Two great blogs that I've come across in the past few days: My friend Jim has just launched his first blog, T Zero, and it's all about Toronto.
And I've also just checked out Katie's blog, The Al Party. I'm not really into politics, but this is some good reading.
-Parker
Sorry to all non-Torontonians for getting into the "center of the universe" Toronto mindset . I've only been here a few months and its already happened to me, but that's alright because there is plenty of good stuff happening around town. As Chris points out, Thursday's All Things Are Connected should be a good opportunity for Toronto's young PR folks to get together, network, and learn a bit more about the trade. I expect that I'll see Ed Lee, and maybe few of the other young bloggers there. Maybe this guy will even step out of his Facebook bubble to show his face in meatspace.
About a year or so ago, I read a great short story by this guy, that was written in blog-form, then followed up by a comic. I thought it was a wonderful way to self-publish, and I look forward to seeing his upcoming film, Infest Wisely. Its not exactly PR-related, but definitely looks pretty sweet.
And on that note, I'd like to point out that Labyrinth is a great little book store that has just opened on Bloor street, and that they are using a blog to promote themselves. What a great way to highlight new products as they arrive in store. I'm sure that real enthusiasts can subscribe to the RSS feed. My friend bought some beautiful paintings from local artists there the other day, and I'm hoping to pick some up myself.
Fighting fans can get their fix at my colleague Sean's blog, Superman Punch. He told me that the name of the blog comes from a boxing move or something, but I think it sounds like a great name for a high-alcohol party drink.
And lastly, I don't know what anyone else's plans are for the long weekend, but I've been missing the beautiful waves of Maui and the Gold Coast, so I'm hoping to head to Montreal to do this.
When I first read this article in the Globe and Mail earlier this week about how a group of students in Ontario were barred from going on a class trip because they made derogatory comments about teachers on Facebook, I was so angry that I barfed all over the bathroom at work. I spent the rest of the evening at home sick in bed, a feeling that wasn't helped by reading this article (via Slashdot) about a group of Australian teachers who are trying to have a popular teacher-rating site shut down due to "defamatory" content. Later, I realized that I probably had food poisoning, but my initial "Are you fucking kidding me?" reaction still felt valid. Part of me seriously wants to think that teachers can't honestly believe that before the internet and sites like this, students never made deragatory or defamatory comments about them. Hell, talking shit about my teachers was my bread and butter for most of high school and I didn't need the internet to do that. Shutting down these sites, or punishing students for speaking their creative, young minds on them, isn't going to stop this. These kids are going to find new ways to make fun of their teachers, and these latest incidents aren't going to do anything more than fuel the fire.
In a way, its similiar to the AACS response to their hacked code being shared on a number of websites: issuing a bunch of legal letters telling people to take it down isn't going to solve anything, as BoingBoing points out the growing number of sites carrying the code. Good for Digg for realizing that fighting against the numbers was useless.
It is interesting that all of these stories broke at the same time. While we social media enthusiasts have been saying it for a while, signs of the users taking control are finally a little bit more obvious. Stopping these students from going on a trip or trying to have the teacher rating website taken down are evidence of how the general public (school officials, not exactly the most tuned-in people around) see social media as being powerful enough to be a threat. Call it mob rule or call it social media coming of age, the facts are the same. Can Assassination Politics really be that far away?
Oh, and if any of those Thornhill students read this, I'm volunteering the space of one post on BlogCampaigning for you to say whatever you want about your teachers. Montreal is an awesome city, and it really sucks rocks that you are being barred from going on that school trip.
-Parker
I have just come back from spending a few days in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta and besides visiting some family, I had a bit of business to do at a few banks. While I don't want to get into the particular details about what a difficult time I had, it inspired me to take a further look at the websites of the two banks that I visited. While Scotiabank and the Royal Bank of Canada both have very well-made websites, neither has a blog or anything similiar. I might not be looking hard enough, but some thing like this should be easy to find.
It would certainly make sense for a bank to have a blog, or multiple blogs. The 'small business' section of the bank's site could include a blog discussing business strategies, while linking to small businesses that have had great success using the bank's services.
Since I've been in Toronto, I've come to realize how much more powerful the Canadian PR blogging scene is when compared to the Australian one (no offense to Paull Young). It seems that most larger companies are at least familiar with the practice, and on the city's various job-posting boards there always seems to be a demand for bloggers. I was even able to attend a meeting on this topic last week (and, ignoring my own advice about timely blogging, am only writing about now) where I was able to meet a number of Toronto PR bloggers and students. As a result, I plan on listening to the InsidePR podcast later today and will probably become a regular reader of Michael O'Connor Clarke's blog. I have not noticed as much online activity in the political scene here, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.