mesh Debate: A Conversation about Copyright
Last week, the Conference Board of Canada published a report titled “Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Economy”. A few days later, Dr. Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa professor and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, and a past mesh keynote, blogged about the report, asserting that it plagiarized the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the primary movie, music and software lobby in the U.S.. Dr. Geist also challenged the conclusions of the report and two other reports on intellectual property released by the Conference Board at the same time (see follow-up posts here).
The Conference Board rejected Dr. Geist’s characterization of the Digital Economy report, and says it stands by it.
At mesh we’re deeply interested in the role of intellectual property laws in the development of the Web and the role it plays in our society. Several keynotes and panels in past meshes have studied these and related issues, and we’re committed to supporting a healthy and vigorous public discussion about the proper role of intellectual property laws in Canadian society. We think this situation presents a great opportunity for furthering that discussion by studying the two core propositions of the Digital Economy report:
1. Canada’s copyright laws are lax, making it a haven of unauthorized file sharing
2. Strengthening copyright law is necessary for the development of a vigorous digital economy
To encourage a healthy, spirited and constructive dialogue, mesh is offering to host a debate on this issue. We’re asking the Conference Board to send two of the report’s authors to join in that debate – one to take the affirmative side of each of those two propositions. Representing the “No” side of these propositions will be Dr. Geist, and Mike Masnick, the founder of Floor64 and the Techdirt blog. Both are long-standing friends of mesh and well respected for their valuable contributions to public discussion of these issues.
This debate will be held in Ottawa, at a time and place to be determined after consultation with the participants. We’ll be announcing further details of the debate as we have them. If you’d like to be notified as news is released, please subscribe to the mesh blog, or give us your email address and we’ll contact you.
We think these are profoundly important issues, and hope you will help us get the word out by forwarding this link to anyone you know who might be interested. Please stay tuned for more news, and join us if you can!
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We’re Pleased to Announce…meshmarketing
We are pleased to announce a new event we’re calling meshmarketing on October 22 in Toronto.
meshmarketing is a one-day event focused on insights, tools and tactics to help you win customers’ hearts and minds online — through a combination of great keynotes, “show and tell” presentations and in-depth workshops.
General admission is C$489 + GST. Get your ticket here.
At meshmarketing, you will interact with digital marketing thought leaders, connect with peers and prospects, and get a better understanding of the impact that new developments online will have on your strategy and your job. Together, we’ll discuss best practices and the successful use of social media, online marketing, mobile marketing, search, video and word-of-mouth.
meshmarketing brings together people who are passionate about the potential of the Web to change how we live, work and play. This day is not just about presentations from the stage. Like our other events, meshmarketing will be a highly interactive experience where we will continue the dialogue and explore the next generation of ideas, leaders and companies.
Who should attend? Marketers, digital agencies, PR practitioners, communication professionals and anyone passionate about marketing and the web.
You’re spending more and more of your budget building your business using the Web. But are you making the right calls? Is display the way to go? What about search? Social media? Community? Video?
You know that word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools you and your company can use to spread the word about your product(s) or service(s), and the Web is like word-of-mouth on steroids. What’s working and why?
Within minutes, fans can spread the news of a new service or feature across thousands of blogs, Facebook groups, Twitter updates and Web forums. What people think about your brand or company is influenced in a split-second. Unfortunately for some companies, that same power can spread bad news just as widely and just as quickly.
Come to meshmarketing to sort through the noise so that you can benefit from the former and handle the latter.
meshmarketing is where you get ahead.
If you’re interested in participating in this event as a sponsor, please contact sponsors@meshconference.com.
Tags: marketing, mesh, meshmarketing
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mesh/ITAC Digital Commerce Forum
The Greater Toronto Area (aka GTA) is filled with talented people innovating in the
fields of online commerce and digital content. Combine that talent pool with the strong current of enterprise that distinguishes the city and the result is a burgeoning digital-commerce cluster.
The mesh/ITAC Digital Commerce Forum is designed to provide a gathering place for this community of innovators and entrepreneurs, something that we believe passionately in at mesh.
