Digital Media

Resources

CHRC has numerous resources to assist you in your career as a new media content creator. In addition to the links below, be sure to check out the research section of our web site.

On this page:


Resources

The Art of Managing Your Career in DIGITAL MEDIA (2013)

The Art of Managing Your Career in DIGITAL MEDIA (2013)

This enhancement of The Art of Managing Your Career offers information, resources, tips & pitfalls and links to relevant Web sites. Learn about the business of digital media.

Link

Starting a Digital Media Business: A Guide for Digital Media Entrepreneurs (2013)

Starting a Digital Media Business: A Guide for Digital Media Entrepreneurs (2013)

This handy, practical resource can save you time, money and frustration.

Learn more

Starting a Digital Media Business: A Guide for Digital Media Entrepreneurs

This handy, practical resource can save you time, money and frustration.

With the assurance that "There is no better time to be an entrepreneur, especially in the digital media industry", CHRC's "Starting a Digital Media Business" guides you through the thinking and steps of that exciting undertaking.

From an insightful self-assessment about "being your own boss"; to practical steps on things like "how to best leverage social media" and "what you need to track, report, measure"; to reflections on "when times get rough - where to find inspiration and overcoming the fear of failure", you will find this to be a trusty guide in the good times and the not-so-good times.

Written by Lynda Brown, who has years of experience in the DM industry starting her own business and coaching others along that path, this latest CHRC offering is landing right where the need is greatest: among the start-ups that feed the multi-billion dollar industry at the heart of Canada's digital economy.

"I really liked the tongue in cheek writing style and logical step-by-step approach used by the author and thought she did an excellent job of removing the rose-coloured glasses without throwing ice water on the would-be entrepreneur." (DM employer)

"Reading through the manuscript took me right back to the time when I planned and assembled a digital media business of my own that employed 17 people at its peak. This logical and user-friendly manuscript would have been an invaluable guide in that process." (DM employer)

Starting a DM Business is one of a suite of products to help the DM industry, including a competency chart and profile for an interactive DM Team in our Digital Media HR Toolkit, and the recently revised Interactive Zone (for young people seeking careers in the DM industry). Check out these valuable resources and let your friends and colleagues know about them too!

Table of Contents

  • Being Your Own Boss
  • Starting with the End in Mind – Types of Digital Media Businesses
  • Don't Quit Your Day Job – Your Own Financial Assessment
  • Know Thy Competition – How to do a Quick Competitive Assessment
  • The Canadian Digital Media Landscape
  • The Global Landscape
  • Where To Get Help
  • If you Build It – Assessing your Market Need
  • Money Matters
  • The Great Canadian Startup
  • Legal Considerations
  • Attracting the Right Team
  • Developing a Brand in 4 Easy Steps
  • Being Social
  • Time Sinks and Burning Money
  • A Business Plan is Not a Doorstop
  • The Importance of Measurement
  • Operations or Taking Care of Business
  • The Pitch Tool
  • Basic Business Development Tools
  • Go/No Go – When Times Get Rough
Digital Media HR Toolkit (2013)

Digital Media HR Toolkit (2013)

  • Chart of Competencies (for Creation, Project Management and Business functions)
  • Competency Profiles (for Creation, Project Management and Business functions)
  • Training Gaps Analysis
  • Context Paper: Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy

Link

Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry: Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy (2012)

Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry: Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy (2012)

A Context Paper for a Labour Market Information Project on Digital Content Creators

Link

New Media Freelance Content Creators

New Media Freelance Content Creators (2004)

PDF format

Careers in Digital Media

Careers in Digital Media

For those interested in a career path in Digital Media, explore CHRC's Careers in Digital Media site.


Compendium of Hubs for Digital Media Content Creation

The Compendium of Hubs for Digital Media Content Creation was created as a follow up to a recommendation in CHRC's Technology Roadmap for Digital Media Content Creation which called for support of "collaborative environments for content creation."

The Compendium is a database allowing users to search through the compendium's list of digital media content creation hubs in Canada. CHRC will be updating it on an ongoing basis, as we are informed of changes, additions and deletions from the industry. A small Advisory Committee assists with vetting new information.

In Spring 2010 a snapshot of the Compendium was created and is available in PDF form.

This project is funded by Industry Canada.

Compendium of Hubs for Digital Media Content Creation

Compendium of Hubs for Digital Media Content Creation

PDF format

 

Compendium Terms

Hubs: The term 'hub' was used to define a significant and observable cluster of activity. They have a stated mandate or "focus of activity" that include supporting the digital media sector. They also needed to demonstrate some tangible delivery of services to the sector, be they wireless testing labs or annual conferences. Hubs include both for profit and not-for-profit entities, and sometimes include private facilities as long as there is some form of access for the sector overall. They are found in physical and online spaces and in groups of people.

