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Annual Report, 2009

open media,open democracy

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

OpenMedia.ca

From the National Coordinator 3

Organizational Development 4

Emerging Media Reform Movement 5

OpenMediaca Online 6

OpenMediaca Campaigns & Projects 7

SaveOurNetca 8

Fresh Media 10

Media Democracy Day 12

More Campaigns 14

Looking Forward 15

Network Members 19

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Dear riend,

2009 has been an incredibly exciting year! Over this past year, we have worked diligently onnumerous exciting initiatives such as Fresh Media, SaveOurNet.ca, and Media Democracy Day.There were packed Open Internet Town Hall events in our cities, over 12,000 comments weresent to the CRTC in support o Net Neutrality, and both the Liberal and NDP parties came onsideand aggressively showed their support or Internet openness.

We also re-branded our organization rom Campaign or Democratic Media to OpenMedia.ca, a name that betterreects our image, values, and principles o openness ensuring that everyone has open and accessible connec-tions to each other and to a wide diversity o opinions and expression through our media institutions, structures, andpolicies.

This year, transormative change will come through what I like to call the open media movement. This burgeoningmovement is really a constellation o interconnected yet distinct communities that are advancing and deending

open communication rights and values around open source sotware, open data, open Internet, open web, opencontent, open education, open government, and all things open.

At rst glance, open media is simply about the above issues that have intrinsic values such as accessibility, choice,diversity, and openness. While these values intersect to create an essential nucleus or media innovation, they areonly starting points. For example, access and choice, in addition to putting value in real choice or online content andInternet Service Providers, also touch on the need or media literacy, production programs, and knowledge.

Likewise, a media system that supports diversity and ground-up innovation includes support mechanisms or dier-ent ownership models -- independent, non-prot, campus, community, and public media. The best way to supportcultural creators, media workers, citizen producers, and consumers, is by developing an underpinning o diversitythat we can tap into.

The open media movement has become increasingly vibrant and is well positioned to take advantage o the declin-ing power o Big Media. We know that journalism and media production in general are sustainable; its the big mediamodel that is unsustainable. The crisis in the traditional media industry, combined with the prolieration o the mostopen medium in history, the Internet, has produced a historic opportunity or media and journalism to serve ourcommunities again. However, this crisis alone does not guarantee a permanent positive transormation o our mediasystem.

Canada is acing a big battle with respect to digital strategy policy. As you read this, Canada still has a wireless marketthat is among the most concentrated and expensive in the world. Canada is also alling behind other OECD countriesconcerning key Internet measurements, and unlike many other countries, Canada lacks a national broadband plan.

I we get digital public policy right, we can turn this around and become a leader in Internet and mobile communica-tions, which will lead to empowerment, job creation, and new orms o entrepreneurialism, expression, and socialchange. But this requires bold action rom policy makers and politicians and its our job to create pressure ordecisive action.

As we continue to build momentum and create awareness, it looks promising that 2010 will be the year that the openmedia movement ully blossoms. I hope youll join us in creating a media and news ecology that is responsive,participatory, and open a resh media system or the 21st century.

Steve Anderson

From the National Coordinator

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Annual Report 201

Where were at:OpenMedia.ca and the SaveOurNet.ca Coalition areregarded as groups that are cutting edge, pushing theenvelope, and creating innovative strategies throughoutour campaigns. We are a nexus or citizen engagementin media and communications and we are uniquelypositioned to be a catalyst or reinventing Canadasmedia.

CommunityTo date, the OpenMedia.ca online contacts have grown

to over 10,000 across the country and we expect it tomore than double in 2010 as we gain exposure throughthe web, talks, events, and building relationships.

Fresh SpaceOpenMedia.ca has acquired a working space at the newW2 gallery space at 112 West Hastings.

Building RelationshipsThrough various projects and events, we are buildingrelationships and partnerships with organizations andinstitutions like Vancouvers W2 Community Media ArtsCentre, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby campus),the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and otherenvironmental, arts, public policy, technology, and socialchange groups.

