Votre Excellence, distingués invités, récipiendaires primés, collègues et amis de l’histoire du Canada.

Au cours des quinze dernières années, nous avons eu le privilège de nous retrouver ici, à la résidence du gouverneur général, afin de récompenser les meilleurs professeurs d’histoire du pays, et nous sommes heureux de revivre cette expérience ce matin.

In recent years, with the support of Rideau Hall, we have invited students, filmmakers, historians and others engaged in the field of history to join in the celebration. We have had the desire for quite some time to bring formal recognition to the many other ways our history is taught, shared and discovered by Canadians.

C’est une vision que nous partageons avec plusieurs sociétés d’histoire du Canada, qui sont maintenant partenaires de nos célébrations d’aujourd’hui. The Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Museums Association, the Begbie History Society and the Historica-Dominion Institute all join with me this morning Your Excellency to thank you for your support of the history community through the establishment of these new national honours, the Governor General’s History Awards.

Amidst all the good news announcements this week, I did however have one belligerent journalist ask what exactly was so “new” about these Governor General’s History Awards since clearly there have been many history prizes before this.

Although the power and potential of what we have started here this morning seems very clear to me, it was lost on him. But like most people in the history business, I’m a patient person. We know that time is on our side.

On dit que les meilleurs changements surviennent dans le calme, afin qu’ils paraissent les plus naturels possible.

Throughout our history we’ve seen that big visions, transformational changes, often begin— wisely — with small, sometimes unnoticed first steps.

Tout comme lorsque Sir John A. Macdonald et le gouvernement de coalition du Haut et du Bas Canada s’invitèrent à la conférence de mille-huit-cent-soixante quatre afin de discuter du projet d’Union maritime.

Or when Nellie McClung and the Manitoba suffragettes started to organize pink tea parties in the early 1900s.

Ou encore lorsque Lord Stanley décida de dynamiser les matchs de hockey au Canada en décernant une Coupe d’argent à la meilleure équipe.

I believe these new awards will become another example.

Canadians have told us repeatedly they are interested in their history and they’re concerned that they should know more about it. Throughout this time, there have always been excellent classroom teachers, il y auraient toujours des excellent exemples des programmes d’histoire dans nos musées et notre communautés, as well as extraordinary academic research, books, films and media productions. What’s been missing is opportunity for wider collaboration. And as you consider the examples I just provided, vision and change are often sparked by the simple act of bringing people together.

Ces nouveaux prix permettent de regrouper tous ces talents et toutes ces expériences dans le cadre d’un grand événement annuel. We at Canada’s History have every expectation that great things will happen in history because of this new network these awards will naturally form.

We are grateful that this vision has received the strong endorsement of our key supporters; TD Bank Group, Enbridge, EF Educational Tours; as well as Manulife Financial and Yoseph Wosk who so generously contribute to the Macdonald Prize and History Alive awards. We welcome the presence of their representatives here this morning.

And of course Your Excellency, we are most grateful to you.

Votre engagement a non seulement donné aux passionnés d’histoire de nouvelles occasions de faire connaître leur travail, mais il a permis aux membres du public de mieux comprendre la pertinence et l’importance de cette œuvre collective, qui contribue à façonner notre culture et nos valeurs, et à tisser des liens plus serrés entre les peuples de cette nation.

Thank you. Merci. Megwetch.

Photos, top to bottom: Deborah Morrison, First Nations dancer from Odyssey Showcase, Marc Chalifoux of TD and His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston with the History Alive! winners from Centre des sciences de Montréal.

I admit I am a little intimidated in attempting to describe this visitor experience for this site.  Not just because I want to ensure it properly reflects the dignity and respect I have for our fallen Canadians remembered here, but also because one of the very best Storied Places Contest submissions has already beautifully captured the essence of Vimy.

This is my first time visiting the battlefields in Europe, a fact that may be surprising given my role as Canada’s History Society president.  I have wanted to take the journey to Vimy for some time. Being able to go with a group of Canadians (as opposed to going on my own with my family) has made the experience even more powerful.

