This post represents stream of thought as the conversation unfolded.  At some point, I may carefully recraft it.

The questions discussed were What IS policy, who are the policy makers, what do policy makers need to do their best work. What do folklorists offer in these contexts.

This morning's meeting revolves around public policy. The workshop is being moderated by Maria-Rosario Jackson of the Urban Institute who is engaged in comprehensive community planning and neighborhood revitalization.

Introductions had us talking about what issues we want to discuss by way of public policy. There about 26 of us here today.

For some time now I have been working on a Folklorist's project for the Colorado Council on the Arts called, "The Ties That Bind". The project is getting very close to completion. You can get a preview of it at dogstar.org/ties.

The site brings folk arts to the classroom and is an update of a project started in the 1980's

The site was originally conceived to be a static site--very simple and straight forward. Through a series of twists and turns it has become deceptively more complicated that how it looks on the surface.

The site was put together using Drupal utilizing book and page for the most part. Four audio tapes were digitized using Audacity. In mid-sampling of some pretty old tapes--they were produced in the 1980's, my tape deck broke. I ended up getting a new deck from the local thrift shop for a little over $5. The cables to get it to connect to my iMac were more expensive! All told, seventy tracks were ripped as MP3s. A video, produced by the Colorado Council on the Arts, was digitized from an old VHS tape using a ReplayTV and DVArchive. These were resampled to provide a small and large version of the offering.