For a couple of years I developed a web site and helped develop and manage an outdoor festival for independent fashion and "lifestyle" designers, called the Capsule Design Festival. In 2009, Capsule was renamed the Union Design Festival. Held in San Francisco's Hayes Valley, the event has garnered a loyal following of Bay Area residents and draws people from distant locales as a result of reputation and occasional national media coverage.
I brought the festival to the attention of Digital Tipping Point producer Christian Einfeldt. Christian was interested in the use of open source software for the festival website. The original website was developed using Microsoft ASP technology, which I discarded for various reasons. Christian's primary interest was hearing about how open source software was employed to develop a database driven website that not only provides customer facing functionality but is used to completely manage the back office operations of the show. Christian first interviewed me about my work with the software infrastructure and wasn't quite sure he wanted to spend time filming the event itself. He ended up filming the May, 2008 show and was pleasantly surprised with the scope and quality of the event.
One of Christian's impromptu interview subjects at the show was Alex Hillman. Alex is a community strategy and social marketing consultant and a regular presence at the South-by-SouthWest Conference (SXSW.) Alex founded and operates Independents Hall, a co-working space in Philadelphia, PA and IndyHallLabs. Besides his urbaneness, he has the coolest set of xml and binary code tattoos on his arms. Watch and enjoy this short excerpt from the interview, where Alex explains and shows us his cool tattoos: