I've spent the last two days in Stratford, Ontario, home of arguably the world's greatest Shakespearian festival outside England and now home of an annual conference on anything but ye olde media.
The Canada 3.0 conference aims to propel Canadian innovation and policy. It attracted 2,000 people, many of them the thought leaders of Canadian digital industries. The federal government used the event to release a consultation paper on digital media.
There were precious few discussions on news media (some of them fueled by quite a lot of print-is-dead mantra) and many more on other forms of media. (I was one panelist.)
But there were some clear takeaways for the news business: accelerate digital engagement, be accessible, and work to find models to sustain the business.
In the end the Content stream focused on three principal recommendations:
1. An online concierge that would make much simpler the range of assistance available to ease the burden on those seeking funds and collaborations.
2. A revision of the country's antiquated copyright laws, many of which pre-date the Internet.
3. A risk fund to generate more artistic experimentation.
Those recommendations were reflective of the overall tone of the two-day event: there are smpler ways to execute, there are needs to deal with the scale of Canadian work, and there can be clearer leadership at an institutional, industrial and governmental level to effect this.
The Canada 3.0 conference aims to propel Canadian innovation and policy. It attracted 2,000 people, many of them the thought leaders of Canadian digital industries. The federal government used the event to release a consultation paper on digital media.
There were precious few discussions on news media (some of them fueled by quite a lot of print-is-dead mantra) and many more on other forms of media. (I was one panelist.)
But there were some clear takeaways for the news business: accelerate digital engagement, be accessible, and work to find models to sustain the business.
In the end the Content stream focused on three principal recommendations:
1. An online concierge that would make much simpler the range of assistance available to ease the burden on those seeking funds and collaborations.
2. A revision of the country's antiquated copyright laws, many of which pre-date the Internet.
3. A risk fund to generate more artistic experimentation.
Those recommendations were reflective of the overall tone of the two-day event: there are smpler ways to execute, there are needs to deal with the scale of Canadian work, and there can be clearer leadership at an institutional, industrial and governmental level to effect this.