People Hubs: Clusters of activity that help people gain the skills, knowledge and attributes required to produce digital media products, services and applications.

These were considered to include:

  • Credit and non-credit post-secondary programs,
  • Formalized mentoring programs,
  • Regular organized knowledge sharing events, such as demo camps, workshops,
  • Non-profit associations, industry-related professional associations,
  • Regularly held annual conferences.

Process Hubs: Clusters of activity that provide the structured processes required to produce digital media products, services and applications.

These were considered to include:

  • Testing facilities, such as wireless testing labs, rendering farms,
  • Hardware rental facilities, such as motion capture studios, editing suites,
  • Online virtual development spaces and programs,
  • Incubators, Research and Accelerator types of programs.

Product Hubs: Clusters of activity that help commercialize and market digital media products, services and applications.

These were considered to include:

  • Commercialization centres and technology parks,
  • Business matchmaking services, events,
  • Regularly held trade shows, export programs,
  • Venture Forums, Venture Funds,
  • Marketing Alliances, Consortiums.

Context Paper for Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry

Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy

A Context Paper for Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry

With these arresting words, the authors of CHRC's newly released Context Paper on Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry, set the stage for a compelling analysis of the DM industry and its central role in our country's digital economy.

This research was commissioned by CHRC to highlight how digital content is having a pervasive influence in shaping economic development in Canada; and to understand the DM industry's pressing need for greater access to talent with the right skills.

"Recognized the world over, Canada's interactive digital media content creation industry is an innovation powerhouse fuelled by the sector's unique fusion of creative and technology skills."

"Canada must keep pace with evolving labour needs in an industry where artistic, technological and business skills are converging around innovative new products and services, and the adoption of new business models and markets.... Working professionals must have access to ongoing training opportunities to enhance their business, creative and technology skills."

What emerges in terms of training is the importance of a new "hybrid worker" who encompasses "a convergence of skills once deemed to be separate... a confluence of artistic ability, technological invention and business acumen".

The Context Paper is a foundation piece of research for CHRC as the Council undertakes an analysis of skills needed by DM workers in a competency chart for a "Digital Media Team".

Recognizing that job titles and descriptions are elusive in this industry, the DM experts who developed the competency chart decided to group competencies by "functions": creation, project management and business. This unique approach will provide employers with a means of assessing the skills gaps of their DM teams; educators with a map for curriculum development for aspiring DM content creators, project managers and producers; and workers with an understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses vis a vis their role on a DM team.

Explore this up to date snapshot of Canada's DM industry and follow CHRC's ground breaking related work on skillsets and training needs for DM workers in the Executive Director's blog as she and her colleagues hold focus groups across the country to validate the chart.

Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy

Where Creativity Meets Technology in the Digital Economy

Full report

Learn more

Table of Contents

The Digital Economy and the Interactive Digital Media Industry

  • The Digital Economy and Interactive Digital Media
  • The Link between Creativity and Innovation
  • Key Features of the Interactive Digital Media Industry
  • Selected Successful Canadian Digital Content Creators that are Advancing Canada's Digital Economy
  • Summary Observations

Towards an Understanding of the Economic Importance of Canada's Interactive Digital Media Industry

  • Understanding the Far-Reaching Impact of the Interactive Digital Media Industry on the Economy and on Other Industries

The Way Forward: Preparing the Workforce for Future Success

  • Ensuring the growth and success of the interactive digital media industry
  • Ensuring a talent pipeline for the interactive digital media industry
  • Greater workforce diversity in the digital media industry

Concluding Observations
Annex 1: Interactive Digital Media Industry Content Creation Sectors
Annex 2: Bibliography


Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap

This comprehensive project began with a visioning meeting in February 2008 which brought together leaders in the Digital Media industry from across the country. Their goal was to imagine where Digital Media content creation would be in five years and what "technology" steps, and corresponding "skills development" steps, would need to happen to realize the vision.

The report identifies six major technology projects and potential collaborators, and corresponding skills development projects, which need to happen over the next five years for Canada's multi-billion dollar Digital Media industry to be competitive in the global market.

Technology Projects

  • Open, fast, and affordable networks/access with quality of service;
  • Tools for compression to optimize bandwidth use;
  • Collaborative creation network environments and tools;
  • Mobile network and device technologies to distribute, create and present content/services (Open network);
  • Digital media usability research network;
  • Centralized interoperable mechanism for micro-transactions
Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap (2009)

Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap (2009)

PDF format