I love Toronto and a Canadian Social Media Bloggers Contest
I’m not a techie …my experience is entrepreneurial and also in business strategy and problem solving. Discovering the internet, for both business and personal use (and despite the urging of my kids), didn’t happen for me until 2000. About a year ago, I began a search for a tech partner for a larger project. That search has been on hold since last fall while I deal with some major health issues, although I continue to refine the plans as the landscape here evolves. I’ve been waylaid by health problems before, but this is the first time that business of any sort has been interrupted by it. It’s why I always have to work with at least one partner.
So out I ventured last summer, and met David Crow.
David is a devilishly charming and downright irresistible force of nature in the Toronto tech scene. He’s been instrumental in bringing TorCamp (Barcamps and Democamps) here, involved in Mesh (which I was heartbroken to miss), together with many other active community members including everyone’s favorite lawyer Rob Hyndman, and much more.
His blog post yesterday is titled Army Tournament of Champions and it’s about a new contest for Canadian bloggers in four categories:
- Digital/tech/online
- Media/social media/PR
- Marketing/communications/design/research
- Quebec division
which has been conceived and set up by Sean Moffit at Buzz Canuck.
The contest looks very well conceived. As I read it, bloggers can submit either their own or others’ blogs for entry. The self-submission makes a lot of sense, since it calls for identifying one’s best posts. The qualification criteria are spelled out in the Buzz Canuck post linked to above.
The entries are to be judged formally, rather than via populist voting, another idea I applaud, although it doesn’t appear the judges have been named yet. The idea of going outside Canada sounds exactly right. It would seem that the ideal would be to have the top bloggers in the four categories form the panel, as in a jury of peers, although the quality and popularity aren’t always equal issue seems an important one here. They’ve asked for recommendations, and I’ve a couple of individuals in mind to email, and hope that you do also.
I’ve already discovered several great bloggers that I didn’t know about via David’s post. Thanks David.
Go Toronto.
*****
I’ve always loved my home town. Toronto is small enough to be human scaled, yet large enough to qualify as world-class. It’s immensely rich in culture and diversity for a North American city of its size. It was no surprise to discover that, in addition to everything else, we have a wonderful tech community as well.
Come visit us whenever you can, and hang out with our bloggers, too.
*****
Oh, and check out this Note on the Ancestral Toronto Home of Social Network Analysis by Linton Freeman and Barry Wellman.
