(This will be on the third Thursday of the month as opposed to the second due to the 4th of July holiday week.)

The film will be “Racing Dreams”, a documentary about young kart racing aspiring for a future on the NASCAR circuit.  Parts of the film were shot in Charlotte, NC, and there are many local/regional connections with people in the documentary.  It should be an interesting film; it has received a great deal of acclaim since its release.

Link to the Footcandle web site with an article about the screening:  http://www.footcandle.org/?p=270

$5.00 at the door for guests; free to current society members.  Hope to see you there!

http://www.footcandle.org/?p=270

This committee, which has been in place for a while, is tasked with looking at ways to help attract new businesses to the area, grow current existing businesses, and in general help the City of Hickory create more job opportunities for both current residents and those looking to move to the area.

The number one activity we plan to take on is soliciting input and ideas from our citizens. We know there are many talented and creative people in our community that already have thoughts and suggestions bouncing around in their head on how to help grow or attract businesses to this area; we want to tap into those resources and bring some good ideas to the table.  Too many times, great ideas go unheard if they are not directed to those who can do something with them or if there is not a clear channel to use for sharing.

We hope to fix that to some extent.  This committee has been given the ability to review all ideas that are submitted and organize them into “top priorities”, “future opportunities”, or ones that need to be directed to more applicable organizations (Chamber of Commerce, the county’s Economic Development Corporation, etc.).  Top priority ideas will be formatted and presented to City Council for consideration.

So, if you have ideas on ways to attract businesses/startups to the area or help support and grow existing businesses, here’s what you need to do:

* Download and fill out Business Development application form on the City’s web site (PDF).  Please be as clear and thorough in your application as possible regarding your suggestion or idea.  You can send the application to the address listed at the end of the form, or feel free to email it to me personally (ajackson@mac.com).

This is still a new process for us, so please let us know of any feedback you may have or thoughts on how we can improve the process.  We want to hear your ideas, and plan to take every suggestion very seriously.

Thanks for your help in making the City of Hickory the best place to start or run a business.  We look forward to hearing from you.

- Alan

The answers are “good tools for communication”, “yes”, and “for the most part, sure”.

But the fact of the matter is this: social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) are becoming the primary way many people are communicating these days, replacing email in many cases.  I, personally, have found myself communicating with people through Twitter posts, Facebook comments, and LinkedIn discussions in much the same way I used to do through email — but the difference is that these new conversations can be shared with others and searched by others with similar interests or connections.

This communication shift has caused me to look at how I handle my own social media connections and which systems to use for what purpose.  Here’s the plan I am currently following (subject to change at any time and for any reason):

* LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/alankjackson):  I am a growing fan of LinkedIn, and am happy with how focused its intentions have been.  This is my “business” network, where I connect with people I know in the business community, business partners, clients, or just anyone that could be a good resource for me in my career.  I see this network becoming a form of my “business Roladex” in the near future; as long as people keep their information current and participate in relevant group discussions, this system can become just as useful as conferences, tradeshows, etc.

* Facebook (www.facebook.com/akjackson):  This is my “friends & family” network, where I spend most of my time reconnecting with old classmates, checking in on friends, and posting family pictures for everyone to enjoy.  I tend to not do any “business” on Facebook, although some of the non-profit groups I work with use it for promotion and publicizing events.

* Twitter:  Twitter is an interesting beast, and one that I haven’t quite figured out what to do with yet.  I have two accounts: one for “business” (www.twitter.com/ajackson_tjg), and one for “personal” (www.twitter.com/alanjackson).  On my work-related account, I am following many organizations, news sources, current clients, potential clients, and co-workers.  On my personal account, I am following tech pundits, filmmakers, comedians, and more local/regional news sources.  I tend to post my more professional updates and links on my business account, while my personal posts can range from quick movie reviews to making people believe I am the world-famous country singer.  (Notes:  I am starting to see myself using Twitter as my instant “newsfeed”, since I typically hear of breaking news through someone’s “tweets” quicker than I would having to pull up a news web site manually.)

Those are the only three social media networks I find myself using.  I know that new ones sprout up every day — and I am sent invitations to many others on a regular basis — but I find myself resisting the “early adopter” model I used to adhere to.  Until I hear of other social media networks picking up significant steam, I will stick with these three.

Are there other social media networks you are using and finding useful?  What’s your opinion of these new “location-based” networks like Foursquare?  Post your thoughts in the comments.

Speaking specifically about Hickory, if you perform a Google search on “Hickory NC” there are many sites that could come up as results.  The sites themselves are fine (whether it is the official City of Hickory site, the Greater Hickory Metro site, the Chamber of Commerce, Catawba County EDC, etc.), but the danger is that by having all of these sites operate independently and competing for “Google eyeballs” we end up fragmenting our message and our potential to attract new visitors/companies/residents.

Imagine when (and I am choosing to say “when” instead of “if”) we find out we will be partnering with Google on gigabit community test and people from around the world start searching for “Hickory” and “Lenoir”… what will they find?  This could be the greatest amount of traffic to ever search for our community, and we need to make sure we have a centralized “hub” up and running to point people in the right direction.

Enter “HickoryLenoirNC.com” (or “Hickory-Lenoir-NC.com“… both work).  It is still in its infant stages and does not have any sense of branding or identity yet, but it is at least a starting point.  The idea is to have a portal site that points to all of the relevant information about our area.  Links to local governments, organizations, and resources, listings of events or announcements, and promotions can all be featured on this site.

