He has no land, and his farm is scattered around the city of Vancouver.

Cam is practising urban agriculture, using yards donated by people he and his partners have met, people who are interested in converting lawns into food producing gardens. No tractor or gas-spewing farm machinery here; Cam zips between his plots on an electric scooter.

He’s the subject of the latest podcast in a series I’m producing with writers Spring Gillard and David Tracey called Can Urban Agriculture Save the World ?

runs 14:42

Podcast ISBN: 978-1-926758-00-8

photos and podcast © Robert Ouimet & Bigsnit Media 2009

Cam MacDonald is also a professional artist – his latest work and exhibits have a food and food-supply related theme. You can see examples of his work on his website, CamMacDonald.ca

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I’ve started producing a series of podcasts about Urban Agriculture, hosted by Spring Gillard and David Tracey.  The series will run on Spring’s website, CompostDiaries.com, as well as on  VanGoGreen.

We recorded the first in the series on Tuesday at the YWCA downtown’s roof garden.  It’s an interesting project, and all the food grown in the garden is taken to a women’s group on the downtown east side. You can read more about the rooftop garden / food project on the Y’s website.

Ted Cathcart runs the project, and he was kind enough to spend an hour with us explaining the project and discussing the challenges.

The podcast runs just over 18 minutes.

podcast and photo © Bigsnit Media Consulting Inc.
podcast ISBN 978-0-9809054-9-6

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The PLAN Institute and BC Women’s Hospital recently asked me to record a podcast with Dr. Mehret Mandefro.

She’s an HIV/AIDS educator and activist who’s also the subject of an incredibly moving documentary called All of Us. Dr. Mandefro is the founding director of Truth Aids

You can find out more about her on her website.

In the podcast I think you’ll get a real sense of her inspiration and drive to make a difference – she’s got an incredibly dynamic personality and at the same time, is very down to earth and realistic about the challenges of health education.

It’s on the Plan Institute website here – you have to register on their site first in order to get it.

Or you can also listen to it here:

Thanks to Emily Apt of Pureland Pictures for permission to use clips from the film, All of Us .

Some shocking data (courtesy TruthAids website):

• For African American women ages 15 to 24, AIDS has been the leading cause of death for almost 10 years.
• HIV is the leading cause of death for African American men ages 35-44 (NCHS,2002)
• African American men are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic: AIDS diagnosis rate among African American was almost 11 times the rate among whites

** UPDATE **

Dr. Mandefro has just been appointed a White House Fellow.  Details here

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Using an SaaS (Software as a Service) model, they’re providing a package of admin and organizational tools to local governments.

Typically, these tools are only available through expensive enterprise software – and the little guys find themselves making do with patched together solutions for tracking things like building permits , code enforcement, or planning. BasicGov’s approach seems even more relevant given the current economy.

What these guys have done is distill the key services required and created a web-based solution. Their clients have no technology overhead to deal with, they pay on monthly subscription basis, so they can start without spending heaps of cash, and all they need in place is an internet connection and a browser.

The goal of this project was to provide a high-level overview of the suite of products – essentially an introduction to the concept of SaaS without ever using the acronym, and how these products help solve specific challenges faced by small governments.

BasicGov, wisely, is using YouTube as a key platform to distribute these videos.

It’s fitting, considering their own model.

Just like their own service, using YouTube allows them to get all the benefits of a large scale distribution platform, with zero overhead. The idea is to use the videos as an introduction to the services, not as a ‘how to’ per se – though we may do some of those later.

Creating the videos gave me an interesting insight into their product as well. The team sat down with me and walked though each of the 3 key modules. I took notes, but mostly I was just trying to get oriented. I’ve never worked in local government, so a lot of the details were new to me.

Often with this type of software, a casual observer (me) will find it difficult to retrace their way through the various functions. I was surprised when I logged on back at my office, and discovered I was able to work my way through all the pieces with ease. Which of course was one of the goals BasicGov laid out when they started.

PRODUCTION

We worked through an iterative process, using storyboards to identify key screens and copy.

I often use Final Draft A/V for this kind of thing, but in this case, I opted for Story Board Quick. I like being able to generate HTML and FLASH versions of the boards – I work virtually most of the time and it makes sharing the info with the client quick. I also strip out the copy and provide the client with a clean copy deck – often this is the easiest place for them to identify changes.

For screen capture, I knew I wanted something other than Camtasia. It’s not really a Mac or PC thing, I work with both (I do all my audio on PC). Given that I planned on editing on Final Cut at high resolution, I wanted something clean and lean that made it easy for me to get the screens I wanted, with the zoom factor I wanted, etc.

I opted for I Show U HD. It plays nice with Mac and was rock solid. It was a real bonus being able to select from a variety of resolutions and frame rates – I imported all my clips directly to FCP.

Through the process I created rough cuts for the client to review. These I provided to them in Flash Video – using Adobe’s CS4 media encoder. I was then able to load them up on a server for them to grab and review at their convenience. What this meant was that we were able to move through more iterations faster than would have been the case with ‘in person’ reviews.