As we pull into the Vimy Battlefield site we are in a forest of trees – pines all around us and a boulevard lined with Maples.  Our guide explains that there was never a forest in this area, but after the war Canadians planted every one of these trees “so that our boys will have something familiar around them to give them some peace.”

At the battlefield site there is a very modern-looking interpretation centre, and as you look through a cluster of trees you can see the Monument off in the distance.  We begin with a tour of the restored tunnels underneath which are damp and smell like saddened earth.  It is hard to imagine these tunnels crammed with soldiers in full gear, or as we see down one of the original tunnels, a railway running through them on wooden ties.  The guide tells us the railway had to operate on wood because steel rails would have made too much noise. 

It isn’t until we resurface and head toward the front line trenches at Vimy Ridge that I full understand why sounds were such a concern.  With all of the books, the movies, and articles I have read about Vimy I never grasped just how close the two sides were to each other. I imagined a no man’s land that was much vaster than what we saw before us.  At several points along the frontlines the distances between the two lines was impossibly close.  At the interpretation site only a small footbridge over a deeply cratered hillside separates the Canadian and German frontlines. 

We learn that the craters were created by both sides due to their aggressive tunneling underneath the battlefields and the extensive use of explosives to protect their own tunnels or destroy others as and when they encountered them.  There are still many undetonated land mines making it extremely dangerous for maintenance workers and groundskeepers.   

Which explains the sheep grazing on the Vimy fields.  Apparently the sheep are smart enough to avoid tripping the landmines that they use them to groom the site moving them to new locations on a daily basis.  The electric fencing is in fact designed to keep the sheep in, rather than the tourists out.  (A note for those concerned with the animals’ welfare: our guide assures us that there hasn’t been an incident of an exploding sheep for quite some time. The rare occasions when it has occurred has most often been attributed to something startling the sheep and causing them to fall or step onto a trigger.)

Here Canadians trained for six months before making their assault to capture Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. Every night, soldiers would raid the enemy lines to gather more intelligence to help them in planning their attack. For some reason I never got it into my head that at some points it was probable that they could have heard the enemy talking, coughing, or sharing a joke to keep their spirits up. How incredibly nerve-wracking that must have been for a 17, 18, 19 year old boy.  Nor did I fully grasp that the famous “rolling barrage” under which our soldiers advanced was concentrated within such a short span of space.  I know I should have “known” all this before, and I’m slightly embarrassed that I never really understood that which I did “know.”  Being here has provided more than simply a fresh perspective it’s like gaining another sense. I’ll read and watch these stories differently from now on.

From the battlegrounds, we walked up the roadway to the Vimy Memorial.  All of the memorials face in the same direction in which the soldiers were headed and so we are approaching the monument from the back.  For the past three days every time we’ve talked about Vimy, those who have already seen it have talked about how emotional an experience it is, and each time I’ve been getting choked up just thinking about it.  We stop to take each other’s pictures in front of the monument before we start our ascent.  Situated on top of Hill 145 the highest point on the Ridge, it is by far, the largest and most impressive of the War Memorials.

Walking up the steps I think to myself, “so far so good, my emotions are not getting the better of me” and I walk along the long bad of names stopping to take pictures of the Morrisons, MacLarens, Lawsons, Kennys, and Jacksons that appear there.  I do not know if any of these missing men are direct ancestors of mine, but imagine that some of them might be.  So many Canadian families lost a loved one in this war. 

As I continue to explore the monument and turn the corner to stand at the front of the monument – I see the wide expanse of countryside in front of me.  I look up at the sculpture Canada Bereft (Mother Canada) and I catch my breath.  Suddenly I am overwhelmed by an odd combination of grief and pride.  We Canadians all too often tend to downplay our strengths, our accomplishments, and our patriotism, but here on this site, we Canadians held nothing back.  Not when we fought here, and not when we returned to remember what happened here. 

