THIS WEEK IN TECTORIA

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Archives for January 2015

Leo Spalteholz

January 28, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

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Leo Spalteholz, engineering manager at CanAssist, is our Tectorian of the Week.

Leo has been involved with CanAssist since 2004, when he started as a volunteer (at the then-University of Victoria Assistive Technology Team writing an on-screen keyboard to be used with an eye tracking system.

Over the past decade, Leo has worked on and managed hundreds of projects for people with disabilities from simple equipment mounts to software apps for people with brain injuries and systems to prevent seniors with dementia from wandering.

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 “Leo has taught me a great deal not only about how technology can be created and deployed to truly open doors to the world and provide a person with barriers the ability to do that which they had previously never thought possible.” – Mike Shannon

These days, Leo manages the engineering team at CanAssist, developing assistive technology for people with disabilities.

“Leo has dedicated his engineering career to the assistance of those less fortunate: the disabled,” says Mike Shannon, another noted tireless cheerleader for Tectoria who now serves as Director of Operations and Business Development at CanAssist.

“Leo has taught me a great deal not only about how technology can be created and deployed to truly open doors to the world and provide a person with barriers the ability to do that which they had previously never thought possible,” says Mike. “He has a broad spectrum of interests and always brings a unique point of view to any discussion be it technical or philosophical.”

CanAssist – formerly the University of Victoria Assistive Technology Team (UVATT) – was established in 1999 by long-time Tectorian Dr. Nigel Livingston.

Dr. Livingston was introduced to the disability community after his daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome.

During his interactions with health-care practitioners and those with disabilities, he discovered the great need for assistive technologies that could be customized to meet the sometimes highly specific challenges of individuals. Such devices were not readily available due to factors such as the complex challenges involved in developing them, the cost of production and the limited market for them.

UVATT was formed to address this need by making use of the outstanding resources at the University of Victoria.

UVATT’s first project dates back to 1999, when Dr. Livingston and a volunteer staff member developed a finger-activated switch to control a cassette player.

Their client was a young man who had suffered a near-drowning accident as a child. Then a resident at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, he was blind, unable to talk or walk, and only able to partially move one finger. The device created allowed the young man to turn his tape recorder on and off independently.

By 2003, UVATT was receiving about 75 requests from the community for assistive technologies annually.

By 2014, the organization had engaged almost 6,000 students, through co-op, graduate and work study placements, presentations, course instruction, overseas study programs and volunteer opportunities. Likewise, many members of UVic faculty have engaged in CanAssist activities over the years, in areas such as research, classroom instruction, requests for technology development and the ongoing sharing of ideas and expertise.

CanAssist still regularly responds to requests from individuals in the community, but in recent years has also provided customized technology solutions to a number of organizations.

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

Reyna Jenkyns

January 21, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

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Reyna Jenkyns, leader of Ocean Networks Canada‘s Data Stewardship & Operations Support team (and a Giant Jenga competitor to be reckoned with) is our Tectorian of the Week.

Ocean Networks Canada is based at UVic and operates the  NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories. These underwater observatories collect data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean over long periods of time periods, supporting research on complex Earth processes in ways not previously possible.

Jenkyns is well-regarded by collaborators all over the world for creating and managing tools with other ocean data providers, for participating in cruise expeditions and collaborating with the oceanographic community, and for just generally helping wire the abyss.

Equally importantly we were very impressed with Reyna Jenkyns’ Giant Jenga skills.

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After an intense, prolonged battle at the 2015 VIATeC New Year’s Party last week, Jenkyns narrowly missed winning two tickets to a Canucks game in Vancouver. It was all for a good cause, however – by playing in the tournament Jenkyns helped raise a ton of cash for the Mustard Seed Food Bank. That alone makes her and her partner prime candidates for a Tectorian nomination.

Jenkyns also has another common key Tectorian trait: she’s not from here originally, but moved to Victoria to take part in our booming tech scene.

She received her Bachelor of Mathematics in the Applied Mathematics Co-operative Program from the famed University of Waterloo. What to do next? Travel to Canada’s second largest oceans cluster to pursue a Master of Science in Ocean Physics at UVic, of course!

