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BookCamp Vancouver II

Today's BookCamp Vancouver 2009 Unconference brought 250 keen, mostly young, people together to talk about books, new approaches to publishing, and their own work. Attendees included publishers, writers and early to mid-career people working in publishing, software design and new media production.

The organizers were bold and imaginative in their choices of topics and speakers. Most of the sessions succeeded in terms of generating discussion and stimulating thought. Facilitators, organizers and audiences share responsibility for unconference sessions that succeed or fail: but unlike many regular conferences the communication that begins at unique gatherings like this can have long term effects.

The best evidence that the unconference succeeded may be found in the abundant messages on Twitter (see #bcvan09). Messages were being sent during the sessions, during breaks and after the event. I expect that they will continue to be written for days or weeks to come.

Publishing needs new people, new ideas and new approaches. Innovative events like BookCamp Vancouver and the excited people, young and old, who participated today are good evidence that this important activity is in good hands.

BookCamp Vancouver

We are in Victoria, BC, visiting with friends, doing some work, trying new restaurants, and enjoying being away from home. It's been a very relaxing trip.

Tomorrow I'll attend BookCamp Vancouver , an unconference which will focus on exploring new ideas in books, publishing and the future of reading.Those of us involved in book publishing are experiencing a combination of panic and excitement as we look at the future. This gathering will look at open source publishing, the future of the book, e-books, new concepts of what books are and could be, and using social media and the internet in general. It will also give us a chance to talk with publishing people, young and old, from across Canada.

The front page of the BookCamp site lists the presentations for tomorrow. Many of the 200 people who are attending will be sharing their experiences on Twitter (#bcvan09) and Facebook. I expect that the conversations will continue long after we leave the unconference.

I'll be writing about BookCamp on this blog and on twitter (@pjmartin) tomorrow.

Conferences

The True Value of Conferences

I returned yesterday from a conference on book publishing, sponsored by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. I've attended and organized more conferences than I can remember: some of them have been of dubious value while others have changed my life.

Our conference was held at the Banff Centre, a renaissance learning and conference centre located in Banff National Park in the southwestern corner of Alberta. The motto of the Banff Centre is Inspiring Creativity; the location, facilities and the staff fulfill that motto every time I attend a function there.

We enjoyed and learned from most of the presentations, but, for most of us, the best parts of the conference were the conversations, the sharing of ideas and knowledge during coffee breaks and at meals. We spent time talking about publishing, visual arts, business, our families, and new opportunities.

Yesterday after the conference ended four of us sat in the Banff Centre dining room after lunch, knowing that we had hours to drive that afternoon but not wanting to leave. As you can see from my iPhone photograph this is a dining room and an environment which encourages lingering and chatting.

After a long and enjoyable conversation we left, reluctantly, only to resume our chat in the parking lot. Obviously the conference was a success and this long conversation was one of the best parts of it.

Conferences bring us together to learn from each other and to share our hopes and ideas. We cannot always gather in places like the Banff Centre but we now have options of meeting online. Most of us prefer the best of the person-to-person functions but web conferences allow us to meet and learn from people in many countries, people we would not meet otherwise.

If' you are organizing a conference find the best speakers available and ask them to give presentations of which Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen, and the organizers of the TED conferences would approve. Send them a copy of Presentation Zen. Talk with them several times before the conference to ensure that they understand what you want them to do and that they will do it.

Find a location which is both remote and appealing. Pay attention to the quality of food and lodging. Then ensure that the program allows a lot of time for coffee breaks, lunches, dinners and other free time. Invite the best people, provide the best facilities and watch the magic happen.

I'll be attending The BookCamp Vancouver 2009 Unconference on October 16. Perhaps I'll see you there. If not I and many others will be writing blogs and tweets that day and later. Join us in person or online.

Conferences, Presentations

Podcasts on Publishing

Podcasts on Publishing, a series of ten podcasts presented by The Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA), is now available directly from this site or via iTunes.

The series contains a wide range of excellent information and knowledge that writers, publishers and readers will find interesting and valuable. I had the pleasure of interviewing some of my BPAA colleagues and other experts in the field, including Andrew Savikas, Todd Anderson and Sean Howard, and producing the podcasts.

Podcasts like these provide opportunities for new publishers and new writers to learn about the industry and for veteran writers and publishers to learn from their colleagues.

Thanks to those who participated in this series and thanks to The Canada Council for the Arts (Conseil des Arts du Canada) and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts who made the series possible by providing funding to the BPAA.

Podcasts

Mixed Models for Publishing and Learning

The blogosphere has been full of excellent discussions of how electronic publishing will or will not, should or should not, replace paper publishing. Most of the discussion has focused on an either-or scenario: we'll have paper books or electronic books; we'll have paper newspapers or we'll read the news on a screen. The future of publishing, learning and new technology will be far more promising and more complex than some of us expect.

