11°c Overcast
18°c Light rain
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
Cdn website delivers video message montage to U.S. president
MONTREAL - Video greetings from people around the world were added to the cheers of throngs of Canadians on Thursday as Barack Obama made his first visit outside the United States as president.
The best-of compilation of greetings is the product of a Canadian website that solicited the well-wishing from around the globe with the aim of giving it to Obama.
Related Items
Montreal-based jointhewave.com had collected more than 500 videos from 32 countries of people doing "the wave" in support of Obama's historic ascent to the White House.
The best submissions are featured in a four-minute montage set to the music of Montreal band YTHEBAND and presented on DVD to Obama inside a hand-carved wooden box that was made by a project participant in Kenya, the homeland of Obama's father.
Along with the DVD is a booklet of photographs of the organizers and a note explaining the initiative, said project director Emmanuel Stralka.
While few people were able to get anywhere near the U.S. president during his brief visit to Ottawa on Thursday, the website commissioned John Parisella, a Montreal communications consultant with close ties to the Obama administration, to deliver the video to one of the president's aides.
"We were really, really fortunate to have him on our team so he was able to get in touch with the right people over there," Stralka said.
While he understands the U.S. economy likely tops the newly minted president's agenda, Stralka said he hopes Obama will watch the video and realize many people around the world are counting on his vision of change.
"There are a lot of people outside the U.S. who are also stakeholders," he said.
"He represents a lot of stuff for a new generation and that generation really wanted him to understand that, to let him know that they are there and that they are behind him."
About a fifth of the videos were submitted by Canadians but others come from as far away as Brazil, France, Australia, Spain, Vietnam, India, Egypt and Kenya.
About 60 per cent of the videos were submitted to the website by individuals, although a fair chunk of the filming was done by staff and partners of Pixman Nomadic media, the tactical marketing solutions company behind the project.
Within 10 days of its launch on Jan. 10 - 10 days before Obama's inauguration - the site had already received some 20,000 visitors from 100 different countries. About 125,000 people are featured in the videos.
Stralka said he hopes to keep the site going for the first year of Obama's presidency to allow people to voice their views about the job the U.S. commander-in-chief is doing.
"It will be good to look back and see where we've come from and where we are a year from now," Stralka said.
"Are people still so happy? Are they still so enthusiastic? Are they still so fired up? What is the message tone now? Did they change?"
More Science & Technology
- Back to Top
- Return to Science & Technology
Poll
Most Popular Science & Tech
- Possible BlackBerry tablet steals the show at company's annual conference
- All the fitness that fits
- The end of the CREDIT CARD?
- 'WhatsApp Messenger' top paid iPhone app in Canada
- Chris Hadfield's week: from commanding the space station, to being unfit to drive a car
- 'Heads Up!' top paid iPhone app in Canada
- So, is astronaut Chris Hadfield interested in politics?
- Billion-year-old underground water could hold clues to early life on Earth, Mars
- Consumers may want to renegotiate deals now in case Telus buys Mobilicity: PIAC
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield back on Earth after five-month mission in space
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield back on Earth after five-month mission in space
- Possible BlackBerry tablet steals the show at company's annual conference
- Chris Hadfield's week: from commanding the space station, to being unfit to drive a car
- Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield prepares for Soyuz ride home from space
- BlackBerry focuses on cool factor as it returns to Orlando for annual event
- Google plants playable Atari Breakout Easter egg in image search
- Google poised to show off latest devices, services at LA event
- Beam me up popcorn Scotty; space station crew gets 'Star Trek' film before Earthlings
- Billion-year-old underground water could hold clues to early life on Earth, Mars
- Greenhouse gas that's key to global warming hits highest level in about 2 million years
- 'WhatsApp Messenger' top paid iPhone app in Canada
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield back on Earth after five-month mission in space
- Possible BlackBerry tablet steals the show at company's annual conference
- Astronaut MP Garneau snubbed at museum opening of Canadarm exhibit
- Chris Hadfield's week: from commanding the space station, to being unfit to drive a car
- Saskatchewan professor wants to test the health benefits of nose-picking
- Bugged by the billions: East Coast about to see power of big numbers in coming cicada invasion
- Greenhouse gas that's key to global warming hits highest level in about 2 million years
- Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield prepares for Soyuz ride home from space
- Russian becomes world's oldest spacewalker at 59, loses hold of science tray, now space junk
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield back on Earth after five-month mission in space
- BlackBerry launches Q5; makes BBM available on iOS, Android devices this summer
- Chris Hadfield's week: from commanding the space station, to being unfit to drive a car
- Microsoft update to address Windows 8 complaints, confusion will be free; to be called 8.1
- Google plants playable Atari Breakout Easter egg in image search
- All the fitness that fits
- Saskatchewan professor wants to test the health benefits of nose-picking
- Astronaut Chris Hadfield back on Earth after five-month mission in space
- Canadians watch 30 hours of TV a week but for many the web dominates free time
- New wireless players Mobilicity, Wind Mobile and Public Mobile may all face sale
- How do you compare? New report reveals stats about social media usage in Canada
- Hurricane watch at Saturn's North Pole: Cyclone eye is 1,250 miles wide, cloud speed 330 mph
- Bugged by the billions: East Coast about to see power of big numbers in coming cicada invasion
- Adobe shifts to subscription model for software package, Creative Suite becomes Creative Cloud
- Windows 8, Take 2: Microsoft to spiff up maligned operating system with 'Blue' touch-up job
- Astronaut MP Garneau snubbed at museum opening of Canadarm exhibit
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.