learn, share, get inspired
NH Media Makers meet at:
Crackskull’s, Coffee and Books
86 Main Street Newmarket, NH
All are welcome! We talk shop, share projects, and learn in an informal setting. Mingling starts at 10 AM followed by sharing until Noon. The guest presenter is YOU. Everyone gets three minutes to share or ask questions. No official RSVP, but feel free to leave a comment to tell us you’re coming.
It was another great collection of new and old faces sharing over a Sunday morning coffee. The topics of discussion ranged from cool new ways to raise money for creative projects, a guerrilla drive-in movie experience, to a first hand report of the infamous Bacon Explosion. Keep reading to check out the media makers in attendance…
The NH Media Makers celebrated their 1-year anniversary meet-up in style. The meet-up was a packed house! There were lots of new faces and old friends. Door prizes included a DimDim web conference pro account, The Good Beer Guide to New England and a beer from Allagash (donated by the Beer Babe herself), t-shirts from Thumprint Studio and Cinema Suicide, two albums by local musician Jon Briggs, a Bode Miller documentary (donated by its director Bill Rogers), and signed books by local authors Justine Graykin, E. Christopher Clark, and James Patrick Kelly. Keep reading to discover who else stopped by to celebrate NH arts and business on the web!
While host John Herman was away in NYC, the meet-up was run by the wonderful Bryan White with notes by Larry Clow (but feel free to make suggested changes and additions in the comments –especially if someone was missed). Thanks guys! Take a look at who stopped by…
NH Media Makers attracted a tsunami of creative minds. The ideas in the room were incredible. Keep reading for more on who attended…
NH Media Makers attracted another wave of the best and brightest in NH art and business on the web. Continue reading for all the details…
Last month we had an ice storm. This month we marked the meet-up with 10 inches of new snow. What gives?! Despite snow, ice, frogs, and locusts, media makers have continued to brave the weather to connect with other creative minds. This month was no exception!
Here are some notes on the people that showed up to learn, share, and collaborate:
Phil Kliger produces the music for surreal musical web series Odd Noggin Land. He is hosting a crazy evening of interactive entertainment on January 19th at The Blue Mermaid. Pub trivia starts at 7 PM followed by a concert by The Mangobamas. Phil is seeking politically inspired lyrics for the night. Listen to his radio show on WSCA.org Fridays 10 AM until Noon.
Kevin Baringer hopes to develop a web based quasi-art gallery at BareArts.net He wants to explore tech to represent art in the best way possible. Kevin is interested in hearing from artists about his idea.
Ryan Higgins of CockleburyBooks.com recently published a kid’s book called Twaddleton’s Cheese. Everyone at the meet-up enjoyed passing the book around.
Ryan Plaisted is co-producing Odd Noggin Land For the past few years, he also managed the recently closed, historical Ioka Theater.
Jeff Leombruno is a developer at web agency PixelMedia.
Nick Plante builds web sites and applications with a focus on media and story telling.
Bryan White is the editor of Cinema-Suicide.com This month he shared a site that caught his eye: NationUndead.com which is crowd sourcing a zombie movie.
Bodhi teaches meditation and produces guided meditation CDs. He just published an audio book “Still the Mind” at SoundsTrue.com and is in talks to publish more. He also runs WildMind.org and Bodhipaksa.com
Danielle Herman is a yoga instructor who is participating in Yoga Mala in Portsmouth on February 7th. She’ll be doing sun salutations from 9 to 11 AM. She realized that the event does not have a strong web presence. She hopes to change that.
Brian Paul is an actor and comedian always looking for new media projects. He plays Cheeseburger on Odd Noggin Land.
Jon Nunan is in the editing stage of a 16 mm film ten-minute romantic comedy called High Five. The film will be premiering in the next three weeks. He also runs the movie review site CantWatchThis.com where people dare him to watch films.
Joseph K Murphy is from the quirky pop band Murkadee. He’s want to get more into musical composition. Do you need songs? He likes to write songs.
