But then I decided to organize all the old photos in a new, separate WordPress blog with a gallery plug-in and a nice overview homepage. I will continue to use if for new photo galleries but keep the actual blogging here. The photoblog is still a bit of a work in progress but it’s getting there. I like the layout from the StudioPress template that gives it all a consistent look & feel.

It was fun to go through all the old HTML-pages with my different amateur design approaches. As much as I posted the photos for Lori, my friends and family to see, half the fun was definitely in fiddling around with HTML.

Click on the image of the screenshot with the new design or here to go to the new photoblog.

Leaving High Road is tough. It’s a special place. I have a lot to be thankful for, and a lot of colleagues, clients and partners to thank. My seven and a half years at High Road were full of change and growth. The agency tripled in size, expanded from three to five offices, and won big Canadian brands and interesting U.S. clients. During that same time, digital technologies and social platforms have added new ways for people to communicate, connect and search for information. High Road has trained, hired and acquired to stay ahead of these developments and make sure the right skill sets are in place to help clients benefit from them.

What has stayed consistent throughout all the change is a corporate culture that combines leadership with team work, risk-taking with sound advice, and entrepreneurship with fun. I am lucky to have benefited from it; I learned a lot from High Roaders. Another thing that won’t change: the fact that High Road is an agency. This is why I have decided to make a move. I started my career in the public sector (on a different continent), and always considered it something worth revisiting. Well, now is the time.

I love that governments are increasingly going digital to communicate or seek input. For example, Canada recently let people and organizations submit and vote on ideas for its Digital Economy Strategy; Germany’s chancellor and some ministers are answering citizen’s questions using “many-to-one communications” platform DirektZu.de; the U.S. Department of State in 2007 launched its DipNote blog and added other social media services over time. A lot is already happening across the world, and we need more of that. I want to contribute to it here in Ontario. But it’s not simply about choosing new ways over old. It’s about looking at all aspects of communication, and choosing the smartest ways to inform and interact. Digital, social and mobile ideas can play a big role here.

Yet, my best personal experience with government communications is still a handshake. When I arrived in Canada ten years ago, I was greeted at immigration with an extended hand and the words “welcome to Canada; glad to have you here.” Whether it was based on a customs officer’s individual effort or official guidance, I don’t know. What matters to me is that the welcome handshake made me both feel excited about my future in a new country and think about my responsibilities as a new resident.

It was a simple, powerful act of government communication. As a public relations professional, I always thought it is an example of something to aspire to. Granted, interaction between government and citizens is usually more complex and less heart-warming. But I’ll carry the spirit of the handshake and the passion for new ideas with me when I start my next job on Monday at the Government of Ontario. I can’t wait to meet my new team and get going.

If you have suggestions or examples of great government communications, I’d love to hear from you.

But one of the downsides of using Flickr Guest Passes is that it isn’t very intuitive in its navigation (just like most of Flickr in general). For example, when I send out emails with a Guest Pass link, time and again I’ve gotten questions about how to download individual photos.

It isn’t difficult to find if you click around a little bit. But it also isn’t obvious. So here is my quick explanation with screenshots, mainly so that I can add this blog post as a link to my emails with future Flickr Guest Passes.

1) Click on your Guest Pass link to get to the Flickr photo gallery, and then on the individual photo you’d like to download 

2) Click on “All Sizes” above the individual photo

3) Select your preferred size from the “Available Sizes” menu

4) Click on the “Download” link above the picture and then on “Save” in the pop-up menu to save the photo on your computer

Done. Repeat procedure if you want to download more photos from the Guest Pass gallery. Or you can view all photos online in “Slideshow” mode by clicking on the button in the top right corner.

Thank you!

Diese Anleitung in Deutsch befindet sich hier.

In this video, Karim Benzema scores the 4:0 goal for Real Madrid in the match against Toronto FC at BMO Field. End result was 5:1. TFC was no challenge for Real Madrid but Gabe Gala must be the happiest football player alive tonight for scoring against Real’s new “Galacticos”. It was just a friendly game but it was still amazing to see the skill and talent of Real Madrid’s squad live. Cristiano Ronaldo was a joy to watch but I agree with Steve Nash that Lassana Diarra was the man of the match.

Let’s see for how long. In a few minutes Poland and Germany will play each other at the UEFA EURO 2008 tournament. The divide goes straight through the family with Lori rooting for the football team of her mother’s home country and me rooting for my home country.

UPDATE: Germany won. Tough times are over. For now.

The old blog web address mrh.ca/tech won’t be used anymore, so please update your bookmarks. If you subscribe to my RSS feed, you should automatically get switched over.

I’ve decided to somewhat broaden the scope of what I will write about on martinhofmann.net. Public relations and technology are still a focus. But I will also capture and write about other stuff that interests me. Since my day job doesn’t give me a lot of opportunity to use my native language, I’ve also decided to start writing in German again. In the end, I am trying to have fun again with an old-fashioned personal online journal. We’ll see how it goes.

For anybody coming to this site to keep track of specific topics, the main categories are now easily accessible in the navigation bar at the top. I have also added a few RSS feeds to the main one in the Subscribe section on the sidebar.

My new site design is based on the combination of two of Brian Gardner’s fantastic Revolution themes for WordPress. The core theme I use is Revolution Pro Media but some of the design elements are also taken from his Revolution Tech theme. You can find out more about Brian’s themes and services here. I hope he’ll forgive me for creating a “frankentheme” from two of his designs. I really like it.

Heavy traffic in Toronto. We’re coming to a halt at an intersection, two cars between me and the red light. The light turns green and both cars in front of me start signalling for a left turn. By the time the oncoming traffic has passed and they are gone, the traffic light is red again. We have to wait for another round.

Me: “You know, they should have signalled way earlier.”

Passenger (P): “Who?”

Me: “The two cars in front of us.”

P: “Why?”

Me: “Are you serious? Because I would have changed to the right lane, and would have made it across when it was green. Instead they stop at the lights and it looks like they want to go straight. Then they wait until the lights turn green to signal. And I am stuck behind them. Can’t they make up their mind when they approach the traffic light?”

P: “It’s okay. We’ll still make it in time.”

Me: “That’s not the point.”

P: “I know what your point is. Unless you want to chase after them to yell or make European gestures, let it go.

Me: “European gestures? I take offense to that. And I don’t want to go after them, I am just saying…”

P: “You couldn’t go after them anyway. Because it would mean that you would have to use your left turn signal now. And that would really annoy the driver behind you. Because you should have signalled way earlier if you want to make a left turn.”

Me: “Do you want to walk the rest of the way?”

The light turns green.

Two miles later.

P: “You know, I do that all the time.”

Me: “What?”

P: “Not signal until the light turns green.”

Me: “Why? WHY?”

P: “I don’t like the sound of my turn signals.”

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Today is my seventh anniversary of immigrating to Canada. It’s a good day to say thank you to the unknown customs officer at Pearson Airport. I wish I had asked for his name.

On March 21, 2000, I anxiously stood in the customs lineup with a suitcase, a backpack and a list of things to be shipped later.

When the officer saw that I am a new immigrant, he smiled, shook my hand and said “Welcome to Canada! Glad to have you here.”

Some people may dismiss this as a little Wal-Mart greeter type of gesture. It wasn’t. It made a world of difference to me. Since this is supposed to be a PR blog: I don’t think anybody could have done better PR for the country than this customs officer.

Thank you, Officer. And thank you, Canada. I am glad to be here, too.