Mediatech Foundation

Better Towns With Technology

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An Evening With Archie (Video)

Archie Fagan

With over 50 years in the grocery industry, Archie Fagan has been a mainstay in the Flemington ShopRite store, where nearly everyone knows his name — and smile.

Prior to coming to ShopRite, ran his own stores — a meat market and a convenience store in Doylestown PA for more than 20 years. He’s also a WWII veteran, serving form June 1944 until December 1946, where he was a witness to the Nuremberg trials. Mr. Fagan (or “Archie”) feels strongly that he has an obligation to remind younger generations that “freedom doesn’t come free.”

Our thanks to ShopRite of Flemington, who has given Archie a home, and who helped us put this talk together.

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Sweet Talks Schedule for Summer 2013

Mediatech, in association with the Flemington Free Public Library, presents “Sweet Talks,” a series of four Wednesday evenings in July.  Each evening will begin with live music at 7 pm  (in the garden if weather permits), followed by a short talk on a variety of topics at 8pm, all accompanied by light refreshments.  “Sweet Talks” are free and open to all, although contributions will be gratefully accepted.

 

July 10: The Five Straws and An Evening With Archie

The Five Sraws Brass Quintet

Music:  The Five Straws: The Five Straws are a brass quintet comprised of members of the Whitehouse Wind Symphony of Whitehouse, New Jersey. The group was formed in 2011 and performs at venues in northern New Jersey. The five members are Warren Buckleitner and Karen Stober, trumpets; David Waanders, horn; Christopher Johnson, trombone; and Jonathan Clymer, tuba. The repertoire of the quintet includes popular and classical music written originally for brass quintet as well as pieces for band, symphony, and choir that have been transcribed for brass quintet. The group also features original and adapted music written by its trombonist, Chris, who is a professional composer and arranger.

Archie Fagan

Discussion:  Archie!  An evening with Flemington’s local supermarket legend Archie Fagan, who has managed to make trips to the market more fun. Find out more about Archie’s story, ask him a question, or just come and enjoy one of our own area treasures.

 

 

July 17: The Moore Bros.  Acoustic Rock and Dick Stothoff on the History of Flemington

Dick Stothoff

Music: The Moore Bros. return for an evening of acoustic rock music.

Discussion: Dick Stothoff on the history of Flemington NJ.

 

July 24 Jake Hoffman and Chris Crowell on Technology in Education

Music:  Jake Hoffman, Acoustic Guitar

Discussion:  Chris Crowell on Technology in Education

 

July 31: Music and Discussion: Marshall’s Dixieland Jazz Band

Marshall Stalley found new life as a piano player when he retired from Rutgers University in 1982, after a career as a sociologist that spanned 21 years. Two years into his retirement, Stalley attended a group course on jazz piano improvisation proving that you’re never to old to learn.  Said Stalley in a 1989 issue of the Rutgers Focus, “I played piano before, but hadn’t had any real theory or any real guidance in improvisation.”  In the group session, he met a piano player who was also a drummer. He then put an ad in the paper and got a clarinetist who knew a banjo player — and before long they had a Dixieland band. Stalley died in 2002, but the band he started played on, with Charlie Huck taking his place at he piano.  Stalley used to joke, “We only use the music to be sure that we are all in the right key. We find it works better that way.”  The band continues in this tradition to this day. Have a listen!

Discussion:  — the members of Marshall’s Dixieland Jazz Band

Rod B. Anderson, Clarinet (Princeton)
Warren Buckleitner, Cornet (Flemington)
George Dougherty, Trombone (Lawrenceville)
Charley Huck, Piano (Somerville)
Sam Leiner, Drums (Monroe Twp.)
Inger Milligan, Vocals (Somerset)
Frank Stabile, Banjo (N. Plainfield)
Tom Spain, Tuba (Skillman)

Marshall’s Dixieland Jazz Band

 

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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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Arduino Comes to Mediatech

Title: Interactive Computing Workshop

Location: Mediatech Foundation, Flemington

Time: 10am to 12pm

Date: Dec. 8th

Description: In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to Processing and Arduino. Processing is an open source programming language used to create images, animations, games, and interactive installations. Arduino is and open source electronics prototyping platform used to create interactive objects or environments. Please join us and learn how computers can be used to interact with the real world. No previous programming experience is required.

Bio: John Kuiphoff is an Assistant Professor of Interactive Multimedia at The College of New Jersey. He specializes in software development, interactive computing and web design. He holds a master’s degree from New York University’s pioneering Interactive Telecommunication Program. He earned his undergraduate degree in Graphic Design from The College of New Jersey.