The success of the mesh conference and meshUniversity indicates there is a strong appetite for networking, inspiration and business and professional development in the Web-centric business community.
The mesh/ITAC Digital Business Forum is designed to extend these opportunities throughout the year. The Forum will meet regularly in the Toronto area (with occasional forays into other locales) to share best practices and to keep up to date with emerging ideas and technologies.
Future events include the following:
The Stratford Institute: Digital Cultural Innovation on a $10 Million Scale
Date: May 14, 2009 - 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: The Spoke Club, 600 King Street West, 4th Floor, Toronto
In May 2008, the University of Waterloo, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Open Text Corporation, along with a number of other stakeholders, announced the creation of the Stratford Institute. The institute will be a major research and commercialization force in at the global forefront in digital media technology, bringing together leading researchers, businesses and entrepreneurs to create, examine and
commercialize opportunities in digital media and create jobs of the future.
Open Text has been a driving force behind this initiative and believes there is an enormous opportunity for Ontario to play a leading role in the development of business, government and cultural applications of digital media. No one is more excited about the innovative potential of this new venture than Open Text Chief Information Officer Eugene Roman.
Eugene will present an overview of the Stratford Institute, how the institute was conceived, and how it will function and engage students, innovators, corporate participants, government, and what its role will be in the community. His presentation will detail how the Stratford Institute can serve as a resource for digital technology companies of all sizes
throughout Ontario.
Please go to http://www.itac.ca/digitalbusiness for more information about this free
event.
Tags: ITAC, mesh, Open Text, Stratford Institute, waterloo
Spinning Your Wheels for a Great Cause
SpinTO is a fundraising project that kicks off with a party on May 15 celebrating the Friends for Life Bike Rally from Toronto to Montreal in support of the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation.
Last Thursday evening, our friend and Microsoft developer evangelist, David Crow personally donated $500 to the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation through our SpinTO project. With that donation, he issued a challenge via Twitter.
We saw that challenge, and wanted to offer our support to spinTO and David’s effort. Soon, Idée Inc. CEO and long-time HIV/AIDS advocate Leila Boujnane, David Suydam of Architech Solutions and Jaimie MacPherson of Mischief Media joined in on the effort.
All told, within a few hours in one evening we raised over $3,000 to help men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS through the work of the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.
The challenge still stands, but we also encourage you to join the community at an event that will make a difference for others. On May 15, join us at the spinTO at Mod Club. It is sure to be a great night for a great cause.
Learn more here.
Tags: AIDS, David Crow, Friends for Life Bike Rally, HIV, mesh
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mesh09 Videos Coming Online
If you’ve been hoping to see video of this year’s mesh, you can see them on meshTV, where Mark McKay and our team from MaRS and mDialog have been busily preparing them and getting them online. Details are here. You can also see HD versions on the mesh09 channel in iTunes (which is now in the no. 2 spot in the technology category & # 33 overall in Canada iTunes).
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And the winner is…
We had a huge amount of interest in our call to vote on what charity should get the proceeds from our mesh ‘09 after-party. There was a heated competition between supporters of a number of excellent charitable groups, including the Daily Bread Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, WarChild, Love of Reading and Little Geeks (which was the charity we chose last year). After an extended voting round, we came up with a winner — and the charity of choice is WarChild. Congratulations to them, and to all of the very worthy groups who participated this year. The following is a statement from James Topham of WarChild, and there’s a tip-jar for donations directly below:
War Child Canada is 10 years old this year. But this is no reason for
celebration.
For a child in sub-Saharan Africa to make it to 10 years old is a major achievement. 1 in 6 die before they’re half that age. And in the 10 years that we’ve been open, over 30 wars have been raging, while man’s brutality towards children has, if anything, intensified. From rape as a weapon of war against girls well under 10 years old -to the almost commonplace use of children as front-line ’soldiers,’ to the targeting of children and their communities as a matter of course, the threats to children’s lives and well-being only increase as we develop more lethal and immoral ways of waging war.
