Canada CODE - Share Your Photos and Words
04 May 2009
Vancouver 2010 Invites Canadians to Share Their Photos and Words About Their Country and Neighbourhoods Through Innovative Online Digital Scrapbook Called Canada CODE
Photos of a cyclist as an urban warrior struggling through snowy city streets on the first day of spring, a young mother hanging laundry on the line to dry or maybe a haiku glorifying a fiery autumn landscape—all could contribute to a constantly morphing online portrait of contemporary Canada created by Canadians for the entire world to see. It is called Canada CODE and is part of the Vancouver 2010 Games Cultural Olympiad. It’s a first for Canada and the Olympic Games and submissions are welcome starting today at www.vancouver2010.com/code.
Canada CODE, a grassroots digital collaboration of text and photos by Canadians about their daily lives is the first project of a larger program called CODE (Cultural Olympiad’s digital edition), which also officially launches today. The Cultural Olympiad began in 2008 and is a three-year series of multidisciplinary festivals of arts, popular culture and digital programs, presented by Bell.
Bell has been instrumental in facilitating the involvement of leading industry partners and BC-based companies in CODE and, as the exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the 2010 Winter Games, Bell is helping to connect all Canadians to Canada CODE.
In addition to support from Bell, Canada CODE is also connecting with Canadians through the assistance of the National Film Board of Canada, a major collaborator on the project through its network of studios and partner associations.
Anyone—young or old—with access to the Internet and a desire to connect can create, explore or contribute to Canada CODE. Submissions will be moderated and uploaded within 48 hours. The contributor’s user name, as well as their location, will be tagged to their creative work and can be seen whenever a visitor to the site clicks on their submission.
A selection of the best Canada CODE content will be showcased on public screens at celebration sites in Richmond, Vancouver and Whistler for the thousands of spectators and athletes visiting during the Games while the project in its entirety will continue to exist online in perpetuity as an archive of the country in 2010.
“This eclectic collection of words and photos submitted by anyone who wants to share is meant to reflect the stuff that we as Canadians are made of. It’s who we are. It’s the things we do every day. It’s the words we use to describe our selves and our communities,” explained Burke Taylor, VANOC vice-president, culture and celebrations. “The Canada CODE will reach into all parts of the country to truly make these Canada’s Games through the power of Canadians’ imagination and the Internet.”
To kick-start the bilingual online art project, a number of Canadian writing luminaries such as this year’s Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden of Willowdale, Ontario, Vancouver’s Evelyn Lau and Montreal’s Nicole Brossard, have added their voices and vision to inspire others about their daily lives and neighbourhoods. A total of 49 Canadian writers will help launch the site, thanks to support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Rae Hull, director of CODE and originator of Canada CODE said, “Canadians are always looking for ways to reach across the huge land mass we inhabit to connect with each other. Historically, we’ve had the telephone and the train; today, we are one of the most wired nations in the world. The networked nature of the web is an ideal way to illustrate both the incredible diversity that exists in Canada and the way we knit it all together. The Canada CODE is a playful way for all of us to riff on our collective sensibility to show the world what Canada is in 2010.”