Jenkyns’ research area at UVic was “the transfer of momentum between internal tides and subinertial flow at a dissipating surface reflection.”

As a graduate student, she had the opportunity to collect oceanographic data on research cruises in coastal BC and the East Pacific Ocean. This fascination with water originates from childhood summers at Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Prior work experience spans companies specializing in oceanographic monitoring systems, aerospace engineering, and information technology.

One interesting perk of her job: Jenkyns has gone snorkeling in Iceland’s chilly waters.

 

 

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

The Stupid Curve, Cognitive Overload and Marketing the Future

January 17, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Marketers have their work cut out for them.

 

Our world has gone through some wrenching leaps forward – and sideways – in the past 10 years. Anyone interested in making things easy, charming and reassuring for consumers is facing an uphill battle. To paraphrase, they want the truth, but they can’t handle the truth.

 

I have a particular interest in tech, and its impact on would-be users. You don’t have to look hard to understand how increasingly rapid advances are rewiring our brains. Let’s start with a couple of macro-observations.

 

The Stupid Curve

 

In 1965, Intel founder Gordon Moore predicted the number of transistors on integrated circuits would double every two years, thanks to the exponential nature of technological innovation. Moore got it right. Our computing power (and the wonderful new products it enabled) has accelerated like a car, then a plane, then a rocket. Dream it today—buy it tomorrow.

 

The only problem is, so many people are dreaming of cool things, and so many people are making those dreams real, that we’re being flooded with amazing electronic tools, toys, and devices. And we have to learn how to use them.

 

As humans, we’re used to learning curves. You get a new device, bumble along as you figure out how to make the damn thing do what it’s supposed to, then start feeling smarter as you gain proficiency. Eventually, you reach the learning curve’s peak. You’re the king of the world and ready to take on another challenge.

 

But what if your device is rendered obsolete before you’re halfway along the learning curve, and you’re back to square one with the new version? Now multiply that by every device you own, every operating system you work with, and every app people say you simply can’t live without.

 

Suddenly one little learning curve becomes a tidal wave of curves that buries you. Too many improvements to absorb, too many updates to install, too many new ways to get the old job done. You’ve been sentenced to life as a newbie, feeling perennially stupid and incompetent. Worse still, you can’t stop the train and get off, for fear of being left behind in the Luddite dust. Which leads us to the next source of anxiety.

 

Cognitive overload

 

As technology author Nicholas Carr writes in his book The Shallows, “Psychologists refer to the information flowing into our working memory as our cognitive load. When the load exceeds our mind’s ability to process and store it, we’re unable to retain the information or to draw connections with other memories. We can’t translate the new material into conceptual knowledge. Our ability to learn suffers, and our understanding remains weak.” http://www.theshallowsbook.com/nicholascarr/Nicholas_Carrs_The_Shallows.html

 

What ensues is cognitive overload.

 

Essentially, cognitive overload decreases our capacity to learn new things. So being overloaded with technology updates hinders our ability to master those updates.

 

But decreased learning capacity and attention span aren’t the only symptoms. Cognitive overload affects our moods, our sleep, everything. It makes us sick.

 

Now the unsurprising news. We are in a state of cognitive overload nearly every day. As Tony Schwartz, workplace efficiency expert, writes, “Far and away the biggest work challenges most of us now face are cognitive overload and difficulty focusing on one thing at a time”. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/faced-with-overload-a-need-to-find-focus/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

 

Schwartz’s claim is backed by numbers. “Dying for Information,” a Reuters study of more than a thousand junior, middle, and senior managers in the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia (see http://old.cni.org/regconfs/1997/ukoln-content/repor~13.html) relays the following:

 

  • Two-thirds of managers reported tension with work colleagues and loss of job satisfaction because of stress associated with information overload.
  • One-third of managers (and 43 percent of senior managers) suffered from ill health brought on by stress associated with information overload.
  • 62 percent of managers testified their personal relationships suffered as a direct result of information overload.
  • 43 percent of managers thought important decisions were delayed, and their ability to make important decisions was affected, as a result of having too much information.