Jon Briggs will be participating in the RPM Challenge. The challenge is to record an album in 28 days, just because you can.
That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February.
E. Christopher Clark is the creator of Geek Force Five. Recently he demoted Apple and View Askew from the aforementioned five, promoting Harry Potter and Chelmsford, MA instead. He’s debuting a text based web series called 01824 that ties into the novel he is working on. The series may also include video and music.
John Herman, host of NH Media Makers, will be a guest speaker at Portsmouth’s first Pecha Kucha Night on January 29th. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. He is also co-producing Odd Noggin Land which is shooting a video segmeny with author Nina Simonds of Spices of Life. He is also working with literacy program The Big Read, producing live story theater and video stories at PortcityBigRead.gather.com
We all wish NYC Media Makers good luck on their first meet-up. We checked in on them via a live feed on Mogulus.com
The ice storm that knocked out the power of 300,000 residencies didn’t stop a crowd from coming to NH Media Makers. The group discussed ways people have stayed connected and updated with info during the power outage. Several people present still had no power, water, phone, and heat, including meet-up host John Herman. Nevertheless we traded ideas, projects, and collaborated on some amazing photography experiments (seriously click it!). The meet-up was a welcome break from the ice storm madness. Check out the amazing people that showed up:
Jon Wellington is doing a lot of writing. He runs his own wedding video business, but he’s looking to get into more creative video projects. Loves the technical work and editing. Offering a helping hand to just about anyone getting into video. Shoot him an email: jr_wellington”at”hotmail.com
Dennis Kleinman just moved to Portsmouth from New York. He’s a documentary filmmaker with a special coming out on the National Geographic Channel called Alaska’s Extreme Machines. He’s been talking with NH Media Makers regular Dan Freund about new ways to use the web. And Dan invited him to the meeting! Dennis has an impressive career including The History Channel documentary Hippies and a certain children’s TV classic theme song!
Artist Cassy Warren of cassy.alittlenoise.org is working on the Death and Destruction show at Ello Gallery. The opening reception is January 2nd. She does mixed media works often involving skulls.
Leah Shaver does a lot of different things. She’s a professional web designer specializing in WordPress. Currently working on a female artist site called Twolia that should be launching soon. She also does mixed media work, photography, and more.
Bodhipaksa teaches meditation and produces guided meditation CDs. He also does a lot of writing at Wildmind.org He would like do more with online video and Social Media to spread his practice.
Jon Briggs is one of two actors playing the character of Fries on Odd Noggin Land. A musician, he also recently joined a band with fellow meet-up regular Phil Kliger.
Brian Paul is an web series actor and improv comedian who now plays the character of Cheeseburger on Odd Noggin Land.
Dan Freund is a web producer and brand strategist. Thinks there is a lot of potential in the branded web series. He got everyone at the meet-up thinking about the potential the web has in disseminating information in a time of crisis. Looking for developers for a web based resource for regional disasters.
Chris Knowles is a talented animator currently working on two freelance projects that can’t be revealed just yet… but very soon! For example, he finished a project this week called “Cole Petticoat PI” which is a pitch for a cartoon. The project should be going live on the web this month.
Roger Goun is putting together a one day Digital Photography Jump Start! Space will be limited to around five people, but the group assured Roger that more might be interested in future classes. This month Roger led us all in the fabulously fun jump photos. He also started a new personal site at RogerGoun.org
Kirk Membry took a great picture of himself frozen dead in the street. He’s an information architect and usability expert exposing FAIL at loseability.com
Nick Plante is web application developer who runs an impressive 48 hour innovation competition focused on Ruby on Rails. It is called The Rails Rumble. Nick would love to do a web comics project. He loves working with collaborators. He also runs the NH Ruby group at NHRuby.org
Phil Kliger is self appointed official videographer of NH Media Makers. He’s currently producing the music for Odd Noggin Land. Also working on a web video project called Zerk.tv while working on the new album “Sometimes Decisions Have to be Made” with his adult friendly kiddy rock band Tunebuggy. Listen to his radio show on WSCAfm.org Fridays 10 AM until Noon.