In the MediaOver the past year, members o OpenMedia.ca,SaveOurNet.ca, and Fresh Media have been eatured inboth local and national media.

Steve Anderson has been interviewed by CBC National,Global National, and CBC Radio. He has been a guest onnumerous radio stations across the country and a regularon local talk radio stations like 1410 in Vancouver, andhe has been written about or quoted in print and onlinelocal and national sources such as The Toronto Star,Rabble.ca, The Tyee, Briarpatch magazine, and more.

This year we took a bold leap orward toward building a brighter, lastinguture or the open media movement and the initiatives o Campaign orDemocratic Media. We seized the opportunity to rebrand the organizationin a way that is more reective o the direction that will best position us totackle and take on critically important issues as they arise.

OpenMedia.ca, the ofcial new name, reects our commitment to pursuingand creating a media system in Canada that is open and accessible. As online communications and webbased tools gain in popularity, our new brand reects this shit while still encompassing other, moretraditional orms o media.

OpenMedia.ca is stronger and more memorable, and eectively communicates what we are all about. Wehave nalized the new logo and over the coming weeks, our website will be redeveloped to a more open,navigatable, and accessible resource or Canadians. We have become the go-to resource or Canadians onmedia, culture, and telecommunication issues and now with a more recognizable and reective brand, wecan reach out to more people than ever.

A New Brand for A Growing Movement

OPEN Media,

OPEN Democracy

Organizational Development

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Revitalizing a Media Reform

Movement in CanadaIn December, we completed a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Report entitled Revitalizing a MediaReorm Movement in Canada. The report is the result o an in-depth study unded by the Necessary Knowledgeor a Democratic Public Sphere program o SSRC, with support rom the Ford Foundation. It was conducted inpartnership with Robert A. Hackett at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), and the World As sociation or ChristianCommunication (WACC), an ecumenical NGO concerned with communication rights or all.

The aim o the study was to help identiy issues, allies, resources, and rames that could acilitate successul mediareorm campaigns, projects, and partnerships. We prepared and distributed an online questionnaire to 224 currently

and potentially allied NGOs, conducted 18 telephone and in-person interviews with key individuals in Canadianadvocacy groups, and held a workshop o 19 activists, advocates, academics, trade unionists, and independent mediaproducers, including the OpenMedia.ca national steering committee.

The research shows that there is denitely potential or a much stronger network and movement or change in mediaand telecommunications in Canada. Key ndings include:

There is overwhelming recognition o the importance o the Internet in NGO work, and unanimousendorsement o the principle o Net Neutrality as a regulatory underpinning or equitable and aordableaccess to the Internet.

The data conrm that trade unions and independent media, arts, and culture groups, particularly thoserepresenting media and cultural workers, are core advocates or democratic communications. Other groups,

especially those concerned with human rights, are also supportive.

More than hal o survey respondents rate Canadian mainstream medias democratic perormance as poor orvery poor, although many NGOs report positive relationships with particular media.

NGOs appear to have a more avorable view o the CBC and independent media.

An overwhelming majority o NGOs agree that the quality and diversity o Canadian journalism aects theirorganizations work.

There is an encouraging culture o collaboration amongst NGOs in the sectors we surveyed.

Values such as openness, accessibility, participation, choice, diversity, and innovation may resonate well withNGOs in Canada.

Media reorm organizations should consider some kind o expansive institutional structure, such as anassociation or network that can acilitate communication and engagement with a broad and diverse array oorganizations.

The study was released in January 2010 and is available online atwww.openmedia.ca /revitalize. Building rom thisstudy, OpenMedia.ca will be inviting citizens to provide input concerning our work through an online survey.

rganizational Developement

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Annual Report 201

OpenMedia.ca Online

VIRAL VIDEO

In February 2009,

Steve Anderson appearedin a video entitled Saving

Canadas Internet. Thevideo went viral on

YouTube in 2 days withover 20,000 views.

