Rob Cottingham

Category: Everything Else

  • Job opportunity: Keep Social Signal’s projects on target

    Social Signal is hiring a Web Production Manager:

    WHO WE ARE: Social Signal puts the web to work for social change, helping organizations turn online communities into a powerful force for progress. And we’re looking for a web production manager who will organize our time, tasks and resources, keeping our projects moving smoothly to successful completion.

    WHAT YOU’LL DO: You’ll be managing the big picture of producing complex web projects, with the authority and resources to make each project a success. You’ll be the linchpin of a team of four full-time staff and a larger family of subcontractors, coordinating with staff, suppliers and clients to ensure that tasks are completed on time and to the highest standards. You’ll also manage Social Signal’s staff schedules, booking everything from pitch meetings to speaking engagements. That will occupy most of your time – but you’ll also get to draft blog posts, research new web tools and help us introduce Social Signal to potential new clients.

    (more…)

  • In Vancouver? Want to blog for a living?

    I can’t possibly say it better than Alex did at SocialSignal.com:

    We’re thrilled to be working with Vancity on a new online community project that will be unveiled this summer. The project will create an online community where people in the Lower Mainland and Victoria can find information, tools and connections to inspire and support change in their own lives, their communities, and the world.

    And you — or a fabulous blogger of your acquaintance — could be a key part of this exciting project! Vancity has just posted a call for applications for the position of community moderator. Here are all the details, hot from the craigslist posting.

    Apply here. And spread the word!

  • Send Sarah Marchildon your best

    Yikes: the writer of one of my favourite Vancouver blogs, Sarah Marchildon, has had a bad bike crash and faces a weeks-long recovery.

    If you’ve been enjoying her blog as much as I have, why not drop her a line at her blog and wish her a full, speedy recovery?

  • Comment spam attack

    Talk to a blogger about, say, the mainstream media, and you’ll get a lot of rolling eyeballs and maybe the odd expletive. Just mention comment spam, and you’ll hear a stream of foul-mouthed invective that would peel armoured plating off a tank.

    I’m currently unduring a flood of the stuff (comment spam, that is), which probably means a lot of other folks are as well. WordPress 2.0’s Akismet anti-spam plugin is catching most of it, but by no means all. These things seem to come in waves, so say a silent prayer for all those bloggers who are wading through the crap in their backends.

    (Er, that could have come out better. Er, could have been phrased better. Moving along.)

    Comment spam is one of those things that make me see red. Partly it’s the fact that it comes from people who are happy to waste my time. But it’s also the way that they’re poisoning the well: depleting the value of a common resource for their personal gain, while they contribute exactly nothing of value.

    And actually, the value is less than zero, because what they’re aiming to do is fundamentally dishonest. Blogs are just collateral damage in the comment spammer’s bigger campaign, which is to game the search engines so that you, Ms. or Mr. Average Internet User, get routed to their clients instead of the information you’re actually looking for.

    What kind of punishment fits that crime?

    Some would start reaching for a length of rope, but I believe the answer is less violent. With their wanton disregard for both common property and private resources, comment spammers may not have proven themselves unfit to live – but they have proven themselves unfit to live in civil society.

    It’s been a long time since our civilization used exile as a formal punishment. But maybe we ought to be scouting out some remote island territory.

    Particularly if that island doesn’t have a net connection.

  • See? I TOLD you Vancouver is Web-2.0-ville

    The always interesting Nimblog is compiling a list of Vancouver-based social web/Web 2.0 companies. It’s shaping up nicely, but there’s room for a lot more. Go and add your favourite!

  • Bryght students wanted for Drupal “Summer of Code” projects

    If you’re a post-secondary student with that certain geeky something, the folks at Bryght have plans for you this summer:

    Vancouver students: Want to earn $US 4500 while working on Drupal Google Summer of Code projects? We’ve got free WiFi, desks for two students and Drupal culture that you can soak up in spades (as well as Bryght guy Adrian being a SOC mentor) from us here at the Vancouver Bryght offices at 525 Seymour.

    What’s the catch? Well you have to apply by May 8th.

  • Splitting hares in Canmore

    You may have heard the old joke about an international conference on elephants, where the Canadian presentation is titled “The elephant: a federal or provincial responsibility?” Smaller animals, it seems, have been delegated to smaller jurisdictional battles.

    Canmore, Alberta is dealing with the fallout from some well-meaning soul who released a dozen or so domestic animals in the area a generation ago. Viz, the town is now hopping with rabbits, and the local gardeners are unamused. From the CBC.ca story Bunny glut poses puzzle in Alberta town:

    “Our mandate is to deal with wildlife and these are not considered wildlife,” said Jon Jorgenson of Alberta Fish and Wildlife.