E. Christopher Clark is the creator of Geek Force Five. Thinking about doing a text based web series that ties into the novel he is working on. 01824 is the project working title based on the town he grew up in. After the meeting, he posted his thoughts on the idea via Utterli.
Host of NH Media Makers John Herman discussed his recent trip to Tokyo where he performed two nights of comedy and shot a music video. He also announced the debut of the new surreal musical web series Odd Noggin Land.
And finally Bryan White contacted the group through Twitter to remind everyone to join the “Save the Ioka” Facebook group.
As people arrived at the meeting, the conversational buzz started right away, even without John’s giant monitor to alert us we were in the right place at the right time. Before the meeting started, Chris Clark, Leslie Poston and some new comers discussed Leslie’s favorite stats program (Have A Mint), fully customizable via PHP, EverNote’s use as a meeting recorder via Voice Note (Leslie did not have enough juice in her phone to try this for NHMM) and other tools. Chris recorded a pre-meeting parody of Phil from UnclePhilms on his Flip Camera.
Chris Clark of Geek Force Five and author of Those Little Bastads is looking to launch a new weekly podcast comic books and is thinking of a text series as well. The podcast would touch on some of his favorites like “uncanny xman # 268″, an example of one of the first comics he bought with his own money. He is looking for podcast title suggestions. He is also still working on his Letters to Kayleigh project. He recorded an Utterz.
Roger Goun, photographer, politics geek and software engineer, sskennel on Twitter, Flickr, etc. is looking to teach an intro to digital SLR photography one day class. He wants to boot strap aspiring photographers from “no clue” to competent photographer in one day and is gauging interest right now, hoping to get 4 – 6 in the class at about $25 per person. Leave a comment below if you are interested. Just bring computer and your camera, he will have printer and paper.
Brian Paul is in new media doing mostly performance. His background is in improv and acting, and you may have seen him in John Herman projects like Gravityland, Thomas in Wonkyland, etc. He has a Mogulus site, and he also talked about Wonkyland post production being intensive. You can find him at Stranger Than Fiction.
Nicole, stage name Nicky Click, is a performance artist who produces and records her own music and has several albums out, which you can find via her MySpace page. She enjoys multi media projects and loves collaboration and idea sharing. She is all about a “use what you have” philosophy and is interested in learning more about Photoshop, Illustrator and web design. Hopefully we can hook her up with @giania and her group. She records under the Crunk’s Not Dead label.
Steve Butzel is the Assistant Director of the Portsmouth Public Library and is in the middle of redoing their web site. He is also the President of the NH Library Association. He is seeking a good recommendation for a digital recorder, has been checking out Gcast free podcasting and hosting (supposedly done by the folks behind GarageBand) and he wants to learn how others are doing media projects as well as looking to find more geeks and liberals in his area.
Tim Bickford is a videographer and mechanical engineer who has been producing and editing video for Haunted Overload attraction. He just finished his first green screen project, a spoof on American Idol you can see at blip.tv “Haunted Icon”. Took 6 mo to finish due to the intensive editing. Asked for some equipment ideas and recommendations, on frame rates and other video issues.
Ari Herzog writes at ariwriter.com and does social media consulting for government agencies. He is spearheading the Voices Without Votes campaign about blogging the vote and editing for Reuters. His Twitter handle is ariherzog. He also runs a fan wiki for government users.
John Nunan is an article writer and movie buff who runs the blog Can’t Watch This. He just finished a 16mm film as a current project about magic and relationships that he hopes to have ready for viewing soon.
Chris Knowles, animator and video editor at Mr Knowles, has a Petticoat Pie show he is trying to get off ground and animations like this one
There was a Q&A section where we discussed video equipment ranging from the economical $180 Flip Camera to a $5,000 set up, a well as technical issues like frame rates and digital to film conversions. Hopefully the people who had recommendations will spend some time explaining them in the comments so the information is accurate.