Also in February 2009,

OpenMedia.ca launchedan online campaign orValentines Day. The Makethe Internet Your Valentinevideo made its YouTubedebut to raise awareness

about Net Neutrality and build momentum or theSaveOurNet.ca campaign. The video saw over 1000 hits inits rst week.

YouTubeHighlights

OpenMedia.ca, SaveOurNet.ca, Media DemocracyDay, and Fresh Media have eectively used the webto gain a vital online presence. Through Facebookan pages and groups, twitter, blog posts, weeklyalerts, and mail-outs, we have the ability to reachmore people than ever.

Twitter conversations and online live discussionscontinue to build momentum around variousissues including a recent discussion hosted by the

Financial Post on the Trafc Management Hearingsin July 2009.

Through live streaming o events like our Torontoand Vancouver Internet Town Halls, Vancouver Inter-net Dance Party, and Fresh Media Festival, we wereable to reach national audiences and allow them to

participate and contribute to panels, roundtables,and other conversations.

Reaching out

to more people across the countrythan ever before...

Holiday Card to Tony Clement

OpenMedia.ca has been innovative and creative withour online campaigns. In December, we launched ourSaveOurNet.ca holiday card campaign, encouragingCanadians to sign a twitter card to Industry MinisterTony Clement asking him to stand up or InternetFreedom. We also encouraged them to send aletter rom our site calling on Minister Clementto ask the CRTC to conduct regular complianceaudits o ISP trafc management practices.

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Campaigns & Projects

OpenMedia.ca

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Annual Report 201

SaveOurNet.ca

Toronto Open Internet Town Hall

Talking to Canadians,

Across the CountryIn June, the SaveOurNet.cacoalition hosted town halldiscussions in Toronto, Vancouver,and Ottawa to engage the publicin open discussions on what theuture o the Internet should looklike.

Some o the speakers includedJacob Glick - Canada Policy

Counsel, Google Canada; RockyGaudrault - CEO TeksavvySolutions Inc; Charlie Angus,NDP; Mark Surman - ExecutiveDirector, Mozilla Foundation;Derek Blackadder - National Repwith CUPE; Raymi the Minx; andnumerous other special guests.

Each town hall was packed withparticipants and we realizedjust how engaged people are

concerning Internet governanceissues.

Discussions propelled the open

Internet movement through thenal stretch o our campaign topush the CRTC to take actionconcerning trafc management.

Torontos town hall was livestreamed with unprecedentedpartnerships with several printand online media outlets andalternative weeklys including

Now Magazine, The GeorgiaStraight, The Real News, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, Straight Goods,and numerous popular, leadingblogs such as michaelgeist.ca, beyondrobson.com, andhummingbird604.com.

We also live streamed Vancouverstown hall event on our websiteand were thereore able to reachthousands o people across the

country who wouldnt haveotherwise known about thetown halls and the issue o NetNeutrality.

Citizen input rom these andother SaveOurNet.ca events willprovide a solid oundation or thecreation o our 2010 SaveOurNet.ca Canadas Internet report.

For more ino, visit:www.SaveOurNet.ca/townhalls

Toronto Town Hall Panel - Rocky Gaudrault,Derek Blackadder, Sass & RaymitheMinx

Town Halls

Ottawa Open Internet Town HallSteve Anderson

(Photo by Andrew Louis / hyfen.net)

(Photo by Andrew Louis / hyfen.net)

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Internet Dance Party

Playing with new ways to engage

audiences and extend our network,we put together a celebratory partywith several musical perormancesat Gallery Gachet in downtownVancouver. The party put us in touchwith a new constituency who had notpreviously known about the threatsposed by ISPs to the open Internet.

SaveOurNet.ca coalition membersand network experts appearedbeore the CRTC at the trafcmanagement hearing in Quebec tomake the case or Net Neutrality.