It seems right then not to hold anything back now.  And so, I don’t.  Standing over 6000 miles away from home feeling more connected to my country than ever before.


  

This isn’t going to be a typical tour since most of the participants are only advancing a trip they will be taking with their students next April 9^th 2012 to mark the 95^th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge.  The agenda is compressed and today’s trip will include shorter visits to three sites:  Theipval; Beaumont-Hamel, and Vimy.  

Our journey starts with a typical Parisian breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat, cheese, eggs, and of course coffee. Nearly 80 teachers and tour leaders load into the bus with me for the 2-hour drive to the Lille region.  As we approach the areas where most of the World War I battles were fought, author Tim Cook (Shock Troops; The Madman and The Butcher) sets the scene for us, explaining the events and strategies that brought over a million men onto the fields alongside of us.  There is a sharp contrast to the destruction, decay, and rot he describes, and the tranquil, impeccably groomed rolling hills we see. 

As we walk up to our first site, the British memorial at Theipval, the group falls silent.  Although Theipval, the largest British war memorial in the world commands this response, it will be the pattern as we approach all three memorials.  The only noise we hear is the hum of the lawn mower as workers ride around grooming the lawns surrounding the impressive stone structure.  Judging from the impeccable state of the lawns, I imagine these workers must be ever present. Tim Cook again takes a few minutes to provide more details about the First Battle for The Somme, and the British experience in the war.  Afterwards we are provided with an opportunity to explore the monument which was constructed as a memorial to the missing British and South African soldiers who fought in the battle. Every so often, there is a space where a name has been removed, indicating that their remains were discovered and identified in the years after the war.   Throughout the monument there are small wooden crosses with handwritten messages and other symbols of remembrance tacked to specific names chizelled into the stone.  They draw me closer to the monument, and reinforce in a way nothing I’d ever read could that these are truly monuments for the living as much as they are for the fallen.

Just a short drive from Theipval, we arrive at Beaumont-Hamel the legendary site of the July 1^st 1916 battle where the entire First Newfoundland Regiment was wiped out after less than an hour of combat.


 Young Canadian interpreters hired by Veterans Affairs guide us through a walk toward the trench lines.  The front line has been left alone to weather the effects of almost 100 years of erosion and some iron stakes to stop it from falling in.  The second has been restored to the same width and depth the soldiers would have lived in so we can walk through them and see the soldier’s perspective for ourselves.  No matter how much I’ve read about Beaumont Hamel, I don’t think I ever had a full appreciation for just how close the lines were between allies and enemies.  Seeing the distances they were expected to cross to achieve their mission, and how little distance they were actually able to advance, I couldn’t help but wonder if they felt the same futility then watching and waiting to go over the top.  And if so, how could they possibly have drawn to strength and courage to try anyways.  As we continue to walk across no man’s land toward the enemy line, we approach the grave site where most of the Newfoundlanders at Beaumont-Hamel are buried.  It’s impossible not to wonder about who these young men were and what they must have been thinking on that day, on the night before as you read their ages, and the inscriptions provided by their families.   

As we board the bus to Vimy Ridge, I am filled with anticipation, knowing the day will only get more emotional. In a way, I am glad they planned the tour this way, so I can better prepare myself for my visit to the Vimy Ridge site and the Vimy Monument. 

There are roughly 80 people joining board member and Great War historian Tim Cook and myself on this 4-day "conference tour" of the World War one battlefields. They represent all 10 provinces. Some are leaders of cadet corps or youth groups, most of them are secondary school teachers who plan to bring their student back next spring for the 95th anniversary of The Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The tours are organized by EF Educational Tours, a well-respected international travel company specializing in educational travel. Canada's History is involved because we're planning to work with EF to develop specialized tours for both public and educational groups as part of our own World War Centennial commemoration activities.

