Thursday, August 04, 2005

Welcome to Creekfest Online!!!

Sean and I hatched an idea while sitting near the bonfire, a collaborative website that would showcase the talents of each of our many Creekfest friends. Here it is - rather unfinished - but everything cool has to start somewhere, right? Hopefully this is more than just a newsletter, hopefully this blog will help all of us promote our ideas, businesses, music, etc. We are a highly creative and crafty bunch, let's work together as well as play together. Let's promote ourselves and one another!

ANY CREEKFESTER CAN POST ON THIS SITE.
THIS SITE IS FREE TO USE FOR THE CREEKFEST COMMUNITY.

Access: Adding stuff to this website is really, really EASY. Contact me and I will send you an email-invitation that will allow you to begin. You'll also have to register with Blogger.com, which is free and will take you about 30 seconds. They do not spam. Registration is unfortunately necessary, but there will be no censorship or restrictions on this site. (I don't have everyone's email, so forward this message to every Creekfester you know who has a computer.)

Photos and images: You can upload photos to your post by clicking the image icon in each post window. We are somewhat constrained by the limitations of Blogger as to advertising. You can add images outside of your posts - for example: at the bottom of the page or in the side bar - by using a program called Hello, free to download. (I created and added an ad for Erik's disc at the bottom of the page as an example.) Image-hosting is critical. We want all of our images stored in the same place and Hello will do this for us for free. It's incredibly simple to use, but the process is annoying the first time you do it. Let me know if you need help and I will guide you through it.

Comments: There is a "comment" link at the bottom of every post. This is an easy way to communicate with one another and provide feedback on each other's work. You can also comment on the comments, creating a thread of open communication.

Audio: We also have the ability to "audioblog," meaning that you can leave a voicemail message on this site for all to hear using your regular phone. Sorry, I haven't figured out how to upload MP3 files to Blogger (yet). If you have the ability to text message on your cellphone, you can add text to this site from your mobile phone.

Hosting: I imagine if we found someone with a server willing to host this site, we could go crazy and really add some cool stuff, like animation, etc. For now, Blogger is free, relatively easy to use, and a great starting place. Erik Emig had an idea, while I was burning stuff in his kitchen, to have a live feed from the bonfire circle to the net. I will work on getting this site hosted elsewhere, somewhere we'll have more space so that next year's Creekfest could go full-on techno with a live internet broadcast. If anyone has any ideas about webhosting elsewhere, I'm open. My vision (come along for the ride) is that this site will grow continuously in the coming year, and that we will add snipets of tunes played on stage, video of the bbq process, the ducky race, and whatever else y'all come up with at next Summer's gathering. It will culminate with all of us enjoying a lucrative retirement. Am I asking to much?

This site was created for promoting all people and things Creekfest. Let your imagination soar! Start adding stuff! Add event info, random thoughts, art, photos, etc. Consider this another art project in process, but also a tool for marketing your ideas, your business, or just putting-up photos of your kids.

I hope this becomes an addiction for you! This can be highly successful, but only if YOU participate. Welcome to Creekfest Online!

Peace,

Jer
(photos: Sarah Whiting)

posted by Jerome Alicki at 5:33 PM

4 Comments:

  • God love ya Jer! But more importantly, I love ya. Thanks for the work you've put into this. I'll start working right away.

    Thanks
    Jeffy

    By Blogger Jeffy, at 10:25 AM  

  • Whoa, Jeffy luv! Finally, some affirmation.

    Well, it's Day Two. Welcome Pete and Jeffy! Start posting!

    I added a bunch of links on the side of the page. Some of y'all will be baffled by the links relating to grants and funding. There was discussion awhile back of creating a Creekland non-profit organization and getting grants to fund our lifestyle. We never pursued it, obviously, but I'm bringing it back to your attention because it's still a great idea. As far as I know, I'm the only one who actually took some classes and learned how to do this, so maybe its up to me. There was a lot of talk a few years back about building a recording studio somewhere too... hell, there's been a lot of talk, but no one ever wrote anything down!

    Anyway, the links in the side column can change whenever somebody comes up with something else to put there. I won't be offended. If you want other links in that column, feel free to put them there.

    By Blogger Jerome Alicki, at 1:55 PM  

  • Yes, indeed. Thanks for thinking of that. I did a quick search and found information on obtaining copyrights. I will add that info on the bottom of the page once I get it straight. My basic understanding from a quick read of the material is that there is a one time fee that would cover the whole site.

    Thanks for pointing that out,

    Jer

    By Blogger Jerome Alicki, at 2:22 AM  

  • Someone has already purchased the domain name creekfest.com.

    Creekfest.org, .net, and .info are all available.

    By Blogger Jerome Alicki, at 4:51 PM  

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