As the new year approaches, you are sure to see several “what-to-expect-in-2012″ posts across the blogosphere. I will contribute to that meme as I always do, but prior to that, I must sum-up the year now concluding. This year, I review my thoughts and actions in the form of an awards show, the first annual “Ed Awards.” The categories will be random, but they signify important actions and events occurring in 2011.

So, without further a-do, I present the first annual, 2011 Ed Awards.

Best Movie

Nominees:

D’Lovely

The Duchess

2011 Ed Award winner: D’Lovely

Keep in mind – I am not a movie buff. I’m not current on movie trends; that is why a 2004 movie won this award. D’Lovely chronicles (more…)

Greetings new friends and colleagues! Thanks for attending my sessions or otherwise connecting with me at the innaugural Tech Day Camp. If you would like to discuss further any topic brought up during my session, or any Internet/social media related topic, feel free to contact me by e-mail, Twitter or commenting on this blog post. Any Tech Day Camp participant who responds to this blog post gets a free one-hour lesson/consultation on the topic of your choice.

With the cold hard winter fast becoming an after thought, I decided to take Bennie on a new trail last weekend. We loaded up and headed two exits down the interstate, to historic Newburyport, MA, home of the recently finished Clipper City Rail Trail and Harborwalk.

The recreational path is an easily walkable 1.1 miles, stretching from the Newburyport MBTA station to the Merrimack River. Walkers can continue another half mile once they arrive at the river’s edge, with the Harborwalk extension ending at Cashman Field. In that relatively short space, trail walkers will ramble through industrial areas, developed neighborhoods, and and have access to popular areas of the historic downtown area. Along the way, walkers enjoy public and interactive art, historical markers and signage showing past incarnations. Detours into neighborhoods and restaurants, and shopping areas are also available.

Completed in 2010 after nearly a decade of planning and construction, the Clipper City Rail Trail is part of the Coastal Trails Network, a regional system of trails connecting Newburyport, Salisbury, Amesbury, and Newbury. Planners are now trying to find a way to connect the trail across the Merrimack River to Salisbury’s Old Eastern Marsh Trail. Other trails in the Coalition include the Amesbury Riverwalk, and the Salisbury Ghost Trail.

Organizer John Hermann greets guests at the New Hampshire Media Makers meet-up. Photo by Roger Goun.

Somewhere in America today, a group of creative types gathered at a bookstore/coffee shop to discuss their projects, ask for help and advice on new endeavors, and share recent successes.

Among the group was a fiction horror writer recently published in a genre anthology, another fiction writer nominated for a Hugo Award, an actress and playwright recently moved from New York City, several other playwrights and screenwriters with projects in various stages of production, a teenage metal musician excited to share (and sell) his newly minted EP disc, a published parenting and education expert who will soon be interviewed as part of documentary produced by LucasFilms, a photographer wanting to source the crowd for some before and after pictures for his latest instructional book, and a video producer who shared his latest You Tube sensation. Also in attendance were two illustrators, a few Internet start-ups, and local managers of community art and technology spaces.

So where did this awesome gathering of talent take place? Not New York, nor Los Angeles, not even Nashville.

This gathering took place in Newmarket, New Hampshire, home of the monthly meeting of the New Hampshire Media Makers.

While most participants use computers to produce their work, many also use social media to collaborate, create, and share, mainly through Facebook, and Twitter. Media Maker meet-ups similar to this take place throughout the country, usually on a recurring weekend day. Networking is a regular meme, and it is not uncommon for collaborations to seed during one of these meetings.

This particular gathering marked the third anniversary of the group’s founding, and ranks among its largest gatherings to date.

For more information about New Hampshire Media Makers, visit http://nhmediamakers.wordpress.com/

Once again, working with this stuff is all about testing and tweaking. Also, It would help if I put the correct log-in information in the plug-in page.  If you’ve made it this far, I again apologize for wasting your time.