New Media

We’re going to New York City in 2009. It’s official. But what are we going to do while we’re there? And where else will my super lady and I be going? We’re not really sure, and we need your help.

We’re looking for advice from NYC longtime residents, expats, tourism professionals, people who have visited NYC recently, or even PR and marketing people for NYC businesses and organizations.

As a bit of background, this pleasant turn of events has come about because my wife was voted Employee of the Year at one of Canada’s only five-diamond hotels in Vancouver (Canada Tourism trivia note: there’s only one other five-diamond in Canada and it’s in Whistler). The prize was a $4,000 travel voucher and five days paid vacation (It’s not redeemable for cash, just airfare and hotel arranged through an appointed agent, in case you were wondering).

We’d decided before the announcement came down that if she won, we’d finally go on a trip to New York City we’ve been putting off for a number of years. We’ve both always wanted to go to the city that never sleeps, but between work and other commitments, it just never happened. But now we’re committed.

Here’s the problem (and I concede it’s a very nice problem to have): we don’t actually know much about New York City other than what we’ve seen on television or in movies, or read in books. So we need help planning the details. For instance:

1. Where are we going to stay?
Obviously, this is a hugely important consideration, since our itinerary will be determined in part by what’s easy to access. The travel voucher will take care of our hotel, but if we’re going to do any traveling elsewhere this year, we’d prefer not to blow the entire amount on a central Manhattan hotel for 7 days.

2. When should we go? And how long should we stay?
We were thinking Spring or Summer. Is there an ideal time of year to be in New York City? And how long does it take to see everything we want to see? We figured the trip would be somewhere from a week to two weeks. We spent about a week in Chicago recently seeing the sights, enjoying great food, art and entertainment and felt that was a perfect amount of time. We figure New York is a bigger city with more to do, so we’ll probably need more time.

3. What are we going to do?
There are a few things we’re definitely doing: visiting Times Square, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum, the United Nations building and the Statue of Liberty. Other than that, our itinerary is pretty open.

Sherry and I like art galleries and museums. We like walking around and going into interesting neighborhoods and taking photos of cool architecture and local (maybe not so famous) landmarks that show off a city’s unique heritage. We like strolling through parks and gardens. We love funky cafes, ethnic restaurants and cool little brew pubs. We might even check out a nightclub or two. What else… I’m a photographer with a pretty decent camera. I’m also a political junkie and Sherry is a huge fan of Sex in the City TV series, so anything to do with either of those interests could be good.

Suggestions?

4. Where else should we go?
We’re considering turning this trip into a multi-city adventure. Are there any other cities or areas near New York City that we should explore before or after we’ve gone to the big city? For instance, is it feasible and desirable to include a trip to Washington, D.C., or Boston? Or is that too ambitious? Based on our interests listed above, is there a must-see place we should go outside of NYC?

Thank you in advance for your help.

In 2008 Currents has garnered a steadily-growing readership for its coverage of a range of topics, from current events and politics to the environment social media and tech trends — all things that I have a deep interest in, even if I don’t always have the time to give each topic the attention it deserves every week. I’m grateful for all of your comments and looking forward to an even better 2009

Here’s are some of the highlights of the year gone by:

January. For no particular reason, I set out to become the most searchable Vancouver blogger and come pretty close to achieving it before setting off the Vancouver Blogger Nerd Fight, in which I choose not to run.

February: At Vancouver’s premier blogging conference, Northern Voice, I meet the guy who makes this blog possible.

March. One Thousand Stories, a documentary about my friend and gifted Vancouver-based writer Kevin Spenst’s literary adventure wins the Paul and Ben Film Festival for best short film. Here’s an interview I did with Kevin after his victory.

April. On the political front, the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee starts enjoying some success in its goal of helping Canadians understand why we need to be involved in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, on the social media scene, Hummingbird604 (then known at the time as a Student of the Environment) provides a blog-inspiring mantra and social media consultant Monica Hamburg gives me a lesson in crowdsourcing.

