Alex Reid

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has announced an investment of nearly $17 million in 51 new innovative interactive projects in the first round of its 2011-2012 Experimental Stream.

The CMF offers financial assistance to support projects at various stages of their completion: production, development or marketing.

In production, the CMF is investing $11.6 million in 22 new projects: 11 games, 5 interactive contents, 4 mobile applications, 1 interactive webseries and 1 application software. The average commitment to each project is $525,000. One project is being carried out in Alberta, 4 in British Columbia, 1 in Prince Edward Island, 1 in Nova Scotia, 11 in Ontario and 4 in Quebec.

In development, the CMF is investing $4.3 million in 25 projects. The average amount offered for each project is $171,000. Five will be developed in British Columbia, 1 in Prince Edward Island, 1 in New-Brunswick, 2 in Ontario, 15 in Quebec and 1 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Finally, in terms of marketing assistance, the CMF is investing $1 million in 4 projects, with an average contribution of $262,000. One project is from British Columbia, 1 is from Ontario and 2 are from Quebec.

Projects were evaluated using the following criteria: innovation, production team, business plan and distribution strategy. Those criteria are detailed in the Evaluation Matrix included in the Experimental Stream’s Guidelines (PDF).

France’s broadcast regulator has prohibited the use of the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” from being mentioned on radio and television, unless that social network is the central part of a news story. So a newscaster can no longer say ‘follow us on Twitter’ or ‘give us your feedback on Facebook’ but could run a story about a politician who used Twitter to send pictures of his private parts.

The thinking is that mentioning these household brands is a form of “clandestine advertising”. The regulator, Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), cites a 1992 statute governing the relationship between journalists and advertising, sponsorship, and “teleshopping”.

Now if this was enacted in Canada, the CBC would lose half of their news content.

(source)

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has just released the final report of her Office’s consultations on the subject of Online Tracking, Profiling and Targeting, and Cloud Computing.

Jennifer Stoddart said:

“Most people have no idea about the rich trail of data they leave behind when they browse the Internet, use social networking sites, or engage the geo-location functions of their mobile devices,” the Commissioner said.

Organizations that track the online activities of Canadians must be more upfront about their practices, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has concluded… “it comes down to meaningful consent, which entails informed consent”.

An application to erect a 650-square-foot “JumboTron” has been made for the property at 712 Portage Ave, next to Gordon Bell High School.

This would be larger than the JumboTron at Portage and Main.

Ouch.

The City of Toronto has released a string of very amusing ads on YouTube featuring two guys Chuck and Vince promoting Toronto’s free pick-up and recycling of unwanted electronics.

This hilarious video is a spoof of the hard sell ‘bring us your gold jewellery’ ads. Two very enthusiastic collectors, Chuck and Vince mug for the camera exclaiming “We want your unwanted electronics!!! It’s easy, just put them out on garbage day.”