% compared to 54%).

The prevalence of social networking is unsurprising as just under 17 million people in Canada are on Facebook alone, accounting for 64% of the online population.

More surprising is that Stats Canada found that only 19% of net users said they contributed content such as by blogging and posting images, or took part in discussion groups such as message boards.

The low number suggests a minority of Canadians are active participants in creating media online, even though much of what takes place on social media is posting photos or participating in a discussion.

Perhaps people do not consider what they do on Facebook as “contributing content”.  Yet contributing content is implicit in interactions on social networking sites, either through sharing a link, writing a short snippet or uploading an image.

Instead, net users might only think they are contributing content if they have made an explicit decision to write a blog post or join a messageboard.

It might be time to reassess how we measure who is creating content online, as well as where, how and why they are doing this.

Print PDF

Online video has been around for more than a decade but it has taken some time for journalists that video on the web is not the same as video on television.

Best practices of online video are evolving. It is not just about giving all your reporters a Flip cam and asking them to shot some video.

Much as with any other act of journalism, key decisions should be made about the best way to tell a story.  When it comes to video, reporters should consider:

• the message they’re trying to deliver
• the kind of story they’re trying to tell
• the audience they’re trying to reach

The medium affects the content, so it is important to consider what kind of video works best on the web. Here are some suggestions:

Experiential: This is the kind of video that takes you straight into a situation and conveys a sense of being there. It has a feel of immediacy and rawness, but this does not mean that it is shoddily shot.  This video report by CJ Chivers for the New York Times on a firefight in the Helmand province draws the viewer into the action in a visceral manner.

Direct: This refers to the video that shows the action. It may have been captured on a cellphone by someone at the scene or a journalist. The video just shows that one dramatic instance of a story. It is based on the premise that viewers will be familiar with the story and just want to see the dramatic footage they have read about. Clearly, there is a danger that divorced from context, the video may be misleading.

Speak: Here the characters of a story are speaking directly to the viewer. Even though the clip may have been edited by a journalist, there is no reporter in the video. Instead, time is given over to a character to talk to the audience, as my students did in this report on a community garden in Vancouver.

Show: In these instances, video is a powerful tool to literally show viewers what a journalist has written about. Having a piece of video may be more effectively in demonstrating the essence of the story than words alone. Here, the BBC uses a short piece of video to show viewers how a programming tools for children works.

Explain: Video can be a powerful tool to guide viewers through a process and explain the different stages. The video can be mediated by a reporter, as in this video on genetic testing by one of my students, or just involve one of the characters in a story.

For me, one of the best examples of online video was an online video by CBC, where the son of a Canadian victims of the Haiti earthquake pays tribute to his father. The broadcast version is narrated by reporter Nahlah Ayed. The online video just features the son’s recollections and has far more emotional impact than the TV video.

Print PDF

During the last federal vote in May, Elections Canada warned people against tweeting or sharing on Facebook the results from polls in the east of the country, before voting had ended in the west.

A 70-year-old law prohibits the premature transmission of election results.  The idea was to prevent radio broadcasts of results in Eastern Canada from influencing voters on the other side of the country.

At the time of the last vote, Elections Canada said the law applies to social media as much as it does to print, broadcast and online.

However, in its official report (PDF) on the May 2 election, Elections Canada has acknowledged that a 1930s law is ill-suited to an age of always-on, networked digital communications.

The expansion of Web-based communications technology – particularly social media such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter – is transforming communications both outside and during elections. In this rapidly evolving context, the relevance of the existing legal framework must be reconsidered.

In the report, Elections Canada says it has no information to suggest that there was widespread disregard for the ban on the premature public transmission of results.

However, at the time there were messages on circulating making oblique references to the results, in some cases using a fruit analogy for the different parties.

Elections Canada concludes:

The growing use of social media puts in question not only the practical enforceability of the rule, but also its very intelligibility and usefulness in a world where the distinction between private communication and public transmission is quickly eroding.The time has come for Parliament to consider revoking the current rule.

A few weeks ahead of the federal vote, CBC and CTV tried to mount a legal challenge to the results ban.

Elections Canada noted that the broadcasters argued that “the culture of communications in Canada has been significantly transformed as a result of recent technological and cultural changes,”  and that “accordingly, the public now expects to receive news immediately and to participate in its dissemination”.

Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ruled that the case was too complex to rush through the system.

In good news for the broadcasters, the case is due to be heard in March 2012.

