Mediatech Foundation

Better Towns With Technology

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2016 Demographics

2016 Demographic of The Mediatech Foundation

Location: Flemington Free Public Library, 118 Main Street Flemington, NJ 08822

Supervisor: Daniel Currie

Total Number of Patrons in 2016: 2391 patrons

Total Number of Hours Open in 2016: 730 hours

Average Patrons per Hour: 3.5

Demography:

Caucasian: 50%

African American: 27%

Hispanic/Latino: 23%

Sex:

Male: 49%
Female: 51%

Total Age Percentage Groups:
Under 5: 1%
5 – 9 Years: 2%
10 – 14 Years: 68%
15 – 19 Years: 26%
20 – 24 Years: 0%
25 – 29 Years: 0%
30 – 34 Years: 0%
35 – 39 Years: 0%
40 – 44 Years: 1%
45 – 49 Years: 0%
50 – 54 Years: 0%
55 – 59 Years: 0%
60 – 64 Years: 1%
65 – 74 Years: 1%
75 – 79 Years: 0%
80 – 84 Years: 0%
85 Years and Over: 0%

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Flemington Digital Archives

A Proposal to Create A Local Digital Archiving Project

Flemington Digital Archives

 

A Project To Help Support The Celebration of the 300th
Anniversary of the Hunterdon County

Produced by

Mediatech Foundation

118 Main Street, 2nd Floor

Flemington, NJ 08822

www.mediatech.org

 

Mediatech is a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization


To: The Flemington Borough Council

From: Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D., Executive Director, Mediatech Foundation, warren@mediatech.org

Date: February 19, 2013

AT A GLANCE: This is a request for $8279 in seed funds that would be used to start an ongoing digital archiving project, starting this summer at Mediatech on Main Street. In this document, we’ll describe the work in detail, with timeline, and a complete description for how the money would be used.

We have made every effort to make this project that can self-fund itself in the future. On behalf of the Mediatech board of trustees, we’re extremely excited about this project and we hope that you will feel confident that we have the ability make the most out of each dollar we receive. The products that will be funded will be easy to see and evaluate.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Flemington Digital Archives is an initiative designed to capture and archive significant cultural material for future public access.  We hope it will make our town better, by helping us to learn more about the people that live close to us to build informal bonds between people, and to create a more cohesive and caring community.  We hope that this innovative program can serve as a model for other towns.

WHAT CONTENT WOULD BE ARCHIVED? We will capture amazing, but true stories told by local residents.

These would include:

  • Family histories with illustrations from scrap books and/or movies.
  • How We Ended Up in Flemington“ perhaps an immigration tale that starts in one place and ends up in Flemington.
  • Poetry and/or original book readings.
  • Story telling sessions, enhanced by a document camera.
  • People and places of note (e.g., local business owners, historians, authors, sports experts, collectors, Archie of ShopRite).

WHERE WOULD THE CONTENT BE ARCHIVED?
In the cloud on free, public, social media resources, especially YouTube. Content could be embedded on Mediatech’s YouTube channel as public Creative Commons content. It could then exist freely on Mediatech’s website and Facebook page to be used by other groups, families, churches and so on.

WHO DETERMINES WHAT WILL BE CAPTURED?
We will digitize two types of content. (1) Free and public, and (2) curated. The free and public will be the same as an open mic where anyone can come and make a recording, providing it meets Mediatech’s  guidelines (all content must be OK for children).

The curated content will include special programs and people who will be selected in advance by the trustees of Mediatech with the advice of the Historical Society. All work will be strictly non-commercial and non-partisan; no person will be turned away. 

WE’VE ALREADY DONE ONE.

You might ask. Can these guys pull this off? We already have. Last summer, we recorded one session as an experiment, and it was an amazing success.

The storyteller was Herman Walter Schiller, the Grandfather of two of the pilots for the Spirit of St. Louis flight simulation.  Mr. Schiller, a cancer survivor, read a heart-felt poem about his father. He had written the poem many years ago, and it had never been shared. His daughter asked if he could share it. The video was edited and posted, and has been viewed by his family who have expressed deep gratitude about being able to have this event captured, saved and archived for future generations.

How many of these stories are hidden, waiting to be told? Mr. Schiller’s recording can be seen at http://youtu.be/MNWfxnlABz

COLLABORATION
We will work with the FFPL Library Friends, HCRHS and FRSD to support school-related work; a job that is made easier because we have teachers serving on our board.

ON THE GO – A PORTABLE STORY BOOTH
We’ll have a table set up in front of the Union Hotel for portable stories during concerts and/or street events.  We’ll reach out to the Hunterdon Historical Society to find people with stories to tell; in addition we’ll host “open mic” sessions at Mediatech for public access for an interview spot.

WORKSHOPS
We will host workshops on the art and science of storytelling to be held in the community room.

OUTREACH
We’ll work with NJ.com and other media outlets, and share with WDVR. We’ll produce a production schedule for June, July and August, scheduling regular weekly recording sessions in the Community Room. Videos will be edited while Mediatech is in session so that local residents can see the process happen.

 

BUDGET DETAIL AND TIMELINE

 

The cost for 64 videos by the end of the summer, is $8279. This includes a one-time investment in some video editing equipment to be used on an ongoing basis.

STAFF  COSTS

Video Producer Matt 64 videos, with 4 hours/video at $11/hour = $2,816

Video Editor Ben 64 videos, with 4 hours/video at $11/hour = $2,816

TOTAL =$5,632

EQUIPMENT DETAIL All equipment will be inventoried, insured and housed in Mediatech, available for public use.

