I forgot to mention it last week, but I wanted to say thanks to Hugh of gapingvoid for including a portion of my upcoming ChangeThis manifesto on his blog. Go take a look at it - it’s still far from done, but does give a hint as to some of what I’ve been working on in the past little while.
Filed by Julien at 12:55 am under projects
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Homeless Nation is a non-profit organization that focuses on giving a voice to homeless people across the country. As of last Monday, I work for them. Here’s why.
First, from the site:
There are tens of thousands of homeless people in Canada, with no address, no vote, nameless and faceless, and yet there is almost no documentation (statistical or personal) made by them or about them as a community or as individuals. If we continue to accept this status-quo of invisibility, an entire generation of homeless people will pass away without a trace.
People are speaking a lot these days about media democratization. In a previous podcast, I talk about democratization of power, as well as how to get there. Still, these goals are far off, despite the fact that everyone’s convinced how close we are. The power of media creation is still in the hands of the rich - those with expensive computers, broadband connections, and the necessary knowledge. And let’s not forget how difficult it is to create stuff when you’re working hard trying to support yourself (and your family, in certain cases).
When I look at Homeless Nation, I see people actively working to topple that structure. They give homeless people what is necessary to reach people, just like podcasters and videobloggers are trying to reach people. They aren’t deciding what’s worthy - instead, they’re placing that in the hands of their users. For that reason, I want to be a part of what they’re doing.
Next week, I’ll be working with them at ATSA (roughly translated, Socially Acceptable Terrorist Action) for a week in the park at Berri-UQAM, doing all sorts of audio and video recordings, interviews, etc. Come by if you’d like, we’d love to see you there.
Anyway, I’ll probably end up blogging more about what I’m going through with these guys as time goes on. Thanks to everyone that’s shown support for what I’m doing. You can subscribe to the Homeless Nation RSS feed here.
Filed by Julien at 5:28 pm under projects, political, podcasting
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I spent this past week in New York City without a great deal of fanfare. It was the first time I was there, hanging out with a friend and people I’ve met through CouchSurfing.com, a site for travelers who want to do it on the cheap and meet cool people.
Although my initial impressions of the couchsurfing phenom made me feel that it might be kind of awkward to be in other people’s houses all the time, I am pleased to say that I was wrong. The people I spent time with were so generous, I can’t help but be encouraged to get more involved in their community. It was seriously great the whole way through.
There is so much that happened to me this week that’s difficult to express right now. I’m waiting for a bus right now that’ll take me back to Montreal, where I’ll put out some more podcasts and, this week, start work with Homeless Nation, a non-profit that embraces podcasting as part of their strategy to help empower street kids. I’m really looking forward to it.
Today is our last full day at the Banff Cross Platform Mentorship Lab. Our presentation went over really well earlier- last night, we decided to scrap the way we were selling the idea, starting over entirely about 12 hours before needing to present it. This change and the presentation was really well received, and we are starting to see a lot of potential for HAL.
There were a lot of other projects here, all doing great work that deserve mention. Here are a few of the ones I’ve already found on the web:
FierceLight, Go Ball Glow, NanoBodz, Jig-Sound, Stranger Says, Inanimate Alice, Jargonition.
Filed by Julien at 5:05 pm under HAL, projects, community
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Currently in-flight, heading straight to Banff from Montréal. The next four days will be spent at the Interactive Project Lab representing HAL, and talking with other participants from all around the country about new media projects they are involved in. Exciting possibilities.
Although I don’t know a hell of a lot about this place, the centre is apparently the size of an entire campus. No idea who inhabits it though- it isn’t a school, but more of a general place-of-learning. People do gather there every year for a variety of art and media stuff, however- and hopefully leave with a better understanding of how to apply it all to the real world.
Despite this, neither Pascal nor myself have any clue whether this place will have wifi, never mind any of the other high tech stuff we are used to working with on a daily basis. The location is apparently remote, far removed from the usual hustle and bustle of large Canadian cities. At the least, it should be a cool change of pace.
Whatever the case, there’s a lot of excitement and mystery in the air for us. I hope I’ll find a place where my usual jolt of RSS can keep me at arm’s reach from the world at large. The launch of CC’snew company is happening today (right around now actually), so there’ll be a lot of cool stuff to watch out for in the next few.
Filed by Julien at 4:38 pm under HAL, projects, events
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Je travaille depuis quelque temps sur HAL (Hub d’Artistes Locaux), un projet où nous rassemblons la communauté d’artistes locaux avec les usagers d’internet sans-fil Montréalais. Le vidéo ci-dessous est une introduction au projet, monté par Véro B, une vidéobloggeure locale très talentueuse.
Si vous êtes nouveau visiteur, bienvenue à mon blogue! Vous y retrouverez régulièrement des nouveaux podcasts ainsi que des liens à pleins de projets intéressants! Restez-y un peu! :)
((I’ve been working for on this HAL project for a little while - a great community thing where we bring together local artists with Montreal’s wifi community. The above video is a little introduction I did with Véro B, a local videoblogger who is going to be huge I tell you.
If you’re a new visitor, welcome to my blog! You’ll regularly find new podcasts and links to other cool stuff I find. Stick around!))
Filed by Julien at 4:00 pm under HAL, projects, community, podcasting
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So the HAL project I spoke about a few entries ago has been selected to attend the Banff Centre’s Cross Platform Mentorship Lab. 10 projects (2 people per project) are being flown down to be coached by a group of media and technology experts from October 26-30. Pascal and I will be attending it, which is pretty damn cool. I’m pretty excited about it. Thanks to Michael and the Ile sans fil group for the opportunity. (I’ll be blogging all the while, of course.)