THE TRIFECTA

On July 9, SaveOurNet.cas public

interest presentation includedtestimony rom an all-star teamincluding one o the originalarchitects o the Internet, Dr. DavidReed o MIT (one o the engineerswho helped develop the underlyingarchitecture o the Internet),and network experts Dr. AndrewOdlyzko o the Minnesota InternetTrafc Studies (MINTS) project,and Bill St. Arnaud, Chie ResearchOfcer or CANARIE Inc., CanadasAdvanced Internet Development

Organization, alongside DavidFewer, Acting Director at CIPPIC, andSteve Anderson.

Steve Anderson brought citizenvoices to the hearing, representingthe over 12,000 comments sentto the CRTC by Canadians. Hehighlighted that the CRTC works orthe Canadian people and that their

decisions impact consumer choice,innovation, and ree speech.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

In a tangible step orward, theCRTC put orth trafc managementramework on October 21,dening what is considered unjust

discrimination o Internet trafc.This provides a platorm or publicinterest interventions in the uture.

Internet throttling continues or

now, but Canadians now have a

point o leverage to put a stop tothis practice.

Political Dimension

As a result o the SaveOurNet.

ca coalitions strong eorts, NetNeutrality topped the liberal agendaon their voice.liberal.ca site in May.Also that month, New DemocratDigital Aairs Critic Charlie Angus,tabled Bill C-398 in avour o NetNeutrality. By the end o 2009, boththe New Democratic Party and theLiberals have adopted ofcial partypolicies supporting Net Neutrality.

In order to extend our reach to more people, we created an Open InternetEvangelist Toolkit. From our site, citizens can download this guide and hosttown hall meetings in various ormats.

The Toolkit is accompanied by a Net Ambassador video presentation thatwe put together with Matt Thompson. The video has already been viewedonline over 10,000 times and is used regularly at talks. People can show thevideo and or use the accompanying slides and transcript.

Already community groups in Haliax have utilized our toolkit and workedwith us to organize a town hall event in their city. It was a high prole eventwith segments broadcast by the local CBC radio station. Groups in Quebec,Barrie, Ontario and elsewhere are planning to use our toolkit to organizeevents in 2010.

See the toolkit here:www.SaveOurNet.ca/toolkit

Internet Evangelist Toolkit

CRTC Hearings - July 6-10, 2009

SaveOurNet.ca

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Fresh Media

On Saturday October 24,OpenMedia.ca launched ourbiggest estival in Vancouvercalled Fresh Media Festival.The one-day orum provideda positive space to celebrateinnovation and independentmedia and re-imagine media andjournalism in Canada.

Fresh Media Festivalwas aantastic day o collaboration,discussion, sharing o ideasand skills, and creating on-the-spot media and art through aseries o workshops, panels,roundtables, and diverse mediaand art showcases. We packedthe W2 Centre with hundredso participants representingstudents, proessionals, media

makers, artists, and citizens.

The estival was live streamed to anational audience via NowPublic,The Tyee, Vancouver Observer,OpenMedia.ca, SaveOurNet.ca,and FreshMedia.me, allowingpeople across the country toparticipate in our main panel andonline TV show. We were alsoable to beam in guests such as

Amber Mac, Mark Surman, JudyRebick, and Jason Mogus.

We helped create momentum ora dynamic community that willchange the ace o media movingorward. The Fresh Media Festivalsets the stage or a crowd sourcednational campaign in 2010 to

push or policies in support oindependent, community, andpublic media.

Fresh Media received incrediblepublicity and press coverage romboth online and print sourcesincluding Yelp.ca, The Tyee, Xtra.ca, Xtra West, Vancouver Observer,Rabble.ca, Vancouver Media Coop,The Vancouver Sun, The Source,

Schema Magazine; and radio andTV interviews with TALK1410,CKNW, CJSF, CBCs The National,and CBC radio.

