Long-time Friend of Softalk and KansasFest regular, Tony Diaz has joined The Softalk Apple Project community to start the Computer Gaming & Hardware SIG (Special Interest Group).

It's not so much that Computer Gaming and Vintage Apple Hardware fit together as a SIG, but rather these are Tony's twin passions which he wants to bring to the STAP project. Over time as more folks get involved, this SIG will likely split in two. And we expect Tony would join both. :-) But to save him from going to too many meetings with himself at the start, we've decided on the single SIG approach.

We are extremely pleased to announce that Henry Lowood, Curator of the History of Technology and Film & Media Collections of Stanford Libraries, has joined the Softalk Apple Project (STAP) Advisory Board.

"As a grassroots community project, Henry's deep and broad knowledge of museum informatics and the requirements for digital collections preservation and management will be invaluable," said Jim Salmons, a founding organizer of the project and tech lead on the FactMiners sub-project, "In addition, his personal deep interest and activity in preserving and exploring the evolution of computer games is a big plus as we evolve the FactMiners social-game ecosystem as an innovative way to document and explore cultural heritiage digital collections."

We had a request from Mike Whalen, a volunteer field researcher/archivist for the Internet Archive this week. He is documenting early Apple microcomputer business software as part of the Archive's Software Collection. To date, there are over seventy classic Apple business software programs in the Business Case collection. The most incredible thing is that the developers at the Internet Archive have created these amazing software emulators that let you run this classic software today right in your browser!

The Softalk Apple Project is extraordinarily pleased and proud to announce our first members of the project's Advisory Board. They are Steven Weyhrich, John Gruver, and Mike Moshell. Their individual and collective insights and interest in this project will be invaluable to our mission to preserve, explore, and extend the legacy of Softalk magazine.