Lynda Brown: Digital Pioneer

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At the centre of this digital revolution – in B.C., at least – is pioneer Lynda Brown, president of New Media BC, the association representing about 1,100 digital-media companies in the province.

If at times you feel as though the whole world has been reduced to bits and bytes, you’re not far off the mark. Certainly our daily communications – ranging from personal conversations to community forums to mass media – have been converted to packets of electrons. At the centre of this digital revolution – in B.C., at least – is Lynda Brown, president of New Media BC, the association representing about 1,100 digital-media companies in the province. New media is a young industry whose definition is morphing every day. (Brown concedes that the outdated phrase is giving way to “interactive digital media.”) The industry was originally associated primarily with electronic games and quirky cell-phone applications. But as the industry matures, it has moved into e-learning, digital film and animation, and interactive Web design. Brown, a youthful 40, is well suited to tackling the industry’s primary challenge: translating a culture born in basement rec rooms to mainstream Canada. In 2001 she left her job as development director at Electronic Arts Inc. to co-found GoBe Media, which aimed to convert children’s television shows to cell-phone games. “I was really curious about kids’ games and mobile, and, having that entre¬preneurial gene in me, I wanted to go off and test that,” Brown recalls. Today Brown’s top priority is securing funding for Canada’s World Centre for Digital Media, which she describes as a hub dedicated to building industry capacity across Canada. The centre would be housed in a new building on the university campus planned for Great Northern Way. Industry supporters have raised $58.5 million to date, and Brown is hoping the federal government will kick in the remaining $46.5 million. Brown works long hours, typically starting her day by checking her BlackBerry before even getting out of bed and ending late in the evening at industry functions. But the long hours suit her just fine. “I’m really an entrepreneur at heart, but I’m not driven by finances. In this position I get to deal with social-capital issues,” she reports. “It’s not a job; it’s a lifestyle and you’re passionate about it, so it’s what you live and breathe.” As for her off hours, it’s easy to imagine Brown slipping into the “Hey, dude” patter of local gamers in her latest leisure venture: surfing off the west coast of Vancouver Island.