For a complete list o all thetalent, workshops, and more,please visit:www.freshmedia.me

Celebrating innovation

&Re-imagining media and journalism

Fresh Media 2009, Meet a Blogger Corner (Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

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Clockwise from top: Crowd at What is Media? Panel; Fresh Media Crew - Vivian, Kat & Joey; Yelp.ca in the exhibition; Party

goers creating on the letterpress; fresh hot type poster; live painting in the windows at Fresh Media Festival.

FRESH HOT TYPE

We partnered with W2 to throw anamazing Fresh Media aterparty thateatured local djs and mcs and hadparty goers typesetting using theWoodwards letterpress.

Fresh Media

(Photos by Kaitlyn Kat Braybrooke (kaibray.com) & Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

(Photos by Honey Mae - creativetechnology.org)

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Annual Report 201

Be the Media Panel: Nick Middleton, Linda Solomon, Leela Chinniah, Dawn Paley, and Kim Elliott.

In its 8th year, Media Democracy Day Vancouverwas well attended with hundreds o participantsengaging in hands-on workshops, paneldiscussions, and the Media Democracy Fair.Audience-panel discussions pushed sessions totheir limits and eedback thus ar has been verypositive!

Keynote speakers included: Favianna Rodriguez- Renowned SF Bay Area digital graphic artist/community arts centre ounder, and DonaldGutstein - SFU Pro/author o Not a Conspiracy

Theory. Other speakers included: Rae Mair -Political Journalist and ormer BC Cabinet Minister,Gwen Barlee - Western Canada WildernessCommittee, Robert Hackett - SFU Proessor andauthor o Remaking Media, Nick Middleton - co-writer, director, and editor o Be the Media, andmore!

Pushing Beyond the Frame...

For more visit: www.mediademocracyday.org/vancouver

Media Democracy Day

(Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

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Clockwise from top left: Keynote speaker Donald Gutstein; Community TV 101 Panel - Seonok Lee, Robert Prey, Sid Tan, & Lianne Payne;Keynote speaker Favianna Rodriguez; We the Media workshop with Colette Gunson.

Media Democracy Day

(All Photos by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

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Annual Report 201

In support o the Canadian Media Guild,OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign to save ree TV.11 million people in smaller cities and towns acrossCanada are at risk o losing access to ree, over-the-air TV service as TV networks try to cut costs.

We asked Canadians to take action by sending amessage to the Minister o Heritage, James Moore,copying the President o CBC/Radio-Canada, and

CEOs o CTVglobemedia and Canwest (Global TV).So ar, over 2000 comments have been sent to theCRTC urging them to rethink approval o a plan tocut ree TV.

For more ino, please visit:www.cmg.ca/newsresults.asp?ID=1382&SubjectID=12&BranchID=10

The CRTC is reconsidering the role o communitytelevision in Canada and we have a historicopportunity to create a rejuvenated, FRESH, andinnovative independent media sector in Canada.

In early December, CACTUS and OpenMedia.calaunched a campaign to create an independentproduction und that would support theestablishment o community media centres toprovide training, resources, and acilities to keep

media resh, diverse, and independent.

The CRTC is conducting a Public Consultation orthe rst review o community television in eightyears. We are encouraging Canadians to voice theirconcerns about the current state o community TV.Hearings will be held in Ottawa/Gatineau startingon April 26th, 2010.

Visit:www.OpenMedia.ca/community

Last May, OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign

urging Canadians to contact the CRTC in support oAl Jazeera Englishs (AJE) application to broadcast inCanada.

Thanks to leading eorts by Anita Krajnc,OpenMedia.cas Canadians or Al-Jazeera campaignwas successul! More than 2,600 public commentswere submitted to the CRTC in support o AJE.

The CRTC approved AJE to broadcast in Canada,

a huge victory or the diversity o Canadas medialandscape.

The Al Jazeera eect has already diversied Arabmedia with its orthright and daring journalismsince it was launched in 2006. Now with the abilityto broadcast in Canada, AJE will introduce a muchneeded global southern perspective.