 

 

Now for the disturbing bit. This study was done in 1997. The good old days, before social media, 4G, apps. Anyone feeling cognitive overload today would look back at 1997 with nostalgia.

 

Of course, we’ll adapt to cognitive overload, just as we adapted in 1997. But what form will our adaptation take?

 

If current indicators bear out, we’ll become a more superficial, reactive, frazzled population. We’ll blink, not think.

 

Combine this with our greater voyeuristic, narcissistic tendencies, and what do you have? A world of five-year-olds with too much sugar in them.

 

Heck, there may be an app to help us get past this. To smooth out the learning curves, and calm our misfiring synapses.

 

But are you going to ask consumers to take the time to figure it out?

 

Excerpt from ‘Didn’t See It Coming’, Marc Stoiber’s new book. http://www.amazon.com/Didnt-See-Coming-Marc-Stoiber/dp/1505389003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421798107&sr=8-1&keywords=marc+stoiber

Marc Stoiber is a brand consultant, entrepreneur, and writer. He knows how to connect dots, simplify, and add a creative twist to the most mundane things in life. Even insurance and diet bars.

He has worked in the corner office, the basement, and at coffee shops around the world. His work – even the legitimate stuff clients paid for – has been recognized by virtually every international industry award for advertising and design.

Marc writes on brand innovation for Huffington Post, Fast Company, GreenBiz and Sustainable Life Media. He also speaks on the subject from coast to coast, and has been featured at TEDx.

Filed Under: VIATeC Community Tagged With: marc-stoiber

The Story of Fort Tectoria (Infographic)

January 16, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Ever wondered how we bought and managed to open our new building in just over 5 months? This awesome infographic tells the whole story (so far). Everything started 15 years ago…

The Story of Fort Tectoria from Tectoria

Filed Under: Tectoria

Is Your “New” New Enough?

January 16, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Not so long ago, social media was lauded as a game changer. It would forever alter the relationship between brands and consumers.

Really?

Social media is a communications tactic. The way websites, ambient media, guerilla media, and product placements (that is, writing Pottery Barn into a Friends script) are tactics.

Book Button (1)When they were new, each of these tactics was hailed as game changers. Why? I believe it’s because the people pitching them (in this case, the folks at agencies of both the digital and traditional variety) have an insatiable hunger to create incremental innovation. That is, stuff-that’s-new-but-not-so-new-it-might-upset-the-applecart innovation.

Don’t get me wrong. There are many things I love about social media.

I love the way it lets you ask consumers what they want from your company. If nothing else, that loosens the choke hold research companies have put on marketers and manufacturers for so long.

I also love how you can turn your fans into your media channel via social media, empowering them to tell all their friends about your company. I don’t see TV, print, or billboard ads going away anytime soon. But I know it’s fun to play the social card when you’re negotiating media buys with TV or newspaper media reps. You’ll get a better deal. You might even get hockey tickets to sweeten the deal. Win win.

My point is, the fundamental bit hasn’t really changed at all. Client goes to agency with product and tells agency what she wants to say about it. Agency takes money and does communicating using all the creativity and tools at its disposal. Insert latest tactic here.

However, very few (if any) agency people ask the client if the world needs this product, if this product will improve the human condition, if there is any real burning belief in the product. That would be the sort of communications innovation that would give clients pause and give agency bean counters heart palpitations.

That, my friend, would be new.

Arrogant bastard, you’re saying. What gives you the right to decide what is and isn’t a worthy product?

Nothing. I’m just one voice. But if my experience connecting dots is anything to go by, New often starts with challenging thoughts.

So here’s a thought to start us off: products that hurt or kill people shouldn’t be advertised.

I hear the howls of derision rising. Does that include fast food and pharma? Don’t consumers need to take personal responsibility? What if a product helps some but hurts others? What if a company makes good and not-so-good products? How will all the makers of “bad” products survive?

Beats me.

But what if we could put together a few thousand bright minds and pose that question to them? Then try out a few of their solutions, learn from the experience, and repeat the exercise again and again?