The good news is that we have choices and that we can access information and knowledge in many different ways. We can now receive news and other information on our iPhones or other devices while we're on buses or while we're sitting in coffee shops. We can watch conference presentations on our iPods and on our computers.

Most of us are now creators on the web as well as consumers. We write blogs, various types of messages and we produce podcasts, both video and audio. Our comments and our content can be read by people throughout the world.

Most newspapers are still producing paper products and are also online. I can still subscribe (and I do) to various newspapers and I can read these same newspapers online. I have a choice. Each day two newspapers are delivered to my door, one local and one from Toronto. On Sunday or Monday the weekend New York Times is dropped at my door. I also subscribe to the Maple Creek News, a bi-weekly paper from my home town.

But I also read headlines and stories from most of these papers online, via applications on my iPhone or Twitter messages. Paper products and electronic messages each serve a role.

Paper books continue to be available in thousands of bookstores in North America, and online, at reasonable prices. Many of these are also available electronically. We choose which format works best for us.

We have many options with regard to learning, and some of these are free. We depend on a combination of formal and informal learning. Even formal face-to-face learning can work effectively in conjunction with distance and e-learning: but most schools and universities in Canada and in many other countries have not supported mixed models of education.

Change is healthy and exciting, and it brings more choice, not less. Paper books, film cameras, newspapers and other tried and true technologies will still be used by some people if they choose them and pay for them. Mixed models of paper and e-books, face-to-face learning and podcasts, and film and digital photography are working.

If you like paper newspapers and books, buy them. If you prefer to use other ways of being informed and communicating with others, use your iPod or computer. The combination of paper and e-products gives us options that could not have been dreamt of even a few years ago. And it will only get more more exciting.

Joni and the Gala

On Saturday, September 6, I attended the Alberta Arts Day Gala, an event which celebrated the arts – visual, literary and performing – in the Province of Alberta. There were arts events happening throughout the Province on Saturday and during the preceding week, but this gala marked a new era in appreciation and support of the arts by the Provincial Government. Lindsay Blackett, Alberta's Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, is a great champion of the arts, and he and the people who work with him are working very hard to focus attention on Alberta art and artists.

Saturday night's event, which featured music, dance and the presentation of awards, was a great success. Three awards, The Grant MacEwan Literary Arts Award, The Tommy Banks Performing Arts Award, and the Marion Nicoll Visual Arts Award, each worth $50,000, were presented to Sid Marty, Stuart Lemoine, and Alex Janvier, respectively.

The gala concluded with Alberta Ballet dancing segments from The Fiddle and the Drum created by Joni Mitchell and Jean Grand-Maître, Alberta Ballet’s Artistic Director. The host of the show, Tim Tamashiro, had hinted earlier that there would be a special surprise guest. That guest was Joni Mitchell. The crowd was on its feet before she got to the podium and gave her the applause that she and the ballet deserved. Lindsay Blackett presented Joni with a special award honouring her and her work.

Mitchell, who was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, told us that the ballet that she and Alberta Ballet created was her most important work. It will tour Canada and the world next year. Don't miss it.

In 1994 I and 17,999 other folk music fans at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival sat on Gallagher Hill and welcomed Joni Mitchell to the first folk festival concert she had played in decades. As she tuned her guitar and chatted about her music and her life I felt that even if she didn't sing the evening would be memorable. She didn't sing on Saturday night, but she and Lindsay Blackett and Tim Tamashiro and every other performer on stage at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary (especially the very young dancer with Alberta Ballet) made the Alberta Arts Gala a very special night.

Literature

New Book on Saskatchewan Communities

A publishing colleague in Alberta showed me Our Towns: Saskatchewan Communities from Abbey to Zenon Park recently and I knew immediately that no matter how crowded my bookshelves were I would find a place for this book. It's attractive, well designed, comprehensive, and well written.

The book is written by David McClennan and published by Canadian Plains Research Center (CPRC) at the University of Regina, with book design and layout by Donna Grant and cover and title page designs by Duncan Campbell of Regina. For anyone who has lived in or near a Saskatchewan town as well as anyone who is interested in prairie history, communities, and architecture this book is 468 pages of pure gold. It's worth far more than the $39.95 price.

The book contains information on 725 Saskatchewan communities. David McLennan covered approximately 55,000 km in Saskatchewan during the creation of this book. His writing is clear and concise, but it's more complete and, I expect, far more accurate than some of the anecdotal material available in the local history publications. The photographs he made and acquired make one want to visit each of the communities.