    “They are domestic animals that have gone wild in the town here and my understating is that domestic animals are [under] the jurisdiction of the Town of Canmore.

    The town does not agree with that assessment, however.

    Its position is that since the rabbits have been in the wild for two decades, the province should have to deal with them.

    Two comments:

    1. Would it have killed the reporter to find a farmer named McGregor to comment?
    2. Someone must have really enjoyed coming up with the phrase “bunny glut”.

  • BC Book and Magazine Week starts April 22

    Every year, BC celebrates one of our mostly unsung success stories: our surprisingly vibrant writing and publishing community. And soon, the province will be marking BC Book & Magazine Week 2006 with a slew of events from readings to dancing (really) to cabaret (again, really).

    In Vancouver, much of the action will center on Main Street, which over the past decade has become a new focus for the city’s creative energy, rivalling Commercial Drive, which nonetheless remains our town’s uncontested funkiness epicentre. (I’m spending more and more of my time over there lately, in part because of the recent explosion of great cafés and free WiFi.)

    So see you at one of the events. Meanwhile, you can follow developments at the BC Book and Magazine Week Blog, where you’ll find out about things like the MY BC photo contest. Better yet, the blog – still in its early days – is already shaping up to be a terrific round-up of BC publishing news big and small.

  • A great time with Gregor Robertson and friends

    I did my longest set yet on Friday night at the Vancouver-Fairview NDP fundraiser – and got the best response of my short stand-up career. It was a great audience (and man, do they love Gregor), a terrific emcee (Nicholas Simons) and one hell of a great ten minutes.

    Next up were the folks from Rock, Paper, Scissors, and I nearly burst my lungs laughing as they brought the house down. I’ve heard about them but never had the chance to see them in action; it turns out they’re brilliant. Go see them the first chance you get.

    After Gregor’s speech thanking everyone and reminding us why we’re doing all of this, it was on to the auction, where I joined Nicholas on-stage. I have never auctioned stuff off before in my life. It’s a strange mixture of bragging (“Why, the frame alone is worth hundreds!”) and begging (“Folks, I know there’s another five dollars out there…”) that reminded me eerily of dating. Fortunately, Nicholas is a genius when it comes to wringing money out of crowds – not to mention funny, warm and irreverent. (Book us now for your upcoming wedding, high school graduation or family reunion.)

    All of which is to say, my thanks to Nicholas, Gregor and the riding association, especially Lesli Boldt for suggesting me and organizer Kelly Nichol for biting.

  • Carry Tiger to Mountain: marrying Tao te Ching and activism

    This looks great. Stephen Legault of Highwater Mark Strategy and Communications has written a new book, Carry Tiger to Mountain, bringing the wisdom of the Tao te Ching to bear on modern-day social change leadership. And later this month, they’ll launch it:

    Help Stephen and Arsenal Pulp Press Launch Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership
    Thursday, April 27, 2006
    At The Edge, with hosts Joel and Dana Bass Solomon
    Aprt. 1014 – 289 Alexander Street (at Gore)
    Vancouver, BC.
    7pm – 11pm

    With DJ Michael Ziff of Twice Shy
    (organic fashion for sinners everywhere)

    An evening to celebrate our work as activists, defending what we love with passion and conviction. A (blessedly) short reading, dancing, light snacks, refreshments, and a hot tub with the best view of the city.
    Space is limited. RSVP to stephen@highwatermark.ca.

    I met Stephen at Web of Change 2005, and he’s wonderful. I can’t wait to read the book.

  • Vancouver, a.k.a. Webtwoville

    Via Arieanna, the news came yesterday that Qumana – the blog editing software developed by Vancouver-based Qumana Software – will be distributed and co-branded by Lycos.

    Our little neck of the woods is increasingly an epicentre for the great distributed earthquake known as the social web or Web 2.0. We’re the cradle of Flickr, the womb of DabbleDB, and home to a range of folks, from geniuses to the merely brilliant. This is a great time to be here.

    Fellow Vancouverites, time to do the self-congratulation dance. A one, and a two, and a…

  • Standup for Mental Health: laughter as therapy

    Comedy update #3:

    Most people think you have to be nuts to do stand-up comedy.

    However, counselor and stand-up comic David Granirer offers it as a form of therapy. In David’s Stand Up For Mental Health course, mental health consumers turn their problems into comedy, then perform their acts at conferences, treament centres, psych wards, and for various mental health organizations.

    And at 7:00 p.m. on April 9, the 2006 class graduates with a fundraiser gala, on the Granville Island Stage (next to Granville Is. Market) with headliner Mike MacDonald (Just For Laughs, CBC, Showtime). Details here, or buy tickets here.