Olympics over, but W2 just getting started
[There's a quick glimpse of the workspace at the W2 Media + Culture House!]
While in Vancouver, Brian and I had the chance to check out the W2 Culture + Media House, a place for independent journalists, bloggers, and essentially all media producers (journalism and otherwise) to produce content using some shared resources. They opened up during the Olympics to get the word out, spread involvement and kind of get a running start, but from what I understand they’re planning to move to a new facility in the near future.
You can learn more about the W2 Culture + Media House on their Web site- read this page to get a sense of exactly what it is- but I just thought I’d share a few words about our experience there. It was a pretty awesome set up, right in the middle of downtown Vancouver, and it seemed to provide a really cool physical hub for independent journalists/producers— many of whom are used to working on projects on their own— a place to both work together and simply meet/bounce off ideas/find new people and inspiration/chat about media. I’ve been following @w2woodwards on Twitter all throughout the Olympics, and they’ve been live streaming discussions about media, the buzz surrounding the Olympics, events around town, all sorts of things. The house is a really awesome convergence of different types of media and culture, and something anyone visiting Vancouver needs to check out.
As I mentioned before, the house wasn’t set up specifically for the Olympics- it’ll remain (even in it’s new location) as a hotspot for media-types and content/art producers of all kinds afterward. I think it’s a really interesting model for locations that could become the homes-of-the-future for new media journalists; physical workspaces where you pay a reasonable amount of money and share bandwidth, perhaps some technological resources, etc. and occasionally collaborate on projects, participate in roundtables, etc. I’m sure this is being done in varying capacities elsewhere, but W2 had a really interesting blend of a laid-back atmosphere with a lot of ambitious, up-to-the-minute work being done.
While we were there, we met Youssef Shoufan, an independent multimedia journalist, who was interested in the Owle Bubo & the iPhone app we were using. In the video below, Brian shows him how it all works, and we answer a few questions.
I’m really excited about opportunities like the W2 Culture + Media House, that really offer an opportunity to learn a lot from other journalists/producers internationally, and to meet new people. I would have loved to have the chance to spend more time there! I’ll be on the lookout for more of these hotspots, and will be sure to let you know!
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Posted on: Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 7:46 am
Posted in: BLOG ENTRIES, MEDIA
Tags: journalism, new media, vancouver, W2