Hey you! All you techn0-hipsters in funny glasses checking your Iphones, Droids and Blackberries ! You, teens, too: Please step away from the video games long enough to check this out.
It’s time to put ‘yer ear buds in and power up the hand-held toys (Out of the gutter, folks, I’m not talking Weiner talk):
We have a rather impressive cadre of digital media mavens (ma-mens, too?) in town for Saturday’s first Woodstock Digital Media Festival.
It’s an all-day event followed by a a digital arts par-tay based at the Billings Farm and Museum but with other locations in the mix (You can take a hike AND learn some digital tips, too). There is what is often called a “nominal fee” (family ticket deal, too) to hear some of the industry’s leaders talk about and show their work both online and on-the-ground — here and abroad. How can YOU use digital media to change the world?
Concerning wi-fi hotspots…There’s been a lot of fanfare about “Woodstock Wireless” but at this point I like to call it Woodstock-NOT-so-Wireless. The truth is its reach is far from broad, not much farther or stronger than when folks used to sit stealthily in front of the Norman Williams Public Library to pick up a few bars to communicate from the apparent back-woods of Vermont. I know there are folks out there working to get more of the Village covered and props to them, but, at this point, ehhhh. I also hear that Village Trustee Bob Pear on High Street has offered the use of the highly-placed tippy top roof on his home as a Woodstock wireless repeater site but has not gotten much, if any, response.
And, what about this? I learned about something called Wi-MAX on a trip through Northern Michigan just a few weeks ago. At Marquette’s “Babycakes” coffee shop I met Northern Michigan University Mathematics Professor Don Faust who was quite proud that President Barack Obama had recently visited there. The reason for the Presidential visit to this out-of-the-way locale (sounds a bit like Woodstock, Vermont) was to applaud the university AND the community for setting up a Wi-MAX system to provide truly broad-reaching internet access not just to Marquette but to surrounding communities. The school was motivated in part by the fact that a majority of students live off-campus and could not easily access the campus network. As I enjoyed my coffee and cinnamon bun (the BEST in Michigan, I might add), Prof. Faust powered up his laptop (on his was to work on a bike) and accessed his university email via the Wi-Max system. I’ll leave the technical details of this type of service set-up to others, but, Hey, what about it Woodstock? Can we do better? So that “Wireless Woodstock” is not a joke?
http://webb.nmu.edu/SiteSections/WiMAX.shtml
P.S. I’m thinking I must attend the Woodstock Digital Media Festival just to meet one of the participants named “Hurricane Coast”. Ya’ gotta’ love it!
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 