Although many teachers I've spoken with have fairly well established programs offering these types of travel opportunities for their students, I am surprised by how many others have been required to undertake all of this organization on their own, outside of school hours. According to them, their school boards are increasingly concerned about assuming the risks associated with organized student travel. Ironic since the whole point of this particular program is to remember the risks that other Canadians took on our behalf.

I can't help but think how lucky for their students that these teachers see the value of investing their own time to ensure these opportunities remain available.

Another observation I've noted is how many of these teachers end up inadvertently competing with other trips organized within the schools: sports competitions, art history tours of Europe, theatre trips to New York City. For them, establishing a steady demand for history-based tours has been a tough sell.

But fortunately they persist. Today, we head out to the fields of Beaumont-Hamel, Passchendaele, and Vimy Ridge to see for ourselves what impact this type of first-hand experience can have on us and our students. I have no doubt it will only strengthen our collective resolve to create more opportunities in the years ahead.

The rather intimidating call to presentation at this year’s Canadian Museums Association conference challenged speakers to boldly propose new ideas and attendees have not been disappointed.  It has so far included sessions that touch on all of the challenges facing our museums today: reductions in government funding; meeting the needs of visitors; and rising expectations for integrated use of multi-media both onsite and to extend the reach of the museum.  But the overarching message is that museums, long understood to be the “last word” on heritage and culture in most communities, must adapt to become more participatory and interactive or risk becoming a dead end.  

Janet Carding, the new Director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum, opened the conference “speaking for the last time about her experiences as head of Australia’s national museum.  After this, she assured conference goers, “it is all about the ROM and Canada.”  Her presentation included a number of examples of technology influencing more two-way communications with visitors.  The Atlas of Living Australia uses GPS to map the country’s natural history specimens in their museums collections, so Australians can locate species within their neighborhood, as well as add new specimens and sightings to the online collection.  The Pacific Collection at the Museum now features interviews with Aboriginal elders who describe some of the intangible cultural objects they hold providing a better understanding of their cultural importance. 

The greatest impact of technology Carding explains, is that visitors are no longer dependent on the curatorial interpretation of a museums’ collection.  Visitors can (and are) “googling” the museum to get other perspectives and interpretations of the collections, and when they complete their visit, they too can use blogs, social media, and other means to provide their own tours, perspectives and interpretations. The advent of smartphones is only accelerating the speed and reach of these alternate interpretations.   

Her advice for museums is to embrace the opportunity, rather than trying to compete to restore the traditional top-down approach. To achieve this museums need their leaders to adapt, they need to be better communicators, have more collaborative, and engaging management styles, and they themselves have to be life-long learners, ever curious to contemplate the ways technology can help enhance the value and appreciation for the museum and the museum experience.

The February/March issue of Canada's History has an interview I conducted with Deborah Davis, owner, producer and director of a song-and-dance troupe called Canadian Musical Odyssey. Canadian Musical Odyssey gave a special performance at our 2010 Canada's History Awards gala this past November.

Due to space limitations we couldn't print the whole interview, so here it is in full:

Please tell me about the origins of Canadian Musical Odyssey.
In 1989, I founded Choonga Changa Productions to create live theatrical musical productions for children. This evolved into the creation of unique productions for schools that blended historical themes with different musical genres. The first major new production of this type was “What is This Thing Called Jazz?”, a historical retrospective of the evolution of jazz. For this show, I also produced a 10-page teachers’ manual. Aside from many school productions, this show highlighted the Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s newly created Family Day for three years.

The detailed research necessary to create that production was an enriching personal learning experience. I became increasingly aware of, and fascinated by the important interrelated influences of jazz on American history (e.g. its influence on the breaking down of the colour barrier) and of the influences of historical, cultural, social and technological events on the development, progress and popularity of the music.

Choonga Changa had become so closely associated with young children’s entertainment (after hundreds of live performances and the production of two children’s audio cassettes) that I adopted a new name for this and subsequent projects: “Canadian Musical Odyssey\Odyssée Musicale Canadienne.”

