Mike Hann, organizer of the Tall Tree Music Festival, is our Tectorian of the Week.

Why Mike?

Because when he is not single-handedly organizing one of the most popular – and remote – music festivals of the summer, Mike is crewing Antarctic scientific vessels as “underwater whale research leader.”

How cool is that?

Originally from Victoria, after getting certified as a scuba-diving instructor Mike left for Australia where he became interested in pursuring a musical career. Once he returned to Victoria he became at whale-watching captain (he had had extensive experience with sailboats growing up) which led to his gig in the Antarctic.

Along the way he became co-owner of a hotel in Port Renfrew, which is where Tall Tree Music Festival began.

Now in its fourth year, Tall Tree is expected to attract 2,200 visitors this weekend on a hillside overlooking Port Renfrew.

Read the 2014 lineup here.

As the festival has grown, more camp sites and infrastructure have been added each year, and a natural spring now serves the site. A third stage added in 2014, which will be devoted to the electronic programming. The site is equipped with more food vendors, better waste management, more art and even showers.

How does Mike do such amazing things? He says:

“A lot of it is experience-based. I’ve been given the opportunities to be in the field around these animals, living those experiences. That’s the best education you can have in my line of work. If I had followed through with all the schooling that I had begun, I would have missed out on a lot of opportunities in my life.

Our Tectorian of the week for June 13, 2014 is Limbic Media.

Limbic Media got its start 2006, combining entrepreneurship with multi-media artwork.

They call their interdisciplinary work, “Real-time Interactive Media Control Technologies.”

Why is Limbic our Tectorian of the Week?

Limbic Media is also a strong community supporter, collaborating with many people and organizations in Victoria, including PSII‘s Jake West (a fellow Tectorian of the Week) and VIATeC.

Limbic also represents the nexus of technology, art, and entrepreneurship that we think best represents Tectoria today and our community in the future.

The Limbic team has a ton of interesting art-related projects on the go including infinity mirrors for the VIATeC Awards on June 20th, a computer vision based 3D tracking/mocap system for audio/video control, and a new social wearables platform funded by CreativeBC.

Real-time interactive media control technologies

Limbic’s stated objective is to be a platform of real-time interactive media control technologies for use in multi-media entertainment markets, education, research, and the fine arts.

In other words, the team at Limbic creates interfaces and devices that allow people to interact with and control audio, visuals, lights, and machines using natural user interfaces, such as body movements, facial expressions, eye and movements with “alternative interfaces” (smart phones, wearable sensors, modified paintbrush) and even biometrics (brainwave activity, heart rate, breathing).

It’s totally cool stuff, and they do it all from their home base at the top of Discovery Street.

Audio-reactive LED Butterflies

[vimeo 91960622 w=500 h=281]

Audio Reactive LED Butterflies from Limbic Media on Vimeo.

With the creative genius of Limbic’s Gabrielle Odowichuk (an electrical engineer with a creative sensibility), a number of large audio-reactive LED butterflies were designed and built. The skeleton of the butterflies were made of soldered wire frame and then covered in white material. The butterflies were them painted by Kristin Grant.

Our Tectorian of the Week for May 30 is Tourism Victoria’s Trina Mousseau.

First, some congratulations are in order.

Thanks to the efforts of Trina and her team, Tourism Victoria has been named as a finalist for the “marketer of the year award” by BCAMA, the BC chapter of the American Marketing Association. BCAMA will announce the winner in September.

In fact, Trina and Tourism Victoria regularly win a ton of awards. Campaigns like Victoria Calling regularly receive praise and recognition… and achieve results.

It’s large part because Trina and her team are obsessive when it comes to creativity.

For example, Tourism Victoria went to Calgary and installed multiple large-scale sculptures of sea-dwelling mascots named “Sol the Seal,” “Simon the Salmon,” and “Orland the Orca.” The sculptures were then dropped in strategic downtown Calgary locations last summer.

The Calgary campaign was so popular that someone actually stole Sol the Seal. His whereabouts are still unknown.

How else can we sing the praises of Trina?