Here’s your job: visit this site, bookmark it, re-visit often, and make comments on any of the posts or articles you have thoughts on.  The more we can visit this site, the better our chances to have the site show up higher in search engine results.  Over time, we will see content grow and more of an identity form, but for now the important thing is that we all start using the site and viewing it often.

I’m done with this post; visit hickorylenoirnc.com right now while it is fresh on your mind.  And help us get our area more visible to the rest of the world.  Thanks to the guys at Pixelspace for getting the site going, and thanks to the City of Hickory and other community leaders for getting the ball rolling.

A little about the film:  How do you measure the distance from an African village to an American city?  What does it mean to be a refugee in today’s “global village”?  Rain in a Dry Land provides eye-opening answers as it chronicles the fortunes of two Somali Bantu families transported by relief agencies from years of civil war and refugee life to Atlanta, Georgia and Springfield, Massachusetts.

The screening is open to the public, and there is no cost for admission.  There will be a discussion of the film afterwards for anyone that wishes to attend.  We hope to see many of our Footcandle members and friends attend this educational event.  If you have any questions, please feel free to visit our web site (www.footcandle.org) or call me directly at 828.962.4188.

I wanted to extend a personal invitation to our next screening. On Thursday, February 11th, the society will show the film “An Education”, an Oscar-nominated film based on screenplay by writer Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”, “About a Boy”). The screening will be held at the Carolina Theater in Downtown Hickory; the show starts at 7:00pm, with tickets for non-members running $5.00 (current members are free). A conversation about the film will follow, although attendance in the discussion is completely voluntary.

“An Education” is directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig, and is currently in the running for this year’s Oscar for Best Picture. The lead actress, Carey Mulligan, is nominated for Best Actress, and the Nick Hornby screenplay is nominated for Best Writing. We are very happy to be screening this very critically-acclaimed film here in Catawba County.

The film is rated “PG-13″ for mature thematic material. More information about the film can be found on IMDB at this address:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1174732/

If you are unable to attend this screening, please be aware that we will be showing a different film on the second Thursday of each month. We hope you will be able to attend a screening in the near future. Please pass this information along to anyone you feel may have an interest in this film or in our society in general. We are dedicated to helping grow the arts community of our area by bringing award-winning, thought-provoking, lesser-known films and holding discussions about those films in a comfortable forum. Our activities are completely funded by ticket sales, memberships, and sponsorships.

It’s a fun night at the wonderful Carolina Theatre – we hope to see you there, or at one of our future screenings! As always, if anyone needs more information about the society please visit us on our web site at http://www.footcandle.org. Or I can be reached directly by phone at 828-962-4188.

Below is a news release about the Google initiative, what it is, and how you can help support our efforts. Please read, and then do as many of the items in the list you can to help spread the word and build community support. This could be a great thing for our community and our businesses.

Government, academic, business and community leaders met Monday, March 1 to join forces in the Google Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Business initiative. The Hickory/Lenoir Google Fiber to the Home and Business Request for Information (RFI) application is a collective effort with support from municipalities and counties along the U.S. 321 data center corridor in Catawba and Caldwell Counties. The intent of the Google project is to eliminate the bandwidth bottleneck so that Google can develop and test high speed network applications, and Google will open their network to any and all service providers who want access to a large bandwidth “pipe” to businesses and households.

The high test speed is a gigabit per second connection, which is more than 100 times faster than the current connection available in the area. The communities are confident that if Hickory/Lenoir is awarded as a test site for the ultra-fast network, the community would see significant economic growth, as it will open doors and be an attraction for local business to stay, and recruit more industries, creating more opportunity for all citizens and local governments.

“This is truly an opportunity for us to stand out across the country as a premier place to live and work,” said Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright. “What makes this project exciting is that all our businesses and residents can help in a variety of ways, from letting Google know how a gibabit per second connection can enhance their lives, to filling out a survey, to telling your neighbors and friends about this community initiative.”

How can you help?

* www.googlehickorylenoir.com – This website is the primary source for information about the Hickory/Lenoir Google Fiber project.

* Survey – Please take time to fill out the survey, it is available online and at the public libraries.

* YouTube – Create and submit videos and commercials supporting the initiative, and include how it would help you at home, work, school and/or all.

* Media – Let local newspapers, radio and television stations know how important this initiative is via Letters to the Editor, calls into local radio programs and contact television stations.

* Email Blasts – Utilize your existing database of family, friends and acquaintances to help share the message of support for the project and send people towww.googlehickorylenoir.com.

* Facebook Woogle Hickory Lenoir! – Become a fan and invite others to communicate the message “Gotta get a gigabit” and discuss the benefits of the project.

* Twitter WoogleHKYLNR – Be the first to know the happenings with the initiative.

* Word of mouth – Be informed about the benefits of the project and share the news.

We had a crowd of close to 100 people in attendance to see this film about England’s Queen Victoria during her younger years.  The film was not really my “cup of tea” (pun very intentional), but I enjoyed it anyway.  The crowd was very enthusiastic, and close to half of them stuck around afterwards for our discussion.

This screening was one of the reasons I get so excited about our film society.  Being able to bring together such a nice group of people to enjoy a work of art and talk about it afterwards is really exhilarating.  Thanks to everyone that showed up, and to those who weren’t able to make it we hope to see you in March (film TBA).