We may never see products that hurt people banned from advertising. But pushing ourselves to think—and pursue—uncomfortably new thoughts would certainly keep the business fresh.

Companies like IBM are already doing just that with their Global Idea Jams. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, IBM invites thousands of smart people from around the world to “jam” on an idea over the course of forty-eight hours. They link together—demonstrating IBM’s power to connect—and come up with, blend, and build on ideas. Cool thing is, you can sign in over your morning coffee, see an idea that was shaped the night before in a different part of the world, add your two cents, then send the idea off to be bashed about by other folks. Good fun.

When the exercise wraps, IBM has reams of controversial, uncomfortable new ideas, and all of us feel warm and fuzzy about participating.

Sure, it’s just a tactic to get bright, off-the-wall thoughts into the company coffers. But it also sows the seeds for real change.

Isn’t that what ‘New’ should be doing?

Excerpt from Didn’t See It Coming, Marc Stoiber’s new book.

Marc Stoiber is a brand consultant, entrepreneur, and writer. He knows how to connect dots, simplify, and add a creative twist to the most mundane things in life. Even insurance and diet bars.

He has worked in the corner office, basement, and coffee shops around the world. His work – even the legitimate stuff – has been recognized by virtually every international industry award for advertising and design.

Marc writes on brand innovation for Huffington Post, Fast Company, GreenBiz and Sustainable Life Media. He also speaks on the subject from coast to coast.

Filed Under: VIATeC Community Tagged With: marc-stoiber

Mark Grambart, Contech

January 16, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

mark

Mark Grambart and the team at Contech are our Tectorians of the Week.

Working with researchers from Simon Fraser University, Mark Grambart and the folks at Contech may have found a solution to the plague of bedbugs that gathered momentum in North America over the past twenty years.

Contech, a member of the VIATeC 25 is a long-time supporter of Greater Victoria’s tech community, and the company based just above Fisherman’s Wharf has been working with the researchers to develop a set of chemical attractants, or pheromones, that lure the bedbugs into traps, and keep them there.

In December 2014, after a series of successful trials in bedbug-infested apartments in Metro Vancouver, they have published their research, “Bedbug aggregation pheromone finally identified in Angewandte Chemie, a leading general chemistry journal.

This trap will help landlords, tenants, and pest-control professionals determine whether premises have a bedbug problem so that they can treat it quickly. It will also be useful for monitoring the treatment’s effectiveness

Over the last two decades the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius), once thought eradicated in industrialized countries, has reappeared as a global scourge. These nasty insects are infesting not just low-income housing but also expensive hotels, apartments and public venues such as stores, movie theatres, libraries and even public transit.

And while these blood-sucking pests were previously not considered a carrier of disease, scientists have recently discovered they can transmit the pathogen that causes Chagas disease, which is prevalent in Central and South America. Yet, until now, tools for detecting and monitoring these pests have been expensive and technically challenging to use.

Bedbugs have proven to be a pest in many places all over the world that’s hard to eradicate. So it’s good to see that a Tectoria company is playing a key role potentially solving a problem experienced by millions of people.

Thanks Mark!

In 2004 Mark Grambart joined Contech as an investor and as the CEO. The UVic engineering grad came back to Tectoria after roles with Mercedes-Benz and JM Huber in Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States.

 

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

2015 VIATeC Food Bank Challenge

January 15, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

food bank

Mark your calendars, the VIATeC Food Bank Challenge will run from February 2nd to February 27th.

The Food Bank Challenge is now open to companies outside of the Tech sector too!

A large percentage of our community members are employed families struggling to make ends meet.  Many families need our help.

Have your company sign up now to participate in this week to week points competition that raises food and cash for your local Mustard Seed.  This year, ALL greater Victoria companies are welcome!  Since its inception in 2002, $1,633,354.22 worth of food and cash has been donated from Greater Victoria Technology companies.

Email Devan at dmccannel@viatec.ca to accept the challenge, complete details can be found here.

Last Year’s Food Bank Challenge Numbers

The previous Food Bank Challenge was in Fall 2013. We decided to move the event from November to February because it’s spring and summer when most people are in need – post-Christmas, food banks receive less donations.

