4 YEARS AGO

With 2016 in the rearview mirror and Hackfort just a few months away, we are thrilled to announce the second round of speakers, panels and workshops.

Many of these events are Hackfort pass-holder priority with limited availability, so grab your Hackfort badge to ensure that when sign-ups open, you’re equipped and ready to snag your spot.

Check out our first announcement to recap the full coverage of programming for Hackfort 2017.

FiveThirtyEight – Political and sports forecast site FiveThirtyEight, also known as Nate Silver’s Political Calculus, will be hosting a live podcast at Hackfort. Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight team will talk about how we can use data to make sense of politics and policy from the local to national level. This is a Hackfort Badge priority event.

2017 Immerse-a-thon – The Idaho Virtual Reality Council (IVRC) and Hackfort are excited to announce the 2017 Immerse-a-thon, a virtual and augmented reality hackathon. This will be an overnight event held at Trailhead on March 10-11, 2017. The event theme is Musical Mischief. Teams can range from one to six members. There is a $25.00 registration fee per team, and food, drink, and t-shirts for all participants will be provided. Industry experts, Nick Crabbs from VYNYL, Dan Thurber and Duane Mathes from Black Box VR, Brett Adler of Retrolux, and Cody Rutty – a local 2D and 3D artist, will be judging the event. Registration, prizes, rules, and sign-up instructions will be made available starting February 1st.

Coffee & Conversations w/ Dex Torricke-Barton, Ann Lemay & Eric Barone – Hackfort will be mixing it up with a series of Coffee & Conversations, in which attendees have the opportunity to sit down in a small group setting with select speakers and ask specific questions over a cup of coffee or tea. Featured speakers include Dex Torricke-Barton (SpaceX, Google, Facebook), Ann Lemay (co-writer of Mass Effect 3) and Stardew Valley builder Eric Barone. These events are sign-up only, Hackfort badge holders get first priority and availability is based on a first-come, first-serve basis. Signups will begin once the Hackfort schedule is announced and Hackfort passholders will be emailed a signup link.

The Business Behind Magic: The Gathering – Magic: The Gathering is the oldest and most successful collectable card game. Not only has it survived far past original expectations, it defined the genre. Since it’s inception in 1993, it has developed robust game-play and a massive following, all of which is supported by a complex and highly technical multi-billion dollar financial market revolving around the sale and trade of the cards. Bringing industry experts to Hackfort this panel includes judges, store owners and long-time market followers to explain the complexity and larger picture of this seemingly simple game.

Cory Davis, Tangentleman – Cory Davis, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Tangentleman, will be discussing the way virtual reality is in itself a psychedelic experience. Citing examples from Tangentleman’s horror experience Here They Lie, he will be exploring the goals and methods used to make this game a journey which transports the consciousness of the player into a dark, mysterious and psychedelic realm.

Define Media Group – Marshall Simmonds is the Founder of Define Media Group, a company that specializes in SEO consulting and advising, and will be speaking at Hackfort about internet big data. He’ll be teaching Hackfort attendees how to use online tools to interact with audiences, fans, clients and communities. Leveraging big data allows for deeper analysis and helps identify trends for business and personal use.

Stop-Motion Animation Lab with Citizen Scientific Workshop – David Ultis with Citizen Scientific Workshop will be hosting a Stop-Motion Lab in which attendees will be creating a community made stop-motion animation short film by challenging everyone who participates to fill in their own unique effects and movements in the culmination of a community created final project. This is a family friendly workshop.

Cubelet Makerspace with unBound – The Meridian Library District’s program unBound will be leading a hands-on workshop with Cubelets. These modular units can be assembled into hundreds of combinations creating simple robots. Cubelets are a great tool for teaching robotics and coding to kids as young as 4, but are a lot of fun for anyone with an interest in modular building. This is an all ages event.

Board Game Hack with CARVR and CSW – CARVR, in conjunction with Citizen Scientific Workshop, will be leading a two-hour long board game hack, in which attendees are invited to create a board game from scratch, given components from other games and new building pieces/rules/guidelines. This is an all ages event.

Hardware Hack with Tristan Andreas – Tristan Andreas returns to lead the fourth annual Hackfort Hardware Workshop. This is a hands-on activity, where participants will build functional instruments to keep and play. Soldering skills are optional as participants will be guided by experienced builders. In years past we have built acoustic and electronic instruments including noise drones, drum machines, kalimbas, and monochords. In 2017, we will have new kits as fun to build as they are to play.

Don Winiecki / ANA – Don Winiecki is the Professor of Ethics & Morality in Professional Practice at the College of Engineering at BSU. He has created a computer program, titled ANA, which autonomously draws and paints in a limited genre blending naturalistic skylines with abstract expressionism. Don will be describing the genesis of ANA, as well as displaying some of its workings.

Chickadees – Boise’s all-girl powered FIRST Robotics Competition Rookie Team, Chickadees, will be hosting a Lego Robotics Workshop and displaying some components of their next robot build. Details soon to come for sign-ups.

BoiseLAN Parties – Join the BoiseLAN crew for two full days of gaming, fragging, fun and hanging out with other gamers. BoiseLAN parties start Saturday, March 25 and will run all through the night until Sunday. This event is hosted at Trailhead. Signups will begin once the Hackfort schedule is announced and Hackfort passholders will be emailed a signup link.

STEM Bus – The 60-foot interactive STEM bus brings hands-on STEM activities to you featuring the latest technology, including virtual reality and robotics. They’ll also be doing science demonstrations outside of the bus using liquid nitrogen!

Hackfort will take place March 24th & 25th and will happen in the JUMP building on the entire 5th floor.

Get your Hackfort pass now for $30 (plus fees) here or swing by the Record Exchange!

BUY NOW

And while you’re at it, grab your 5-Day Treefort Music Fest 2017 Pass so you don’t miss a beat!