My name is Joe Knueven - you pronounce that ku-nee'-ven (it does not rhyme
with Evel Knevil despite what some of my friends say). I entered into the world of
community computer bulletin boards back in 1990 when Cincinnati Bell
Telephone started one of the early such systems - TriState Online (TSO). After
responding to an ad in the local newspaper announcing the inauguration of the
system I joined and became a member using my Commodore 64 computer with a
300 baud modem. I have since graduated to more modern and faster equipment
and my involvement has become greatly expanded via the Internet and the World Wide Web. Along the way I became the first beta tester of Steve Shoemaker's
bulletin board software (CIX) and when TSO finally closed its doors on June 30,
1999 I was sysop of the User Support, Administration and Internet SIGs of
TriState Online where I became affectionately (I hope) known as the "World's
Oldest Sysop". While sysoping the User Support area of TSO was the start, as
other systems have adapted the CIX software I have also been monitoring the
use of the software at such sites as the Talawanda Learning Community (Oxford,
Ohio), the Dayton Area Freenet (since superseded by the Miami Valley Community
Network), Omnifest (Milwaukee), Project Discovery (system for science and math
teachers in Ohio), the Mobile Area Freenet, the Toledo Freenet and the
Owensboro Freenet. Unfortunately, with the widespread use of World
Wide Web technology for this type of system and the increasing difficulty in
financing such systems my involvement has become gradually reduced - only
the Miami Valley Community Network remains an active CIX-using bulletin board
system. The loss of financial support has been particularly tragic for the average
American community bulletin board user as more and more of us are being shut out from reasonably priced access to cyberspace. This is particularly true among
the younger members using the community service type systems as their
introduction to this intriguing medium. However, the widespread use of the
WWW is an encouraging sign and there may come a day when it represents the
only access the average home computer user will have to the Internet.What follows tells something about me and how I arrived there.
I retired from being the Systems and Programming Manager for a company in the Cincinnati area back in February 1982. I was so burned out with computers and all the unappreciated late hours they require that I tossed out all my computer manuals and vowed never to look at another computer. Boy! Was I wrong! Within months I had myself a Commodore 64 and began to enjoy computing - no deadlines, no people who thought that anything was possible overnight with the press of a button, and no more midnight phone calls to bail out some poor operator fouled by some user stupidity.
When the local phone company started up TriState Online I was quick to jump on board. Through TSO I met Steve who was just starting to develop what became the CIX software - the best software in the world for community service bulletin boards - and he recruited me as his first beta tester and ever since I have been monitoring systems (and, hopefully, helping users) using the CIX software.
On the personal side, I have a son who works for Texas Instruments working between their office in Pittsburgh (formerly Tartan, Inc.) and their offices in Houston who keeps pushing me to bigger and better things data processing wise. He bought me a new computer after I graduated from that old Commodore - the best computer for the money ever built - and then did it again when my old PS/1 became obsolete (in his eyes - I still had not learned all of its quirks) and has pushed me to upgrading software. I have lousy eyes and he does a lot of the manual scanning when he is in town. The picture at the top of this Web page is one he captured from a camcorder tape and sent to me over the Internet.
I have a daughter who lived in Hawaii for about 25 years where she worked for the University of Hawaii. Now that her husband ("Mac" Williams) who was a professor of economics at the University of Hawaii, has retired they have decided to pull up stakes and head for Seattle. I am sure they will always look upon the Islands as HOME but Seattle is more conducive to retirement considering the high cost of living in Honolulu. In retirement my son-in-law is doing research for another book (isn't that what retired professors always do?) and my daughter has gone to work for the University of Washington Pharmaceutics department doing research. "Mac" has sent me copies of some of his writings (essays rather than a book at this time) which I have put up on a Web page if you would care to take a look at them. Although neither of my grand-children was born in Hawaii (my granddaughter was born in San Diego and my grandson was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) both grew up in the Islands. However, my granddaughter migrated to Portland, Oregon, after college at the University of California (Irvine) but my grandson is sticking it out in Hawaii - he just isn't going far from the good surfing.
And now as we enter the new millenium my granddaughter has answered the Call of the Islands and returned to Hawaii - looking for a new job so she can spend the rest of her days in Paradise.
And then there was my wife - the mother of my two children - who had mixed
feelings about all this computer stuff. It was great when the e-mail came
in from Seattle or Pittsburgh but not so great when she had this list of
jobs waiting for me to do and here I was on the computer. Of course, in
the end she wanted me happy and if the computer made me happy it could stay. Unfortunately she died suddenly on
July 20, 1999. After almost 60 years of marriage I have been
devastated and have neglected keeping this Web site up-to-date.
I'll try to do better in the future - working on the computer does
provide some relief from the grief that is with me during all
my waking hours - and sometimes in my dreams.
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