More Campaigns

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Looking Forward

We know that big media practices are ailing andnances are unsustainable. The crisis in the tra-ditional media industry can be the opportunityor media and journalism to serve our communi-

ties again. The question is: who is going to ll thevacuum where big media once was?

Also, while the Internet is perhaps the most trans-ormative communications technology in humanhistory, Canada has allen behind in terms o Inter-net access, speed, and cost. We still have a decitin Internet openness, as several Internet ServiceProviders continue to limit access to content andservices in this country.

The CRTCs new trafc management guidelines arean important achievement or the open media

movement, but it is still not enough to ensure thatwe have access to all the Internet has to oer.

Canadas digital destiny is dependent upon whetherCanadians are allowed to provide input into policiesand whether our representatives are bold enoughto provide leadership. Better media means betterpolicies and that requires engaging all Canadiansin the discussion. To be successul in the long run,well need a homegrown strategy that captures theimagination, creativity, and ingenuity o peoplerom across Canada.

2010 Core Projects:

Digital Strategy

Fresh Media

SaveOurNet.ca

Outreach Programs

Moving orward, OpenMedia.ca will ocus itseorts in our main areas: Fresh Media, SaveOurNet.ca, helping to develop and push orward a madein Canada digital strategy, and delving deeper intocommunity building, education, and awareness

programs and activites.

Within each area o ocus, we will develop strategiesand tools by which to hold the Canadian govern-ment accountable.

(Photo by Kaitlyn Kat Braybrooke - kaibray.com)

The Future of Media, Fresh Media Exhibition

(Photo by vanz via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

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Annual Report 201

FRESH MEDIA:

One thing is clear: to implement the changes we need, our leaders must be emboldened by broad-basedpublic support. We will require both visionary leadership and old-ashioned organizing to engage thepublic on these crucial issues such as re-invigorating public media and support or innovative, independentmedia and Canadian culture.

The rst goal o this initiative is to spark a broader conversation about the uture o media. We lit that sparkwith our Fresh Media Festival in the all o 2009, and now we need to build that successul dialogue into alarger consensus or media innovation. The initial ideas that came out o our Fresh Media Festival and on-line interactive TV Show will need to be ne-tuned and put into action.

Work Plan:

Push the CRTC to direct the $100,000,000 Commu-nity Media levy (that the cable companies collect)

towards the creation o new-media incubators thatlead to job creation, empowerment, and mediainnovation.

Devise a citizen powered Fresh Media policyproposal and report, laying out a ramework or arejuvenated and ercely independent media systemin Canada.

Develop a Fresh Media Index a searchable, partici-patory, online database o public and independentmedia, and independent Internet Service Provid-ers. This is a crucial resource or citizens wishing to

make a Fresh choices concerning media and Internetservices.

Looking Forward

OUTREACH:

Community, Education, and Awareness Programs

Working with the Tides Foundations Media Democracy Project, and in collaboration with Simon FraserUniversity, we are developing a youth-led education initiative that brings our message into high schoolsand universities through an interactive workshop entitled Opening the Internet Finding and Deending

Democracy Online.

In this pilot project, students are introduced to some undamental concepts surrounding the Internet,including its ounding principles, its potential or cultural and artistic innovation, and the current threat toits democratic basis due to intererence rom commercial Internet Service Providers.

Students acquire resources around community involvement and support or net neutrality in Canada. Theyare directed to a special section o our website with suggested steps or taking action on media issues, keycontacts, and a detailed map o the youth media education and production environment in the GreaterVancouver Area.

(Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)Storytelling Through Podcasts Workshop with Dave Olsen

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Looking Forward

SaveOurNet.ca:

High-speed Internet, or broadband, is one o the most transormative communications technologies

in human history. There is something uniquely powerul about everyday people having access to theInternet rom tiny devices in their pocket. That ubiquitous access to each other creates possibilities thatare worth ghting or and saving. The mobile and wireless accessed Internet is pivotal to our success inbecoming a leader in communications, as well as to the improvement o our economy on the whole.