Here are our numbers from the last Challenge:

  • Total Cash $81,297.22
  • Total lbs of food is 3440 lbs.  At $2.50/lb that is a $8600 value
  • Total value food and cash is $89,897.22
  • Grand total since 2002 is $1,633,354.22A

Email Devan at dmccannel@viatec.ca to Accept the Challenge!

Filed Under: VIATeC Community

SXSW 2015: Join Us at Tectoria House

January 15, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered about attending SXSW Interactive to showcase your products and your company and reach new or existing customers, partners and investors?

Or were you already planning on attending and would like to participate in events with your fellow Tectorians?

This year once again we are setting up Tectoria House in Austin. We hope you will join us.

Contact Rob Bennett (rbennett@viatec.ca) to travel with us to SXSW in Austin.

Tectoria House at SXSW: Participate in the largest cultural gathering on the planet

South by Southwest (SXSW) is massive series of film, technology, media and music festivals and conferences that take place every March in Austin, Texas – SXSW is one of the top cultural events of the year in the United States.

And every year VIATeC organizes and hosts a trip so that Victoria technology companies can participate SXSW.

Attending SXSW is a powerful way to raise awareness of the tech jobs and investment opportunities in Victoria in front of a critical mass of the world’s brightest minds and key influencers. What better way to showcase Tectoria and local companies looking for new partners, investors and customers?

In 2015 VIATeC is planning to bring our strongest contingent yet to SXSW to continue to get Tectoria on the map.

Besides networking and inviting investors and entrepreneurs to attend Experience Tectoria in 2015, we plan to showcase Victoria’s tech community at the SXSW trade show to educate the huge crowd all that we have going in our creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial city.

Also, for the first time ever, VIATeC will exhibit at the SXSW job fair to promote our online job board and our city as an opportunity for tech workers.

Shining a spotlight on Tectoria

We’re planning to shine the spotlight on Tectoria companies this year through a series of events at SXSW Interactive during March 13th through 17th in Austin, Texas.  We are also lucky enough to have a number of funding partners who also understand how much of an opportunity this is, and have agreed to offset some of the costs that companies will face to attend the event.

Contact Rob Bennett

Interested?  Want to know more?  Block the time off in your calendar and contact Rob Bennett (rbennett@viatec.ca) to join Tectoria House.

Together we can show the world just how cool Tectorians are!

Filed Under: Tectoria

Spring Boards to Career Exploration – Technology

January 12, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Can you help? Schools in SD 61 are looking for tech companies to participate in a program that educates middle school students about careers in technology.

The idea is that tech companies would host an on-site tour that would include information about your organization, a tour of the worksite, and some type of hands on/interactive activity or job shadowing that will be of interest to this age group.

Spring Boards to Career Exploration – Technology

The Greater Victoria School District is developing a program called Spring Boards to Career Exploration.  Grade 8 students will have the opportunity to choose from 10 modules, each module representing a different sector of industry. The modules that students can choose from include:

  • Engineering and Manufacturing
  • Business and Management
  • Technology

SD 61 is hosting this program during the month of April. Any week day in April from 9:00 am – 11:00 am would be ideal.

Does your company have 2 hours to spare to fill the funnel with the next generation of workers?

We would like to bring a group of 10 students to your workplace for a morning, approximately 2 hours.

The students will have the opportunity to have a tour of your workplace, and ask questions about the different opportunities that are available within your organization, what training it takes to do this type of work.

The students will then spend the afternoon with instructors and training providers from Camosun College learning more about the possible pathways that exist.

Interested? Sign up here.

Filed Under: VIATeC Community

Tectoria Newsletter Signup

January 10, 2015 by Tectoria Leave a Comment

Every Friday the Tectoria team send out an engaging, eclectic update about what’s going on in Tectoria: Canada’s hottest technology region.

Learn about people making a difference in our tech scene, as well as events and activities that can help you connect with your fellow Tectorians and your community.

Sign up below and get a newsletter in your email inbox once a week!

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