Once we finalized the copy of flow, I created a ‘finished’ voice track to replace my working tracks. I record all my audio on a Sound Devices 702T through a 422 field mixer. Then I haul the audio into Adobe Audition for editing, and master with T-Racks 24, then haul the mastered files back into Final Cut.

Because BasicGov wanted to take advantage of YouTube’s HD options, everything was captured at 1280 x 720, and the YouTube versions, both regular and HD, looks great. You can see them here:

• Overview
• Permits and Inspections
• Code Enforcement
• Planning

The team at BasicGov was a real delight to work with, and I hope we’ll do some more projects together soon.

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New Media BC is an industry association for new media professionals. Their goal with this podcast was to extend the organization’s  brand, and at the same time, get people excited about the kind of  keynote speakers they attract at their annual conference.

So, in this case, I produced a mini ’show’ for them, covering a variety of topics meant to highlight NMBC’s personality, its position in the industry, and the kind of guest speakers who’d be at the annual VidFest conference (now called Vancouver Digital Week)

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Many of the titles we worked on are now with other publishers, but the podcasts still hold up. Enjoy.

On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidentialand host of the TV show No Reservations, spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.

He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing me to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions. It’s Bourdain as you’ve never heard him before.

Part One: Bourdain’s World includes…

Anthony Bourdain’s most surprising questions.

• How to train for a career in the entertainment business
• Listener mail
• Grossest Canadian Food
• Getting sick from food
• How Anthony stays trim
• How to succeed in just about anything you do
• Advice to would-be culinary school students

Runs: 14:57

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Many of the titles we worked on are now with other publishers, but the podcasts still hold up. Enjoy.

On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidentialand host of the TV show No Reservations, spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.

He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing me to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions.
Part Two: The Book Signing
8 a.m. at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver

• Anthony is greeted with a breakfast of champions.
• Barbara-Jo talks about why she had to have Anthony visit her store.
• Anthony meets the fans.
• Anthony gives advice on “must sample” street food vendors in New York City.
• He talks about who comes to book signings and why.
• Bourdain just doesn’t seem like your usual kind of cookbook author
• He reveals the best hidden cooks in New York.
• And Bourdain talks about turning 50 and why life is like pinball.

runs 12:46

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Many of the titles we worked on are now with other publishers, but the podcasts still hold up. Enjoy.

On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidentialand host of the TV show No Reservations, spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.

He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing me to record Bourdain’s casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions.

Part Three – Not All Nasty Bits

Anthony Bourdain talks about:

• What chefs have in common
• Whether he misses day to day restaurant work
• What he’s afraid of

Bourdain also discusses:

• Work ethic
• The Omelette of Truth
• Human nature
• Advice for the fast foodie
• Pub food
• Tattoos
• How he started writing
• What he’s working on next.

Runs 16:10

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As I write this, the 2 day passes are already sold-out, less than a week after going on sale, with some spots left in the Friday un-conference (which is well worth attending).
Northern Voice really reminds me of the early days of the Vanouver Fringe Festival in Vancouver. Back when the Fringe was on Main Street and run by Joanna Maratta.

Like the Fringe, Northern Voice is really about a community of people passionate about what they do, people who are highly experienced sitting next to someone who’s just starting out. It’s about people who are at the top of the field interacting with people who are just being introduced to social networking for the first time. It’s about sharing experience, desires, business practices, crazy ideas and a lot of long conversations at the bar.

Back when the Fringe Festival was a real grass roots thing, anyone with 100 bucks could put on a play. Ticket prices were cheap and lineups were long. Shows sold out on word-of-mouth. On any given day you could see shows featuring some of Vancouver’s top actors (like Angry Actors Co-op) as well as total neophytes who while not experienced, shared the same passion and excitement about their craft. It’s intoxicating to be around, and even more so to be part of.

Northern Voice features an un-conference format on the 1st of the 2 days. Literally anyone can host a session on a topic of their choice; sometimes to a packed room, sometimes to a handful of people. Its a wonder to behold as people stand up and announce their ’session’ to a gathered crowd. It’s real honest to goodness sharing. It’s learning and teaching and experimenting and collaborating and master-class all rolled into one.

The Fringe festival used to have its own version of an un-conference. It was never articulated as a stream at the Fringe, but it was understood by everyone that the de facto conference centre was the Fringe Club in the Main Street legion. This is where you could learn from the best, trade tips and tricks with performers and technicians and stage managers from around the world. I learned tons sitting at those plywood tables drinking draft, listening, laughing, arguing and learning. Perhaps most importantly, I made lifelong friends and was introduced to lifelong colleagues in the process. Like Northern Voice, some people even met their future professional-and-or-personal-or-both partners there.

Northern Voice has a spirit fueled by people who genuinely love what they do, are intrigued by what’s possible, and who dream of what’s to come.

I used to measure my year by the advent of the Fringe – sadly I don’t anymore more.

But I’m glad to see that same spirit alive at Northern Voice.

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