With these things very much in mind, in 1998 I undertook the creation and production of a show entitled “A Musical Taste of Our Canadian Heritage/Notre patrimoine canadien, une odyssée musicale.” My aim was to show the history of music in Canada and the history of Canada through music in an entertaining way that students would find not only educational, but also appealing, moving, memorable and inspirational.

Most of all, I wanted to do justice to the subject in light of our tremendous heritage both on the musical and historical side and I wanted the students to feel a deep sense of pride in their Canadian heritage with its multicultural origins.

The project grew and became a fast-paced, dynamic, and highly acclaimed, bilingual (and indeed multilingual), 90-minute production that includes fifty performers (including Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis performers), close to 100 pieces of music (mostly in overture, medley and excerpt style presentations), with almost as many costume changes for the vocalists, dancers, actors and musicians.

Both the show and the teacher’s manual were the culmination of many years of development, networking, and a dedicated cast and crew and volunteers.

To provide the broadest base for funding annual performances of the history of music in Canada show, I worked with a team of volunteers to create Odyssey Showcase as a not-for-profit organization in 2004 and it became a registered charity in 2007.

There has been one supporter of this project who is owed a special debt of gratitude for their encouragement, advice, financial assistance and feedback — TD Bank and especially Cathy Jowsey, Manager Community Relations, TD Canada Trust and Alan Convery, National Manager Community Relations, TD Bank Group.

Odyssey Showcase has been recognized as authentically Canadian, inspiring and engaging thousands, especially students, to appreciate anew or for the first time, our rich and diverse heritage. We want to continue our “Proud to be Canadian” production and we need financial support.

How many people are involved in the production each year onstage and backstage?
There are more than fifty on-stage performers including musicians, vocalists, dancers (including, Aboriginal, contemporary, step and tap) and actors. The on-stage performers are supported by fifteen backstage personnel including dressers, wardrobe, makeup, hair and wiggery. In addition, we work with five stage choreography and artistic directors, some of whom are also in the production, who help us through advance preparations and rehearsals. This list does not include the technical and support personnel from the venue, arrangers, office and administrative support personnel, co-op students, translators, legal and accounting personnel.

You are obviously very passionate about this project. Why is it so important to you personally?
This project developed as a natural progression in my personal career as a singer and producer. It is about my country and the music I love. My passion for both is shared by the many artists and others involved in the show.

We all share this remarkable feeling of pride and unity about who we are and we want to share the story of our incredible nation with new audiences. And who are we? We are Aboriginal people and descendants of immigrants from around the world, who all identify ourselves and with each other and our audiences as Canadians.

Many Canadians, particularly young Canadians are not interested in or passionate about the history and culture of Canada. We have seen how this presentation gives thousands of people from all age groups the opportunity to experience the unique cultural history of Canada in a new and innovative way, promoting a sense of national unity, identity and pride.

What is/has been the biggest creative challenge for you in putting together the Canadian Odyssey Show, A Musical Taste of Our Canadian Heritage/Notre patrimoine canadien, une odyssée musicale?
There have been many challenges, but perhaps the biggest was creating a show that relied on music rather than dialogue, narration and visual aids to tell the story of Canada. Another huge challenge was deciding what to include and what to leave out.

How do you think the focus on Canadian music enhances the Canadian history story you are telling?
This is a different way of presenting history. In fact, it has been described as a pioneering effort. There are many people, including teachers, students and new immigrants who have difficulty relating to Canadian history which they consider dry and boring. Through this show, many of them are amazed to discover Canadian history can be not only interesting, but entertaining and moving.

Music has no boundaries. It touches people in a different way than books, films, or other ways of learning. The show also offers a different approach and perspective combined with related regalia, period costumes, dancing styles, language and rhythm, and unique features such as an overture, melodic segues and memorable lyrics.

Is there an era of our musical heritage that is particularly more "Canadian" than any other? Why do you think that might be/have been?
I do not believe so. I think that every part of our Canadian musical heritage is Canadian in its own way, with its own roots and historical and cultural developments.

