Canada 3.0 2010 forum learning stream nurtures young talent for digital media future

STRATFORD - The learning stream of the Canada 3.0 2010 forum will develop a transformative plan to enable the education system to equip young talent for the competitive digital media industry in the country and ensure that Canada is a world research leader in digital media research.

The second annual Canada 3.0 forum will bring together experts who can make that happen, from industry, government and academia. The two-day event, May 10-11, aims to boost the country's ability to lead in the digital economy, essentially making it possible for anyone to do anything online in Canada by 2017.

The Canadian Digital Media Network, a federal centre of excellence in commercialization and research, is organizing the event along with the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.

The forum's stream on learning on Monday, May 10, will be chaired by Sara Diamond, president, Ontario College of Art and Design, and Ken Coates, dean of arts at the University of Waterloo.

"This is an important event for Canada because it brings together great minds from many sectors of the digital world and many other disciplines to look at the ways that education can be transformative, and can take into account the way that new generations are learning, communicating and engaging in research," said Diamond. "It will help us to understand how digital tools and communications can help us to be competitive within a highly competitive global market, allow us to create a sense of identity and cultural strength, and keep us on the cutting edge of knowledge."

Staged at the Rotary Complex in Stratford, where the first Canada 3.0 took place last year, Canada 3.0 2010 features a select group of speakers in the main plenary session with opportunity for attendee discussion and input in a broader range of breakout sessions and workshops.

"We will focus on an action plan to retool the education system so Canada can find and retain talent as well as develop research opportunities to strengthen the evolution of digital media," said Coates, a key figure in the establishment of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.

The learning stream kicks off with a panel discussion on Setting the Agenda: Digital Media and the New Learning Styles: Opportunities, Barriers, A Search for Solutions. The event will be held from 10:40 a.m. to noon.

At lunch, a pecha kucha (a Japanese equivalent to chit-chat)/poster session will be held, whereby presenters spend five to seven minutes showcasing ideas and programs before an audience. Among the presenters is Waterloo's Sean Van Koughnett, founder and director of VeloCity, a student residence-based start-up incubator located on the campus.

An afternoon panel, starting at 1:30 p.m., will look at how a Diverse World Needs Diverse Talent. A round table with employers discussing their skills needs will follow at 3:40 p.m.

On Tuesday, May 11, from 10:40 a.m. to 12 p.m., a panel will explore Digital Media: Successes and Accomplishments in Canadian Digital Media Research.

Afterward, a panel will examine Canada and the Global Digital Environment, from 1 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. Later, from 2:30 p.m to 3:50 p.m., a panel will tackle Digital Commercialization: How can we get it to Work?

Topics to be explored in other forum streams, led by heavy-hitters in the digital media sector, include:

* Imagining — Global best practices: What does Canada do well? What should Canada be doing? Chaired by Tom Jenkins of Open Text Corporation, Gerri Sinclair of the Centre for Digital Media, B.C., and Ian Wilson, director of the University of Waterloo Stratford Initiative.

* Empowering — Networks, infrastructure and mobility.

* Changing — Digital rights, regulations and policies.

* Creating — Developing content and commercialization opportunities. This session will be chaired by Tim Jackson, University of Waterloo associate vice-president (commercialization) and CEO of the Accelerator Centre, and by Kevin Newman, executive editor of Global National News.

Canada 3.0 is supported by many key organizations, including the Waterloo Region tech organization Communitech; lead sponsors Open Text Corporation; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc.; Research In Motion; Agfa HealthCare; the City of Stratford and more.

The event will build on the momentum created at last year's forum that attracted about 1,500 people, and will have a broad scope given that digital media is defined by organizers as anything created or shared virtually.