I love holidays when people celebrate them, not just take the day off. For instance Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving versus Columbus day.

Today was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day off for most government employees and lots of big corporate ones too.

Ashland celebrates this day with a beautiful event.

Today's event was largely put on by members of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Southern Oregon University and Ashland School District.

Paul Collins (my new co-host on Tech Talk and MacWorld buddy) brought his laptop, digital movie camera and a firewire cable.

A CEER (Community Event Embedded Reporter) is a person in the community with the tools (laptop, camera, cable connecting the two) and skills to capture and share any event in the community, planned or unplanned.

I watched the event today online and was proud. Proud of our community, proud of Paul and proud of seeing the CEER 'movement' take hold.

Because of the wireless internet in most venues in town, a CEER can broadcast live video to the internet and now because of Ashland TV, live on Cable TV (Channel 20).

AshlandTV20.com is the website that streams the live and captured events posted on youtube or google video.

When Paul got home he uploaded the video to Google (almost 2 hours of it) and I'll loop it over and over again on TV20.

I'll be holding free CEER seminars soon to get a flood CEERs and I hope you join me.