Whether one thinks of music that is Aboriginal, French Canadian, Celtic, Acadian, classical, jazz, military, country, folk, pop or rock, or any other style or combination of styles, one cannot help but associate it with different eras in different ways, all of which are part of our Canadian story. I would not call any era more “Canadian” than any other.

Is there a personal favorite musical era for you?
I love all music. It really depends on my mood or how I am feeling at a particular time. I think one of the benefits of all my research and experimenting is that my musical tastes and appreciation have expanded. I particularly love the introduction and evolution of jazz and jazz styles.

You just recently completed production of a fully bilingual teacher's guide to the show. How do you hope the show, or the materials will be used by teachers in the classroom? Can they get CDs of the show or musical selections as well? How do they access both the music and the guides?
There are no CDs of the show because that would require finances beyond our means including copyright costs. Teachers have been using the seventy-page English teachers manual Canadian Musical Odyssey: The Invisible Voice for seven years. It has been used primarily to teach students in advance of seeing the show.

In addition, the manual includes student projects and activities, and has proved to be an invaluable supplemental reference teaching tool. Both the show and the manual touch on many fundamental components of the provincial curriculum including; history, music, dance, drama, language, the social sciences and geography.

It was always my goal to have the manual translated, and based on repeated requests for French language materials, we anticipate the availability of our new French language version of the manual, Odyssée musicale canadienne: La voix invisible, will be a welcome addition. Both the teacher’s manual and the live stage production are innovative, pioneering tools for teaching and learning.

Right now, the teacher’s manuals are provided to teachers in advance of the shows but we are working with our major sponsor TD Bank to explore ways to make them more widely available. For more information, photos and reviews of both the live shows and teachers manuals you can go to OdysseyShowcase.org.

What's next for Canadian Musical Odyssey?
My vision all along has been to present the shows as a permanent attraction every year for the world to see and hear Canada. We need to build on our current successes and find additional sponsors to help us achieve this goal.

The shows for April 2011 sold out in about two days, and we had such a large waiting list that we added five additional performances for June 2011, three of which are daytime shows for schools and are very close to sold out. Schools are already inquiring about bookings for 2012 and we always tell them, although the dates and venue are available, we have to ensure continued funding before we can finalize future arrangements.

Can you complete this sentence for me? Canadian history needs...
... to be embraced and celebrated.

No doubt Jean Talon is rolling in his grave. He took the better part of a year going door-to-door to survey the inhabitants of New France in 1666 becoming the first census-taker in North America. I’m pretty sure he didn't take "no” for an answer.  As a result, he set the baseline for measuring our country’s social and economic development which continues to this day. Maintaining those high standards of accuracy, thoroughness and continuity of data are at the forefront in the growing battle against the government’s proposed changes to the 2011 census-taking process.

The Canadian Historical Association is one of a growing number of groups speaking out against the federal’s government’s plan to do away with mandatory participation in the long-form census. They argue that the shift will render it virtually impossible to compare data and analyze historic trends. They’ve outlined their case on their website and are appealing to Canadians to add their voice to the debate by signing a petition to Minister Tony Clement advocating for restoration of the long-form to the mandatory census program.  

Gordon Watts, writer for The Global Gazette has also encouraged genealogists to make their views know, observing that throughout their long fight to open the 1901 census records there was not a single complaint about that information becoming public. Over 75,000 Canadians supported the cause inferring that most Canadians appreciate and understand the value of the information gathered in the census, not just for informing public policy today, but understanding changes in patterns, trends and developments that happened over time.

Eric Waddell, speaking on behalf of Minister Tony Clement, confirmed that the decision was made by the federal government and not the ministry, Statistics Canada. "This change was made to reasonably limit what many Canadians felt was an intrusion of their personal privacy." The Frazer Institute supports the government’s position.   Niels Veldhuis, senior economist stated that ``…Canadians ought to have a very sober second look at the mandatory long-form census and really ask themselves whether or not we should be forcing Canadians to answer what I consider to be very private questions.''