Given the legal challenge and the official comments by Elections Canada, the 1938 law might not be around by the time Canadians vote for a new government.

Print PDF

Canadians still trust the mainstream media, despite the rise of social media, according to the latest Canadian Media Research Consortium (CMRC) report.

According to a recent online survey of 1,682 adults, nine out of 10 Canadians judged information provided by traditional news media to be reliable and trustworthy. This compares to only one in four who say information from social networks is reliable.

It is the latest in a series of studies by researchers from the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, including myself, into the changing news consumption habits of Canadians.

“In an era of increasing fragmentation and competition for established news media, this is good news for traditional journalism,” said Fred Fletcher, UBC Graduate School of Journalism adjunct professor and lead author of the study, Even in the Digital Era, Canadians Have Confidence in Mainstream News Media (PDF).

The study did show that younger Canadians are more likely than their elders to have confidence in non-traditional news providers. But they still retain strong confidence in the mainstream media as well.

Our findings also suggest a difference in attitude towards social media between those who are immersed in this media ecosystem and those who are not part of this world.

Confidence in the information found on social networking sites is higher among frequent visitors to social networks. Among Canadians who visit social networks at least daily, some 40 per cent regard the information found there as reliable.

In contrast, virtually everyone surveyed who doesn’t use social media ranked it as not reliable as a source for information.

Given the growing influence of social networks in the distribution of news, it will be interesting to track how levels of confidence evolve over the coming years as a generation grows up with social media woven into their daily lives.

The Canadian Media Research Consortium report is based on an online survey of a representative national sample of 1,682 adults conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results were statistically weighted according to the most current Statistics Canada data on age, gender, region, and education to ensure a representative sample.

Print PDF

We had several questions around this topic in the first-year undergraduate course at UBC in new media and journalism that I teach with my colleague Candis Callison.

In particular, students wanted to know about promising, emerging journalists in Canada who they could look to as role models.

Our TA, UBC j-student Fabiola Carletti, took it upon herself to get in touch with a bunch of new journalists and publish their advice online.

The site is a treasure trove of gems, from take every opportunity to being relentless to living an interesting life.

Please take a look at So, you want to be a journalist?, recommend it to students or let us know who we should add.

Print PDF

The Toronto Star won for best overall companion website, best video and best cross-platform initiative.

CBC News won for best overall online-only site, best community feature and best blog.

The French news site Cyberpresse took best website design and best mobile application.

The Globe and Mail took home one award for best news.

Launched in 2009, the Canadian Online Publishing Awards are run by the journalism trade publication Masthead.

They recognize the best in online editorial and innovation by Canadian media online.

Websites are reviewed by a panel of industry experts and winners are selected in eleven categories, split into three divisions.

Reportr.net was named best blog in the business-to-business, professional association, farm and scholarly division.

The media and marketing blog Sparksheet took the most awards of the night in the same division.

Full list of 32 winners

Best Overall Companion Website
Red Division: Macleans.ca
Blue Division: Salon52.ca
Green Division: Thestar.com

Best Overall Online-Only Website
Red Division: Vitamindaily.com
Blue Division: Sparksheet.com
Green Division: Cbcnews.ca

Best Mobile Application
Red Division: Thehockeynews.com
Blue Division: Sparksheet.com
Green Division: Cyberpresse.ca

Best Online-Only Article, Series of Articles
Red Division: Torontoist.com
Blue Division: Sparksheet.com
Green Division: Vancouverobserver.com

Best Community Feature
Red Division: Besthealthmag.ca
Blue Division: IT World Canada: Blog Idol
Green Division: CBCnews.ca

Best News
Red Division: Torontoist.com
Blue Division: Universityaffairs.ca
Green Division: Theglobeandmail.com

Best Cross-Platform Initiative
Red Division: Fashionmagazine.com
Blue Division: Canadianlawyermag.com
Green Division: Thestar.com

Best E-Newsletter
Red Division: 20minutesupperclub.com
Blue Division: Sparksheet.com

Best Website Design
Red Division: Vitamindaily.com
Blue Division: Universityaffairs.ca
Green Division: Cyberpresse.ca

Best Video
Red Division: ElleQuébec.com
Blue Division: Trucknews.com
Green Division: Thestar.com

Best Blog
Red Division: Macleans.ca
Blue Division: Reportr.net
Green Division: Cbcnews.ca

Print PDF