McLennan has respect for the communities which have prospered and those which have declined. In the discussion of the village of Golden Prairie, where I lived for approximately ten years, he explains how the village had been a successful community in the 1950s, but now the population is 35. 'Caragana bushes are taking over abandoned lots in the village.' He was certainly there.

If you buy this book, and I suggest that you do, do not lend it to your friends or family. They'll like it so much that they will go through it page by page, and you'll be left with a very used book when you finally retrieve it. Suggest that they buy it, or give it to them and buy another one for yourself. They'll be pleased to have it to pass on to their children, and the CPRC deserves continuing success for publishing this and many other wonderful books.

A Book Launch With A Difference: Poet Joyce Harries Meets the Espresso Book Machine

On Thursday, November 15, 2007, Spotted Cow Press launched Joyce Harries' first book of poetry – Twice in a Blue Moon: Poems by Joyce Harries – at the University of Alberta Bookstore in Edmonton. It's a fine volume of verse and Joyce presented it well. Friends and fellow poets came to hear her read and to provide support for this significant event (click here to download a sample of Joyce's poetry from the book ).

There were others in the crowd who came not only to hear Joyce read but to see the new Espresso Book Machine work. Joyce's book was the first trade book produced by the machine. Todd Anderson, Director of the award-winning University of Alberta Bookstore, discussed the machine and how he had decided that he would try to buy a machine after he and Jerome heard Jason Epstein of OnDemand Books discuss the Espresso Book Machine at the Fourth International Conference on the Book in Boston in October, 2006.

There are four Espresso Book Machines in the world at the moment: in addition to this machine there are units operating at the Library at Alexandria in Egypt, the World Bank and the New York Public Library.

Jerome Martin, Publisher at Spotted Cow Press, introduced Todd, who welcomed guests to the Bookstore. Jerome then introduced Joyce who read poems from the different sections in the book. The crowd enjoyed the reading so much that they asked her to read more – and she did.

While Joyce signed books Todd Anderson demonstrated the Espresso Book Machine to a large crowd, including several Alberta publishers. There were cheers and applause when the crowd saw the first book drop from the machine.

The Espresso Book Machine will allow publishers, writers, poets, academics, family historians and others to create and produce small runs on-demand. The unit cost of running one book is the same as that of running 63 or 630 books. It's fast and easy. And it's fun to watch.

Photo Credits: Peter Johnston

The Espresso Book Machine in Action

Jeff Holubitsky of The Edmonton Journal wrote an excellent article about the new Espresso Book Machine (EBM) at the University of Alberta Bookstore. The article, which appeared on the front page of today's Journal, includes information about Spotted Cow Press's book launch on November 15 at which the EBM will be printing copies of Joyce Harries' new book of poetry. There is also a link in the article to a video of the machine in operation at the Bookstore.
We are very excited about the EBM and the book launch. Having this new technology available for short-run books is the best thing that has happened to Alberta publishing in years.

New Technology, New Opportunities: The Espresso Book Machine Arrives At The University of Alberta Bookstore

A year ago (October, 2006) Todd Anderson, Director of the University of Alberta Bookstore, and I travelled to Boston to present a paper at The Fourth International Conference of the Book. Our paper, Competing With Free, discussed the trend towards using websites instead of textbooks in classes. Our paper surprised some of the people who attended our session, but what was most impressive about the conference was the presentation given by Jason Epstein. Epstein, a veteran of the book industry who also has a clear vision of a new future for it, is one of the people responsible for the development of OnDemand Books and the Espresso Book Machine. He talked about how the Espresso could produce a book, bound and trimmed, in as little as a minute, and how this technology can change the publishing industry.
Todd chatted with Jason after the presentation, and, as a result of that conversation, decided to buy an Espresso Book Machine for the University of Alberta Book Store. Todd's a man of vision and action: and today, one year and one week after hearing the story of this unique machine he saw the first books produced by the Espresso at the University of Alberta Bookstore. He and his staff were delighted with the results.
We at Spotted Cow Press are also very pleased that this machine – the most advanced Espresso unit manufactured thus far – is located at the U of A Bookstore. We are launching Twice in a Blue Moon: Poems by Joyce Harries on November 15, 2007, 7:00 PM at the Bookstore; books will be produced by the Espresso Book Machine during the launch. If you would like to attend please go to the Blue Moon page, download an invitation and notify us if you're coming so that we can make a name tag for you.
Joyce, an Edmonton poet and writer, will be reading from her book. She's very excited about seeing her book produced on site – the first trade book printed by the bookstore's Espresso machine.
I'll be writing more about the Espresso Book Machine and its potential. In the meantime, congratulations to Todd Anderson and the U of A Bookstore for seeing the potential of bringing this machine, the only one in Canada and one of just a few in the world, to Edmonton.

The results: books, and a very happy Todd Anderson