• She always wears great shoes.
• Ever since arriving from Vancouver, it’s been apparent Trina loves this town, a love affair that has powered Trina’s mission to put us on the map.
• Trina’s also a strong supporter of the local tech sector.

She gets that technology plays a strong role in powering our economy.

So Trina and Tourism Victoria play a key role introducing Tectoria to talented people all over world – people needed to fill the tons of high-paying jobs being created by the tech sector.

If you know someone someplace else who you think should visit Victoria, get them to try out Victoria Calling here.

The Tectorian of the Week for May 23rd is Paretologic’s Marlee Wilson.

We’ve heard that Marlee is so beloved by the team at Pareto’s office on Fort Street that each May everyone in the office makes sure to wish her a happy Mother’s Day.

Says our inside source at Paretologic:

Imagine your mom was a super geek who loved to organize lunch for you and 79 of your friends, devoured everything tech, knows everything about Victoria and was revered as a true oracle of  information.

If Victoria tech companies have long known that fostering positive company culture is the key to making employees happy and creating innovative technologies, then Marlee must be Paretologic’s secret weapon for global domination.

The real reason Marlee is our Tectorian of the week is her commitment to making Victoria a better place.

Marlee has an unofficial job title as Paretologic’s de facto co-ordinator of charities.

Why?

She is a true go-getter when it comes to fundraising. Marlee loves to support a good cause – especially when it helps children and families – and likes to have a good time doing it.

With her contagious enthusiasm, Marlee has tirelessly raised funds for every charitable cause imaginable, from Our Place breakfasts, to sponsoring children through WorldVision, and more… including coordinating Paretologic’s kick-butt competitiveness during the annual Food Bank Challenge.

Although it’s like discussing Christmas in July, you’ll recall the Food Bank Challenge helps the Mustard Seed collect non-perishable foodstuffs for families each fall, and feeds over 7000 people a month in the Victoria area.

The Mustard Seed needs help throughout the year, though, so it’s never too early to to help.

Marlee has also played a strong role getting Paretologic involved in Cops for Cancer, encouraging more than a dozen members of her team to shave their heads, all in support of Camp Goodtimes.

Marlee Wilson plays a key role connecting employees in Victoria’s tech sector with the community and community causes, and we think she deserves some recognition!

 Special thanks to Alycia Mitchell, Elton Pereira, and others at Paretologic.

The Tectorian of the Week for May 16 is Harry Weiler.

Harry recently successfully exited AXYS Technologies after leading the stable, high-growth North Saanich technology employer for more than a decade.

Harry and his team have helped AXYS capture about 40 percent of the global market (so far!) for ocean measurement devices, building and commissioning more than 400 meteorological and oceanographic stations of various types around the world, in over 30 countries.

As a result, AXYS’s distinctive bright yellow wave monitoring buoys bob among the waves all over the world, putting Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula on the map as a hotspot for ocean monitoring and clean energy.

Click here for this amazingly cool infographic that explains different AXYS products made right here in Tectoria.

Known for his wicked sense of humour, curiosity, personal integrity, and gregarious sense of fun, Harry has always been there for the tech community.

Besides volunteering on the board of VIATeC and playing a strong role as a cheerleader for the cluster of ocean technology companies that provide so many high-paying jobs on the Saanich Peninsula, Harry has always been willing to pitch in at a moment’s notice to help promote Tectoria.

If you’re organizing a bus tour of investors from Silicon Valley and need a place to showcase Victoria’s tech capabilities, but have no idea when you’ll show up, you can count on Harry to provide a spectacular space to crack open a few cold beers.

And Harry’s can-do attitude is not limited just to work.

“Whether it be troubleshooting a dragging anchor situation on a boat at 3AM or cooking up breakfast at the campsite, you can place your faith in him to make sure you are, respectively, saved from capsizing onto a reef, and that your bacon will be crispy enough,” says a long-time friend.

This same friend tells us that, following his tenure at AXYS, Harry will be mostly kiteboarding and travelling with his wife Laurie. Time in town will be spent on his fishing boat with his faithful dog Brodie.

“He won’t have to unicycle to work any more.”

With special thanks to Greg Caws and Laurie Clarke.