Saturday, November 28, 2009

Local Interests!

We thought we would take a minute and introduce you to some of the other websites and blogs that are helping to keep Hillsdale and Columbia County connected!


Let's start with


CoCotodo is an events calendar exclusively for Columbia County, NY. Events are entered by the site's users. To enter an event, register and log-in, follow the "add event" link and submit the form. I'm eager to hear your feedback and suggestions for improvement. I hope you find it easy and useful.

Posting events to CoCotodo is free. The site is supported by small text ads at the top right of each page. Advertising on CoCotodo is affordable, locally targeted, good for your search engine ranking and shows your support of this resource.

- Christy Collins

The next site we found is:

CommunityWalk is a website that is dedicated to providing a powerful yet simple and easy to use interface for creating informational, interactive, and engaging maps.

Map_view

The Beginning
CommunityWalk began as a site for mapping communities. I thought it would help my mother, a realtor, sell homes. It quickly became evident, though, that CommunityWalk was really much more than this. With a simple and generic interface CommunityWalk quickly became a great site for creating incredibly interactive maps of anything.

Sat_view

The Present
With the ability to show photos, add comments, display interactive media, hide and show categories of locations, explore hundreds of fantastic maps of anything and everything, and so much more, CommunityWalk is fast becoming the destination site for creating and exploring the most interesting maps on the Internet.

Zoomed_out_map_view

The Future
CommunityWalk is evolving at a rapid pace, with new functionality added to the site daily. You can read more about the ongoing development on the CommunityWalk Blog. We are always open to suggestions for new features or on how to improve the existing features. We are also very appreciative when people report bugs. So please email us at general@communitywalk.com!

Another site we Love:


Who is Rural Intelligence?

Rural Intelligence is the brainchild of journalists Marilyn Bethany, who lives full-time in Columbia County, NY, and Dan Shaw, who lives full-time in Litchfield County, CT. They have both worked as editors and reporters at The New York Times and New York Magazine, where they met 20 years ago.

They created Rural Intelligence because they recognized the need for a reliable information source for people like themselves, who routinely do business and seek recreation and entertainment in four counties—Berkshire, Columbia, northern Dutchess and northern Litchfield—that are spread over three states. This sprawling region, they believe, is not well-served by mainstream media, which tends to hew to conventional jurisdictional and geographic lines. They have taken their combined forty years of experience in print journalism with the technology of the day to create this Rural Intelligence, which treats this uniquely sophisticated region as one big neighborhood. Their hope is that sharing information will foster a sense of community that transcends county and state boundaries. Rural Intelligence is the place where full-time residents and weekenders can come together to share their passion for culture and country life.



Marilyn Bethany (near left at the Taking Woodstock premiere) has been the design editor of The New York Times Magazine and New York Magazine. She was the executive editor of Los Angeles Magazine and the editor-in-chief of Buzz, an award-winning city magazine for Los Angeles. She has written for Vogue, Town & Country, Elle Décor, and Architectural Digest.. She is married to the writer Edward Tivnan. They have two grown daughters, Maisie and Nell.



Dan Shaw (with his former boss Oprah Winfrey) was a founding editor of the The New York Times Sunday “Styles” section. He has been features editor of House & Garden, as well as deputy editor of HomeStyle and O at Home magazines. He has written for publications that include Berkshire Living, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, O: The Oprah Magazine and Real Simple. For four years, he regularly wrote the Habitats column for The New York Times Sunday Real Estate section. He is also the founder of The Falls Village Blog. He has co-written several coffee-table books on design including In the Pink: Dorothy Draper - America’s Most Fabulous Decorator and Class Act: William Haines - Legendary Hollywood Decorator




This is another great site to see what's happening in Columbia County!

WHAT IS ccSCOOP?
ccSCOOP is committed to providing an alternative news source for the people of Columbia County and for people interested in Columbia County, using the latest web technologies to achieve this. Our goal with ccSCOOP is to celebrate what makes Columbia County unique—to promote local agriculture both to local people and to the urban markets in New York City, to explore the county's agricultural and industrial past and scrutinize the plans being formulated for its economic future, to report on the character-altering land-use issues that face the county, to cover our area's growing arts and cultural scene, and to promote the Internet as a source of information and Internet access as a critical part of the infrastructure for the county.

Our target audience is the people of Columbia County—those who have been here for generations, those who have chosen to settle here in recent decades, those who own second homes in the county, and those who may be interested in visiting or settling here. We attempt to have crossover appeal with our extensive coverage of local high school athletics on our Sports page, our emphasis on using local produce on our Food & Wine page, our coverage of the local cultural organizations and venues on our Arts page, and the attention we will pay to meetings and issues of very local interest on our News page and our developing Town pages.

WHO IS INVOLVED WITH ccSCCOP?
The principals of ccSCOOP are William Parker and Edwin Pawling. Bill has an extensive background in theater, film, and photography and an avid interest in politics. The combination makes him committed to exploring the potential of technology and the Internet to communicate information and bring people together. Bill is also passionate about food and brings his vast restaurant and food experience to his role as food editor for ccSCOOP. Edwin had a long career as a financial writer and a securities analyst and serves as the watchdog of the business’s finances. He also been an ardent scholar of the Shaker experience.

Our editor, Carole Osterink combines an extensive background in educational publishing—both print and electronic—with more than a decade of community activism in Hudson. Her familiarity with the issues and the people throughout the county makes her a perfect person to identify the stories we pursue and recruit the people to help us develop them.

In addition ccSCOOP has a diverse team of reportors, photographers, and designers who contribute to ccSCOOP.

Did you know the Town of Hillsdale has a Website?

Welcome to the Town of Hillsdale, NY
Founded in 1788

The Town of Hillsdale is located in the eastern portion of Columbia County, bordering western Massachusetts. It is approximately
2 hours north of New York City and 3 hours west of Boston.

Hills and dales are prominent throughout the Town,
from which the name Hillsdale is derived. Its open spaces, rural
character and scenic views, along with the charming Bed and Breakfasts, Ski Areas, Horse and Cattle Farms and Friendly People attract many visitors each year. So come, discover Hillsdale.

Visit Us.

And Finally you all know Bob Sacks!

Bob Sacks is a veteran of the printing/publishing industry since 1970, Bob Sacks was always an innovator. Even back in the 70s he followed a more creative path than usual. He started his career where some people end -- with the founding of his own weekly newspaper in the metro New York area. After several years in the alternative press publishing newspapers in New York and Tucson, Az., he went on to become one of the founding fathers of High Times Magazine. Since then Bob has held positions that include Publisher, Editor, Freelance Writer, Director of Manufacturing and Distribution, Senior Sales Manager, Circulator, Chief of Operations, Pressman, Cameraman, Lecturer, and Developer of web site companies. Bob’s resume lists directorships at such prestigious companies as McCall's, Time Inc, New York Times Magazine Group, International Paper, Ziff-Davis, CMP, and Bill Communications (VNU).

That's it for now! If you have a site that you use to keep in touch with Columbia County Happenings, let us know and we will add it!

Happy Holidays from Ken and Kevin


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