It was a great meeting today, though John Herman was missed while in Tokyo. We hope to see everyone at the next one!
This month NH Media Makers celebrated its six month anniversary!
It was an incredible meeting with a bunch of new faces, genuine spontaneous applause, and inspiring people/projects/ideas. Enjoy the photos and more below. Also you can even listen to the first 84 minutes of the meeting. Let’s keep this up every month! Spread the word. Here are some of the folks who stopped by:
John Herman is the host of New Hampshire Media Makers. He started off the meeting updating everyone about his short film collaboration “I’m Nobody” (a reading of a poem by Emily Dickinson) which was screened at the le:60 Film Festival The film is now viewable at hermanfilms.blip.tv Last month, John participated in The Equal Exchange Invitational with the top five 48 Hour Film teams from Boston; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle. This new film will screen at the Kendall Square Cinema on October 21st. And tickets are free! John also plugged the NH Film Festival. He is the director of the Young Filmmakers Workshop, which is one part film school, one part film-making challenge. John will be missing next month’s meet-up because he will be performing improv comedy in Tokyo, Japan. Leslie Poston will guest host!
Steve Garfield is the host of Boston Media Makers (which inspired the creation of our meet-up!). He teaches “New Media Tools for Journalism” at Boston University. Steve showed a fun slide show presentation of his recent successes in the world of citizen journalism, including his hurricane report for CNN iReport, a photo for WBZ, and a report for BBC about the debate. Steve is starting his own radio show, Revolution Radio, to promote 15 minutes of positive things daily -right up to the election. He also invited people to try out Qik.com, Phreadz.com, and BlogTalkRadio.com
Jack Herman from barnhouselighting.com gave thoughtful encouragement to small businesses hurting in the economic downturn. He told people to get out there and (through whatever means) try get to a bigger piece of the shrinking pie. He cited the new ways to reach clients (like social media). He also told a story about how he doubled his ad space in several magazines just by asking. He encouraged the artists in the room to take advantage of the new opportunities to change the world.
Jaymie is a local painter who came to learn more about what’s happening in our creative community. Soon her work will be seen at the Rye Public Library in an exhibit of female Seacoast artists.
Film producer Bill Rogers of NoworNeverMedia.org did a recording for his wonderful Bald Guy on Climate Change series right in the middle of the meeting! He showed everyone how easy it is to produce quality, fun, and informative media using increasingly accessible tools. He used to need a crew, now he just needs an idea. Very inspiring stuff. After the meeting (where they met for the first time), Bill and Steve made an episode in the car!
Sean Hurley (Sherwin Sleeves from the award winning podcast Atoms Motion and the Void) talked about his journey from podcaster to public radio contributor. He is working on a grant proposal aimed at integrating New Media into broadcast radio.
UNH mathematics graduate student Mohan Ravichandran showed up because he is interested in exploring all things New Media. He said it was important to him not to be left behind, no matter what the field. He was excited to see what’s going on.
Roger Goun is a photographer, software engineer, and the original political maverick. He is currently putting together a one day camera workshop for people with cameras who long for a deeper grasp of photography. Interested? Contact him via those links. He takes many of the photos on this very blog.
NHPR intern Willa Kammerer is an aspiring multi-media journalist trying to build up the technical skills to greet the convergence of social media and mainstream media. Currently works for The Exchange and Word of Mouth (which is trying to blur the line between blog and radio).
Bill Major is process engineer with a strong passion for film projects and theater. He talked about how it is much easier to get started than it ever was. He was very interested in hearing about the variety of projects.
Christine Major works in public relations with a focus on Social Media. She is really interested in using her skills for creative pursuits. She used to produce her own public access show and would love to produce more media. She is doing stand up comedy October 28th at La Chiquita in Salisbury, Mass. You should go!
