Projects
Convention Planning
AnimeCon.org
By focusing on building technology that greatly simplifies planning and management, the AnimeCon.org group has built some of the largest community events in the Midwest. These anime conventions bring together a community of thousands of fans in celebration collective fandom. AnimeCon.org builds a community for thousands of young people who often otherwise have nothing interesting to do.
Internet Engineering
Chrono Online
With over 10 years of programming experience, Chrono is currently heading the convention registration software development of UpcomingCons.com. Chrono has developed the designs and software for over 100 websites covering all sorts of topics, having expert knowledge in SEO, design, CSS, HTML, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Regular Expressions, InnoDB, MySQL, and more.
Convention Photography
UpcomingCons
UpcomingCons.com has provided cosplayers with tens of thousands of pictures from anime and comic conventions around the country. Using a Nikon D5200 and 1.8 aperture lens, UpcomingCons.com helps to preserve memories and costumes for an eternity. UpcomingCons documents conventions and memories for people who love anime and conventions. Photography can bring people together and create never-ending memories and preserve happy moments forever.
Ryan Kopf has been a long-time advocate for open source and free software, including working for large tech companies and donating funds. When attending the University of Iowa he worked in Sun Microsystem's campus ambassador program to evangelize open source software professionally, and promoted open source software as the Technology Director for the University of Iowa's Student Government. Ryan encourages people to use Open Source software, and thinks more people should learn how to use the LibreOffice office suite and the Linux operating system.
Ryan has built awesome software that connects communities with bulk SMS communication, and web databases. This software enables companies to communicate with their costumers and people to communicate with each other. This powerful software helps real people connect with each other and receive important notifications.
Ryan has been building 3D printing technology using stereolithography techniques. This includes advanced liquid resin 3D printing and stereolithographic technology including the use of DLP projection and laser equipment.
Anime Convention in Chicago
Ryan's largest project is organizing an annual anime convention held in Chicago, called Anime Midwest, which brings together well over 10,000 different people for a three day weekend experience celebrating anime and Japanese arts and culture. Organizing an event on this scale requires a full time effort that includes arranging vendor spaces, getting artworks for program guides and badges, working on convention schedules, and networking with industry professionals. This convention is known for bringing smiles to thousands of faces over the weekend, and is known for being one of the most fun and best organized events in Chicago.