emma's Blog: Pucker Up
September 16, 2008 at 22:04The first, ever, National Digital Media Day took place on September 25th, with new media types from across Canada hosting events to celebrate, and draw attention to, Canada’s booming new media sector.
Having been immersed in Canada’s new media sector for nearly 15 years now, I am often puzzled by how little visibility our sector has in BC and nationally. I mean … there are an estimated 3,200 firms engaged in interactive media across Canada that generate total gross revenue of more than $7 billion a year. There are over 50,000 people working in interactive media across Canada and, judging from all the online buzz around the upcoming National Digital Media Day, this year those people are looking for some attention! Yes, it’s true, we spend our days making great video games, websites, mobile applications and interactive tools, but we also want to be taken seriously, as a sector that makes a very real contribution to the Canadian economy.
One of the most entertaining events on National Digital Media Day was The Kiss, a mobile mass mob organized Jennifer Ouano of Elastic Entertainment. At 12:00 PST (3:00 PM Eastern) hundreds of people gathered at city intersections across the country to take place in a big smooch-fest. Flash mobbers did the kissing, shutterbugs captured the fun, and photos from cities across Canada were uploaded to The Kiss website so that everyone could see the most enthusiastic kissers!
You can learn about the more serious side of National New Media Day at http://ndmd08.ning.com/