May. I wander around the world-class UBC Museum of Anthropology and make a video. Also, some people do actually pay me to write for them, and I finally cobbled together some tips for copywriters on my WRITEIMAGE blog.

June. I write about the Great Firewall of China and ponder Vancouver’s success in creating a more environmentally sustainable transportation model.

July. I explore whether us bloggers can and should attempt to provide better web security for our readers when large corporations and public organizations are falling down on that job. Also, Omar Khadr gives me an ethical conundrum and a very bad headache.

August. My preference for more discrete breast-feeding habits for mothers in public spaces makes me a bit of a caveman. On the plus side, I’m told I can now pick my nose and scratch my scrotum in public with no social consequences. I have yet to test out this theory.

September. Dedicated and hard-hitting journalist and author Terry Glavin reminds us again why we must stick to the mission in Afghanistan and ignore the heckles of so-called “peaceniks” who would abandon millions of Afghans to the predations of murderous thugs.

October. A little teaser for the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict plays out on video outside a Vancouver liquor store. Also, I celebrate that it’s time for change in Obama’s adopted hometown (well, before he moved into the White House).

November. Vancouver’s new mayor Gregor Robertson takes on homelessness, just in time, before the cold weather really hits. I have a Super Cool Weekend in Vancouver. Jihadi terrorists bring tragedy to Mumbai, though getting a certain local blogger to express solidarity with the victims against the barbarians is a little like pulling teeth.

December. Currents wins a runner-up award for Best Politics Site or Blog from Miss604’s Best of 604 Awards after a hard, bare-knuckles blogging campaign. A cold winter snap descends on Vancouver. Meanwhile, there’s a political crisis in Ottawa. Vancouver’s indie media tries to work with the Olympics, sparked by Dave Olson and Raincity Studios’ open letter to VANOC, with some excellent commentary on the situation by the OlyBLOG. And just as the year is about to end, I protest for democracy and peace for the Israelis and Palestinians against a bunch of Canadians who don’t seem to really understand what it’s going to take for both sides to get there.

Those are the highlights. Looking forward to a great 2009.

I recently had the opportunity to hear Vancouver-based social media evangelist and writer Monica Hamburg give a presentation on crowdsourcing. For social media mavens (and we’ve got quiiiiiiite a few right here in Vancouver), crowdsourcing can be an important part of their toolkit. For businesses, it’s a way of harnessing the wisdom of crowds for fun and profit. For non-profits, it’s a way of building awareness and organizational strength. But what exactly is crowdsourcing and how do I get it to work?

Monica has the answers to these questions and more in this exclusive interview for the latest episode of the Currents vlog. Enjoy.

If you’ve ever seen an episode of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, you’ll immediately understand the basic premise of crowdsourcing: no one is as smart as all of us. When contestants ask the audience to vote for the correct answer, they’re hoping (and are usually correct) that the majority of the audience will be able to give the correct answer.

Combing the Vancouver blogs for inspiration, I’ve come across social marketing maven Monica Hamburg’s interesting take on crowdsourcing: for corporations, basically just a way to avoid contracting out work to specialists and get lots of raw data or content at little or no cost using the viral data sucking power of the Internet.

I’m not certain it’s all that evil; after all, companies do have to put some specialists to work analyzing all the data and suggestions they get from thousands of strangers in order to utilize it. On balance, crowdsourcing may actually be a pretty positive thing when it comes to keeping our society’s professional elite employed.

On a personal note, I know that I’m benefiting from crowdsourcing with a new viral video marketing campaign I’m in the process of developing from a client who pays me to create it. The best video creators will be awarded with prizes… but am I just exploiting all the ones who submit their stuff for free and don’t win prizes?  Does it qualify as crowdsourcing if it’s using the Internet to submit promotional material for my client, or is it just plain-old fashioned marketing?

Maybe crowdsourcing itself isn’t really anything new. Maybe it’s just a catchy name for something we’ve always had.