Leslie Poston of Mashable, Blorge, and Uptown Uncorked is currently producing two TalkShoe podcasts: MacJunkies (Wed 2 PM on Talkshoe) and Topics on Fire (bi-weekly Sundays 11pm, Next topic: 10/19 on Politics and New Media). She is also involved in a collaborative initiative to encourage women to explore technology careers: Strong Women in Tech via strongtechwomen.ning.com. Leslie will be at the New Marketing Summit in Gillette Stadium Tue/Wed. She will also be presenting at North Shore Web Geeks in Newburyport on 10/23 at 7pm on managing work flow in social media, 11/13 at Jeff Pulver’s “Social media: It’s a Jungle Out There” a presentation on using social media to recreate your business for the downturn. Leslie mentioned that Cre8buzz.com is giving away a share of profit to someone looking to take the opportunity. And… she mentioned that Casavidas is hosting a blogger-only Wine tasting on 10/29. In conclusion, Leslie is delightfully busy. She will be hosting next week’s meet-up while John Herman is in Japan. AND… Leslie posted an audio response to the meet-up at Utterli.
Geek Force Five’s E. Christopher Clark started selling short stories from his book Those Little Bastads a la carte on Lulu as downloadable pdf’s. He is thinking of starting National Novel Revision Month… and John Herman joined immediately. Soon Chris will be publishing Letters to Kaylee (or Conceiving of You: A Father’s Letters to His Unborn Daughter. The book comes out in late November or December. All proceeds will go towards the healthcare costs involved in his family’s fight against infertility. If it works and they are able to raise enough money, then Chris would like to use this as a springboard to launch a charity/fundraising program for others struggling with similar issues. After the meeting, Chris recorded his thoughts on the meetings via Utterz.
Jack Hodgson’s weekly aviation podcast, Uncontrolled Airspace, just celebrated their 100th episode! The show is aimed at pilots as well as people simply interested in aviation. Recently Jack realized he has about 4.9 days of audio. This got him thinking about re-purposing the material. He’s in the process of taking good stuff from older episodes and making them search-able audio clips. He’s also thinking about video and pressing a CD. His fun with friends has inadvertently created a brand with thousands of dedicated listeners!
Brian Spielvogel is an improv comedian by night, product photographer for Boston Acoustics by day. He’s really interested in voice over work and short comedy films. He showed the group his latest collaboration (with Jon Wellington): Funtime Joybox. He recently built himself a steady cam. Interested in developing a collective of people to make fun short films. Shoot him an email.
Bryan White, the creator of Cinema-Suicide.com asked the gathering: “What horror film would you show a ten year old?” The reason is that he will be talking about that very subject on NHPR’s Word of Mouth on October 30th. This summer Bryan was featured on the Tank Riot podcast. He’s also started a personal blog.
Dave Lawrence is interested in the convergence of real life connection with social media. He’s already involved in the Ruby Rails community and he’s looking to start his own blog for New Media topics and tutorials.
Nick Plante a.k.a. Nap of Ubikorp is a Ruby web application developer involved in the Rails Rumble which is a web design challenge (much like the 48 Hour Film project). 140 teams from all over the world participated last year, and this year’s challenge looks to be even bigger. Nick published a book called Practical Rails Plugins. He is also really interested in the concept of work sharing -where people, mostly freelancers, rent a space together to promote collaboration. He instantly made a potential connection right here at the meeting. He is also involved with the NH Ruby User group which meets next on October 21st.
Dan Freund works with video, motion graphics, and the web. He recently entered the NH Film Festival Override contest. He’s made it to the final three which will be screening this Friday at the festival!
Debbi Masse of goldlatch.com passionately works to bring people and small businesses together, developing a large network of promotional support. She now wants to explore web-based and social media marketing. She is holding a meeting Tuesday night at the Three Chimney’s Inn 6:30 PM to 8 PM to introduce people to blogging.
Let’s do it again next month!