An Ipsos Reid study released today confirms that 50% of Canadians do agree that the long-form census is an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, two-thirds of Canadians said they believed it was a reasonable intrusion. 

I’ve looked at the long form census questions and there is a lot of similarity in the information asked about income, property, household dependents, and disability needs on our annual income tax returns. But I don’t expect the government to make that civic responsibility voluntary any time soon. 

Participating in the national census once in a decade is one of the few responsibilities we demand of our citizenry. Electoral voting is another responsibility – and sadly recent voter turnout patterns only fuel the case for continuing with mandatory service. I can’t imagine how many Canadians who routinely refuse to volunteer to answer one simple question would willingly answer fifty-three more.

By most accounts, the national census is one of the few civic duties that Canadians widely respect and accept as worthwhile. Over 97% of Canadians participated in the 2006 study and a total of three people registered complaints or objections.  According to Ipsos-Reid, among those who actually completed the long-form census, the majority do not believe mandatory completion should be scrapped. 

Given the profoundly negative consequences this decision would have on current public policy decision-making it seems to me this is a clear case of “it’s not broken, so don’t try to “fix” it.” For historians, the impact is even more grave – as John Lutz, award-winning author of Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal White Relations puts it, downgrading the long-form census “… is a huge loss because [it] is the one source that has done the best job of capturing the history of groups who do not leave a lot of historical records of their own.” 

This is one political issue Canadians should not be ambivalent about. 

Every year, during the first week of June, I head to Toronto for the annual gathering of MagNet, to hear about the latest trends in the Canadian magazine publishing industry, and to see first hand what other magazines are doing to reach more readers, extend their brand, and attract advertisers.  

The hot topic for this year’s conference? You guessed it …the iPad. So far I’ve only seen three people using them at the conference, but nonetheless, every session is sprinkled with speculation about how this new platform is going to change everything.  I believe it will… but most people haven’t had enough time to explore the technology to really understand what it will mean for readers, brand, or advertisers.  It was also not very helpful to learn that Steve Jobs thinks that we’re charging too much for digital content. (How much less expensive can you get than free?)

Most magazines, ours included, are optimistic about the digital future. Magazines thrive on innovation and creativity in shaping the reader experience. All this new media technology gives us plenty of occasions to try new things.  For example, Esquire magazine’s “augmented reality” issue uses barcode reader technology to make the physical page of the magazine come to life on your computer.   I’ve heard and seen some truly intriguing approaches to enriching the stories we tell on our pages through webisodes, podcasts, surveys, online communities, and user contributed content.

Heavy magazine readers, are most often heavy Internet users, some speculate it’s because magazines and the Internet, provide more “information-driven,” (as opposed to entertainment-driven?) experiences and a deeper level of reader-engagement. So the divide between these mediums is probably much smaller than most would have thought.   I suspect history people are interested in exploring new worlds for themselves, even if they are virtual ones and imagine there are a lot of potential readers on Facebook and Twitter just waiting to connect to us.  Digital media’s greatest promise is its potential to transform the relationship between an engaged reader and their magazine into a true dialogue.  So there are a lot of reasons to invest here.

And yet, for all the ideas and innovations out there, no one is seeing huge take-up in terms of building a truly engaged community. Fewer than no one (just adapting to Steve Jobs thinking here) have had significant success in convincing anyone to pay for these enriched experiences.  Do people really believe there is no added cost to producing content online?  Or is it they just don’t see it as having any value?

Personally I’m starting to believe these digital platforms are like the traditional newsstand.  You have to have a healthy volume out there, well placed so people notice it.  If you’re successful, lots of people will come by and browse, but less than half will actually buy something.   It’s an investment, sometimes an expensive one, but you can’t afford not to be there.  

But I’m more interested in hearing what you think.  Why are you reading this? What is it you are hoping to find in our online community? 

…Free subscription (or renewal of an existing one) for the first 5 people that show me there are signs of life out there in this new universe!…