Out of town and can’t attend that upcoming event? So sick that you can’t drag yourself out of bed for that show you’ve been looking forward to? Or maybe you live across the world and need to be in two places at the same time… Wait, is Stream of Consciousness in the business of time travel, too?! No, but the business is almost as cool as that…
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Stream of Consciousness (SoC) is a new media company providing webcast, video and archiving services to people and events who “have a strong commitment to social good.” They set up a huge media server and cameras and deliver live, high-definition, multi-camera broadcasts at events.
“I had the opportunity to livestream Elizabeth May and her ‘What’s Next For Canada?’ event from the Conservatory of Music immediately after she became Canada’s first Green Party Member of Parliament,” commented Jason Guille, founder and driving force of SoC. “I saw how many people engaged the livestream, viewers from all over the country, and I got really excited about what this technology could make available to progressive people, projects, politics and passions.”
SoC ON EVERYONE’S SUBCONSCIOUS
Guille then spent the next two years doing hobbyist-level live streaming and developing the idea in his head, before launching the project in the spring of 2014. Since then, SoC has been experiencing some great growth and they’ve had the opportunity to deliver streams for:
- The Province of BC (from the Legislature)
- TEDxVictoria
- Living the New Economy Summit
- The Green Party of Canada
- Rugby Canada Championships
Guille has his lens busy this fall streaming TEDxVictoria again, and taking on Thinklandia, a free week-long event leading up to Rifflandia that celebrates our city of ideas and imagination… and Guille will be streaming all the talks on the rooftop of the Yates Street parkade.
NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH WORK
“I’ve been in Victoria a long time and I love being engaged in this amazing city of ours. There’s so many people doing great things here, it’s very easy for an excitable entrepreneur like me to get swept up in various visions.”
Guille is also:
- owner/operator of Sunset Labs (previously Sunset Room), and has been so for the past decade. This is also where SoC works out of.
- co-founder of the Victoria Public Market
- on the Boards of OUR Ecovillage in Shawnigan Lake and TEDxVictoria
- producer for about 20 festivals in the past including Earthdance Festival & Victoria Electronic Music Festival.
RECORDING HISTORY
In addition to streaming, SoC is increasing the accessibility of important content and building a living archive on their website of the many workshops, events, rallies, seminars and speakers that they work with.
The next phase for SoC is to launch their membership library project for all this great content. They’re working on licensing agreements with the many workshops and creators they’ve worked with, and this fall they will be focusing on building the backend infrastructure to host the growing SoC content library.
“Our mission is to amplify and archive people and projects who are here to make a difference,” explained Guille. “If you are keen to explore how livestreaming can help you reach more people and capture more content or you know someone you think we might serve, we’d love to help.”