Meet the geeks at KansasFest

August 19th, 2013 1:18 PM
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From 2007 through 2012, I covered KansasFest for Computerworld, a magazine and website of which I was an editor. When I left that position in early 2013, I did so on good terms, leaving open the possibility of freelance work. I solicited suggestions from other Apple II users for how I might pitch coverage of this year’s KansasFest in a way that Computerworld hadn’t done before. Eric Shepherd proposed a series of attendee profiles, in the style of my previous coverage of BostonFIG. My editor loved the idea but asked that, instead of photos and writeups, I produce short video interviews.

I’d long wanted to shoot video at KansasFest, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Andy Molloy helped me vet a list of attendees with unique, discrete roles who would exemplify the Apple II community. Throughout the week of KansasFest, I cornered a dozen people: programmers, historians, artists, gamers, and more.

Computerworld published eight of the videos in the slideshow, "Who goes to an Apple II convention in 2013?", which went live last Friday. This morning, KansasFest’s official YouTube channel published an additional three. That makes eleven — the unpublished 12th video was one I shot of myself, as a proof of concept. No one needs to see that.

My thanks to all who contributed to this project! I hope the below videos serve as an example of the wonderful friends you can make at KansasFest. Click the thumbnails for an introduction!

Melissa Barron

The Artist

Steve Wozniak

The Founder

Randy Wigginton

The Speaker

Steve Weyhrich

The Historian

Carrington Vanston

The Podcaster

Michael Sternberg

The Gamer

Eric Shepherd

The Emulator

Kay Savetz

The Rebel

Charles Mangin

The Inventor

Carl Knoblock

The Old-Timer

Ken Gagne

The Profiler

The Programmer

The Programmer

A glitch for your tapestry

September 22nd, 2011 8:39 AM
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Jason Scott isn’t the only Kickstarter user showing up on Apple II users’ radars. Another project, one designed to fund a recurrence and propagation of a glitch-based conference held last year in Chicago, has a tangential connection to the Apple II.

An integral component of Kickstarter are the incentives that projects offer their backers — a physical reward or honored acknowledgement of each person’s financial support. For the Glitch project, Melissa Barron — KansasFest alumna, exhibit hall award recipient, and Juiced.GS contributor — has donated two of her famous glitch weavings, produced on a Jacquard loom. For the same price you paid for your Apple-1, you can support the cause and receive your own tapestry. Only two were originally offered, with one already spoken for at the time of this posting, so get yours today! The project ends the evening of Tuesday, September 27.

(Hat tip to Daniel Kruszyna)