War Child Canada works in some of the most violent and terrifying places for a child to grow up. In countries such as the Congo, northern Uganda, Afghanistan and the Darfur region of Sudan, we work with local people to restore a sense of security to children’s lives. Our efforts are focused on three building blocks: rights protection, education and poverty reduction, all of which are fundamental to this next generation’s ability to lead their communities out of darkness and towards a more peaceful and hopeful future.
Vital to our continued success is a network of like-minded people across North America, whose generosity with their time, talents and donations allow our work to continue and grow.
That is why we are so delighted to be associated with Mesh ‘09, a conference
celebrating the power of interconnectivity. You can join our network at
warchildheroes.net or by following us on Twitter. And you can donate through the chip-in jar or at warchild.ca/Mesh09.
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mesh Keynote Update
We’re disappointed to let you know Jason Calacanis will not be able to do his keynote at mesh ‘09 due to a last-minute business commitment.
We know many people were looking forward to hearing Jason provide his insight about Mahalo, the venture capital landscape, and what’s happening within Silicon Valley. Jason was looking forward to visiting Toronto to speak at mesh, and spending some time when Mahalo developers located here.
The schedule for the morning of April 8 will now start with Mike McDerment having a fireside chat with venture fund advisor and well-known tech blogger Paul Kedrosky and venture capitalist Howard Lindzon about what’s next on the high-tech horizon.
This keynote will be followed by Stuart MacDonald talking with Bonin Bough, the Global Director of Digital and Social Media with PepsiCo, who oversees digital strategy and the implementation of social media tools and techniques across the company.
And the morning will be capped off by a keynote with Toronto Mayor David Miller.
We’re excited about seeing everyone on Tuesday!
Tags: jason calacanis, mesh
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mesh’s Technology Partners
While programming is a huge priority when it comes to putting on mesh and meshU, an important and exciting part of putting on the two conferences is working with a variety of technology partners to enhance the overall experience.
In the past couple of years, we’ve really focused on teaming up with companies looking to showcase their services, and provide mesh attendees with interesting tools they can use during and after mesh.
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes as our partners create customized versions of their products for mesh. So, it’s really exciting to pull the covers off our technology partners for mesh ‘09.
FileMobile: A Toronto-based company, which develops on-demand social media platform, has created a media portal where you can upload and share your photos and videos from mesh and meshU.
To create a profile, go to the mesh site, and click on the “MyMedia” tab at the top of the page. After completing your profile, you can share photos and video by using the “upload” tool or sending them via upload@meshconference.com.
Viigo: For Blackberry users, Viigo offers access to a wide variety of information, ranging from blogs written by mesh speakers, mesh sites, news, weather and information about what’s happening in Toronto.
Sweet Caesar: Just as they did last year, Sweet Caesar has put together a sweet wireless application that offers the schedules for mesh and meshU, the ability to rate the keynotes, panels and workshops, information about MaRS, and details about where the mesh/meshU socials are happening. You can download the Sweet Caesar application for the BlackBerry Bold, Curve, 8800, and Pearl.
mDialog: A cool service that lets you watch mesh videos on an iPhone, via a widget, on mDialog.com and meshTV.
ScribbleLive: A live-blogging tool that lets several writers capture what’s happening at mesh in real time. Use Twitter, Facebook, MSN Live, or OpenID account to login. It’s easy to start your own liveblog of a session or join-in with others. You can try it at mesh.scribblelive.com!
Flip: If you’re into digital cameras, you’ve probably heard about the user-friendly Flip cameras that have been taking the world by storm. We’re arming our volunteers and ace videographer Mark McKay with Flips so they roam meshU and mesh to capture what’s happening.
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Edelman Wrap Party
It’s hard to think about the end of mesh, but at least it will go our with a bang! All mesh participants are welcome to join us for a Wrap Party sponsored by Edelman from 5 to 7pm on Wednesday, April 8th at Proof Lounge (220 Bloor Street West) following the conclusion of mesh09.
See you there?
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Get an early start on meshU09 and mesh09 at Twitterbrunch
Some friends of mesh are having a Twitterbrunch on the Sunday before meshU09 and mesh09. Join in! Details are here. RSVP to join in.
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