Canada's Walk of Fame - Needs Digital Footprints

Since Canada's Walk of Fame started in Toronto's entertainment district in 1998, I thought it was a great way to recognize the accomplishments of notable Canadians. Canadians don't often value their history and culture and the Walk brings prominence to these contributions.

As a physical manifestation of Canadian culture, Canada's Walk of Fame is definitely lacking in digital footprints. There are no people from the Canada's digital media section (i.e. this includes gaming, the Web, mobility, etc). I think this is the year that someone from digital media be inducted!

Suitable category are "Science and Innovation" (Alexander Graham Bell is the only inductee in this category) and  "Visual Arts" category (only Lynn Johnston and Jean-Paul Riopelle).

Only a handful of people are inducted every year and one has to be born in Canada or spent their formative years here and been working in the field for at least 10 years to qualify.

The Walk of Fame encourages submissions and it's really quick and easy (you also get a chance to win a trip to Toronto and tickets to the gala induction ceremony). So I'm starting a campaign to get a Canadian in digital media inducted this year.

A lot of people from my Who's Who in Canadian Digital Media and Technology don't qualify as they haven't met the 10-year career mark. But here are some people that I think would be great nominees:

• Lorne Abony - Petopia, Fun Technologies, Mood Media
• Tim Bray - XML, Open Text
• Garrett Camp - StumbleUpon
• Michael Cowpland - Corel
• William Gibson - scifi author and cyber-visionary
• Murray Goldberg - WebCT (first e-learning platform)
• Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk - founders of gaming studio BioWare

There are lots more. I'd love to hear here if anyone has any specific suggestions - or would like to start a group effort to get one person in particular nominated.

Nominations close April 30, 2012 - so nominate someone today.