August 2014 Update

Saturday, August 2, 2014

3MC Meeting Notes

Walt is back from Vacation and an impromptu “catch-up” meeting was held at breakfast time in the Gold Coin. This meeting, attended by myself, Bob Borchard, Leroy Radanovich, Ellie Radanovich and Walt Hebern, was not planned and announced to the world as had previous meetings but a lot was discussed. Among the topics covered was the purpose and utility of this Blog and who should have access!

At present, this Blog is available to anyone, any time, any place in the world. It is completely accessible to the public. It’s primary purpose was to provide convenient access to our little group of 3MC organizers, and other interested folks on how we are progressing with our “project”.

Perhaps, at this point in time, it might be a good idea to focus on just exactly WHAT the purpose of the 3MC is; what does “C” stand for?

It started out to be “C”= “Conspiracy”, not that the group was “conspiring” to do anything but it my idea about being cute! It would be a good name for a “Rock” band but may not be appropriate here. The second thought was that it could stand for “Corporation”. A business organization or “Cooperative”, a quasi-business “association”. As a group, we have more or less ten or fifteen folks and most don’t show up on Saturday mornings over coffee and donuts but participate “remotely” and have, more or less, expressed and “interest” in the development/application of our Multi-Media Tools in Mariposa.

One thought, brought up at our meeting was that “access” to this Blog be limited to “named” fellow 3MCers and that the “general public” (the WORLD) not be invited to see what is going on here. Another view was that we are doing here is, in many ways, could be a model of how other communities/groups organize, approach and apply this NEW multi-media technology in a “connected” world.

For now, the “Door” is still open and we will await feedback from the “world” that views this Blog. As for other topic of discussion Saturday morning we touched on a couple of important subjects; 1 Image/Spokes-Person for Old Town Mariposa, 2. Marketing the Old Town Mariposa sites, 3. The Business of 3MC, how we pay for the expenses that we are incurring, 4. The New Studio, it’s location, size and purpose, 5. Our “programming” schedule both immediate and future.

Right now, we are sharing space in Linda’s Gold Coin Office in the back of the Mariposa Hotel Building in Historic downtown “Old Town” Mariposa. It’s a small space, about 10 by 13 feet just barely large enough for the green screen, lighting, sound equipment, stage and computer systems. In the long term it won’t work and we will need a larger space. For now, we can make it work! Over the long term we do have several options. We need to keep our expenses limited and we need to produce a “product” to demonstrate to ourselves and the world that we can do it.

This studio will operate in conjunction with the On-Campus H.S. Studio that is being developed by Walt to support the H. S. Multi-Media program. That studio needs to “focus” on the training and education role of the H.S Multi-Media Program. The Downtown studio has a more complex “production” role. The Old Town studio will have a “limited” training role but the focus will be on “producing” a “broadcast” product for broadcasting on conventional TV and the Internet. This studio will have the potential to do both “live” and “taped” shows/programming. We discussed three “elements” that were necessary for a “community” to develop a successful multi-media “program”. It takes: 1, trained technical/professional people who can “do” the job(s), 2. Equipment, such as computers, cameras, sound mixers, computer programs, etc., 3. A broadcast platform or platforms, such as a real TV station and/or an Internet site/Web Page, and, perhaps most importantly, 4. a “story” to tell. Each of these “elements” must be part of the operational concept of a publically accessible Multi-Media program or CHANNEL!

And that, my friends is what “C” stands for. The purpose of our group is to create an Old Town Mariposa Broadcast Channel for our multi-media products or “CONTENT”; oh no! Another “C”!!!

Enough of this line of thought, we also talked about “content” and how the two “studio” would work together to produce “arable” content. The idea of “control” comes up here. We need to “control” the quality of the “content” that is Broadcast under the “Old Town” Mariposa name; our key identity. There can only be ONE Old Town Mariposa broadcast platform; our name is our brand, our signature. It needs to be a copy-write, trademarked and protected “Name” to keep it from being “borrowed” or “stolen” by some other “content” producer. “Old Town Mariposa” will develop value over time and that raises a whole new bunch of questions. Looks like “C” is going to mean “Corporation” after all!

Another topic was the initial “product” of our studio! We sort of set a start-up date of August 9^th, 2014, MY BIRTHDAY. We will have things WORKING by that date and we need to “test drive” this new “tool”.

I’ve thought that, perhaps, our “test” show should be an Introduction to the Old Town Mariposa Show. If it comes off OK, we can use this for the “Trailer” for our “Old Town” YouTube Channel. I, of course, would “host” this introduction in my “hat and vest” costume (It MY birthday after all!). and we will see how this “system” works. If the “show” looks OK, we can post it on our Old Town sites.

I’m working up a “script” for the Introduction NOW! There is a lot going on, of course and the Old Town Show is expanding to become an half hour “show” on KAIL. We are looking at producing “content” for the PBS “on-demand” site and with the new school year, we are looking at a number of NEW projects that we will coordinate with OUR H.S. Multi-Media program. Phew, this has been a busy summer! Bob

Robert Borchard, Bett’s Gold Coin.