Sony HDR-XR260V HD Camcorder, $698 from B & H Photo

Apple 8GB 21 inch iMac $1499 from Apple.com

This computer would be available for public use, as another Internet and video editing terminal in Mediatech.

1 TB external USB3 hard drive $100

Lighting, tripod and sound equipment would be borrowed.

Banner ($200), folding tent ($80) and printing ($70) for the portable unit: $350

TOTAL EQUIPMENT = $2,647 

STAFF QUALIFICATIONS

We are fortunate to have two college students available to work on this project this summer.

Mediatech is an independent non-profit 501-C(3) organization that has been serving the residents of Flemington since 2003.

 

REFERENCES

1. StoryCorps has created a free Do-It-Yourself interview guide with equipment recommendations and interview instructions available online at http://nationaldayoflistening.org .

 

2. We have created a trial run last year during the Lindbergh flight. See http://youtube.com/mediatechnj for several of these videos, including the Sweet Talks series edited by Ben Kates.

 

3. Mediatech Remembers: My Father by Herman Walter Schiller

http://youtu.be/MNWfxnlABzs

 

4. The Moth: True Stories, told live (www.themoth.org) is another source of inspiration.

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Why Visit the Library? “Entertainment” says 35% of Patrons

“Libraries across the country are facing changing tides, as demand for digital resources such as e-books and databases — even, simply, for Internet access — has grown. More Americans are making greater use of their public libraries, according to a 2009 American Library Association survey, with the number of average in-person visits up, along with circulation of materials.

“Public libraries throughout the country are really looking at who they are and what services they need to provide,” Library Director Monique le Conge said in an interview with the Weekly. “I think of the library as sort of the community’s living room. It’s the place where you can do homework, be entertained, read for fun, have a quiet space to relax, interact with your friends and family. Many libraries are adopting that model where its spaces are flexible (and) there are different kinds of seating for different needs, different kinds of tables, different technology.”

National trends reflect that notion of the library as a community space. The American Library Association survey showed that, in addition to borrowing materials, 35 percent of library patrons rank entertainment as a top reason to visit the library. Educational purposes — such as a place to do homework or take a class — also ranked high, with 28 percent of people using libraries for that reason.

From
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=21732

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Help us Make “Flemington’s Got Stories”

Help us tell his story.....

Building on Will Richardson’s FAME idea, Flemington’s Got Stories is an idea to create a local documentary project.

Project Name: FLEMINGTON’S GOT STORIES

Organization Name: Mediatech Foundation
Address: 118 Main Street (2nd Floor) City: Flemington State: NJ Zip Code: 08822
Phone: 908-284-2006
Fax: 908-284-0405
Web site: www.mediatech.org

Project Description: This is an American Idol-like event designed to highlight digital reporting on a local level. In order to enter, residents must apply their digital publishing abilities, either on their own or with the help of the volunteers at Mediatech, a library-based technology center. We will try this in one town (Flemington, NJ, pop. 5000) as a test. The project could be applied to any community; just change the name. If successful, the project can sustain itself with local sponsorships. The stars of this project are found in any town. These are the people you see, but take for granted, like Archie, an 83-year old WWII vet who is well known on our grocery store PA system. When he says “fresh bread, straight out of the oven,” people line up. But nobody knows his last name, what he did in the war or where he lives. Tomas is a bright, 12-year-old refugee from Central Africa, who rides a seatless bike to the library. He has an uncanny ability for mastering the nuances of English and middle school culture. Whenever he sees a dog, he gets sad however; remembered a pet he left behind, and (perhaps) a story waiting to be told. Eleven-year-old Maggie has been called an “illegal” on the street because she her parents are first generation immigrants from Mexico. Few people know that Irma’s mother is the inventor of the famous sauce at a successful restaurant. A cooking documentary could share the recipe.

This project has six parts. (1) Upgrade the technology in an existing library-based technology center with video editing stations and coaches; (2) host free, weekly digital publishing workshops for residents; (3) enhance an existing WordPress blog with embedded video samples; (4) host a public “American Idol” style contest in the summer; (5) award a scholarship to an aspiring journalist, and (6) create a dissemination video so that others can replicate this plan.

6. How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities? By significantly increasing a town’s public access to affordable, powerful digital publishing technologies, and then by giving people a reason to use the technology, we’ll make it possible for any person to apply new digital skills. They may be in front of the camera, or working as a video editor. Or they may simply bring in a box of old photos to be digitized by a young volunteer. The recruiting tool will be your ego. Once you’ve edited and uploaded your first video, or seen a collection of a neighbor’s digital family album set to a symphony, you feel a sense of empowerment, or perhaps see somebody familiar, in a new way.

7. How is your idea innovative? Video harvesting initiatives and community technology centers are not new ideas. But combining the two, with a mix of YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and fresh coffee, plus an “American Idol” style contest to feed your ego, is a new mix. Thanks to Moore’s law, we now have cheaper, better technology to use, including cheap and powerful HD cameras, flat screens, and nearly unlimited storage. The cost vs. power ratio has swung toward the direction of this idea. This is an early attempt to use this recent technology.

Mediatech is the ideal center to host this effort, and it is in need of an annual fundraising effort. Mediatech is a five-year old experiment in our town library that has been cited by Governor Jon S. Corzine for “helping to keep New Jersey at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation” (http://bit.ly/4vsfpn). The open-source Mediatech recipe can be created by any school or library. The concept was initially inspired from a center in Northern Italy; the relationship is explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4h8W5bhRyc.

We have proven to ourselves and our own town that we can turn a small investment into a digital oasis by harnessing a common vision and dedicated volunteers.  This project — Flemington’s Got Stories is a natural extension the Mediatech’s mission, to create better life with technology.