5/11/2010: Canada Must Be A Digital Media Leader To Thrive In The Internet Age

May 11, 2010
By Rose Simone, Record staff

STRATFORD — The year is 2020 and cash has virtually disappeared, becoming more of a collector’s item or a museum piece, like the typewriter.

That may sound far-fetched, but Joseph Iuso and Brian Crozier, executives of Toronto-based UseMyServices Inc., are already cashing in on the emergence of a cashless society.

“Cash is disappearing, and it is disappearing fast,” Iuso, the company’s chief executive told an audience at the Canada 3.0 Digital Media Forum in Stratford on Tuesday.

Their company offers the service UseMyBank, which provides a way of accessing online bank accounts directly to pay for internet purchases, rather than a credit card or PayPal account.

The duo flirted with fame after turning down $1 million on the television show Dragon’s Den because they refused to give up a 40 per cent share of the company. Now, they are riding the rising tide of a digital information economy.

“Electronic payments are expanding rapidly. It is surpassing everything going on the internet,” Iuso said.

Cash, something the world has had for more than 3,000 years, is rapidly turning into pure digital information.

It was one of several stark examples of how the internet is rapidly and dramatically changing every aspect of the society and the economy. The conference speakers said Canada needs to become a leader in this new digital media world, or be left behind.

Industry, government and academic leaders discussed an ambitious “moonshot” goal of making it possible for anyone in Canada to do anything online by 2017.

Sandra Pupatello, Ontario minister of economic development and trade, said she was glad to hear federal Industry Minister Tony Clement announce plans on Monday to run consultations with Canadians on how Canada can regain its leadership in the digital economy.

But Pupatello said she hopes the talks will be short and that action soon follows, because other countries are already moving to bolster their presence in the global digital media sector.

“When we look at our competition, our competition really is the world,” she said. Provinces such as Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are developing digital media initiatives, but they are up against entire countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, she added. “So we really need our federal government to partner with the provinces on this.”

Clement Gignac, Quebec’s minister of economic development, said Canadian companies need to be investing more in information technology to help Canada deal with its troubling problem of low productivity growth.

“If you have very good workers but they do not have good tools, then we have a problem,” Gignac said. “If we want to improve productivity growth in Quebec and the rest of Canada, we have to move fast.”

Panellists representing the cultural and information industries such as newspapers, theatre, music, film and television, spoke about how the internet has had a dramatic impact on what they do, and how they are now using new digital tools to capture new audiences.

Kirk LaPointe, managing editor of the Vancouver Sun, said online media can be used to deliver knowledge to readers looking for a particular experience. He cited the example of online products created specifically to inform mothers of young children in a community about places to bring their children. But the industry is only beginning to explore these areas, he added.

“There is a vast array of digital knowledge needs out there that I don’t think we have really tapped yet,” LaPointe said.

Singer/songwriter David Usher urged people to experiment with the new media, to figure out what will work for a particular artist or industry.

“A big part of being online is finding a voice that works for you,” Usher said.

http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/710351

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