The fact is, broadband is no longer a luxuryits a public necessity.

Although the CRTCs new trafc managementguidelines are an important milestone in the ghtor an open Internet, they also put the onus on

consumers to le complaints and prove that ISPsare throttling our use o the Internet. Allowing bigtelecom companies to continue acting like Internetgatekeepers is bad or ree expression, bad or con-sumer choice, bad or innovation, and the economy.

Building on the many victories already won, theSaveOurNet.ca coalition and the open Internet com-munity will ocus on pushing or ISP audits. We willalso push or Net Neutrality legislation and ensurethat all uture legislation and guidelines apply to theincreasingly important wireless Internet access.

Work Plan:

SaveOurNet.ca is running an online letter writing campaign asking Tony Clement to take action.Tony Clement has elt the pressure and responded with his own letter conrming his reluctance totake action on this issue. A dialogue has begun, now we need to show him that there are politicalcosts associated with his inaction. We will continue our innovative educational and citizen engage-ment eorts until Clement takes action.

SaveOurNet.ca will publish an open letter to Tony clement rom leading businesses, thought lead-ers, and cultural groups.

SaveOurNet.ca will rally citizens, public interest groups, and businesses, behind the rst complaintagainst an ISP using the CRTCs trafc management guidelines. Setting a precedent here is crucial,we must ensure that we do not lose the rst complaint.

SaveOurNet.ca is conducting groundbreaking research on the centrality o Internet openness tosocial change, our economy, and ree expression. We will publish a report titled Canadas Internet:Open, Competitive, Innovative. This rst o its kind report will be used to sway the ew businesses,NGOs, and politicians that remain on the ence concerning Net Neutrality. We expect our reportand corresponding campaign to complete the Net Neutrality debate once and or all.

(Photo by codiceinternet via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

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Annual Report 201

Looking Forward

DIGITAL STRATEGY:

Canada needs a vision. We need a long-term viable investment in policy - a made in Canada digital strat-

egy - one that takes the best rom what other countries are doing and adds to it the unique characteristicso Canada. We can once again become a leader in cultural production and communications access, speed,and innovation, and we can close digital divides that prevent people rom expressing themselves andconnecting with each other.

To harness this opportunity, politicians and policy makers will need to develop a digital strategy that ocus-es on mobile communications and Canadas broadband inrastructure.

Our government needs to engage citizens in this process rather than listen to lobbyists behind closeddoors. This is our uture, were all stakeholders, and we all need to be invited into the process.

We remain at a communications crossroads in Canada. Asthe uture o traditional media remains in ux, we needto make inroads at the policy level in order to guaranteethat every citizen across the country hasaccess to all the Internet has to oer.

In 2010 and beyond, the policy-making process concern-ing Canadas digital strategy promises to be acrucial and highly contested space, where the decisionsthat are made will have a deep and long lastingimpact on Canadian media and communications. Ourdigital strategy must contain policies that are bold andtransormative; policies that jumpstart digital innovationand restore Canadas global Internet leadership.

Work Plan:

OpenMedia.ca, its partners, and volunteers will launch a pan-Canadian digital strategy consultationcalled MyDigitalStrategy.ca. We will ask Canadians across the country to tell us what their digital strat-egy looks like. At the core o this consultation will be a short survey that OpenMedia.ca, our partners,and volunteers will distribute to Canadians across the country.

The results rom the survey will be used or a crowd-sourced digital policy proposal called: DigitalCanada.

The Consultation will both build consensus around the policy positions we put orth, and build a com-munity o voters who will hold politicians to act on our proposal.

OpenMedia.ca will host and take part in a series o public orums to elevate discussion on these keyissues, and collect input or our proposal.

(Photo by dalbera via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

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Network Members