About Brad

Brad King — Writer, Managing Editor, & Strategist

The short version is that I’m a writer originally from a small town in northern Appalachia. The longer story is:

• In 1999 — a year into graduate school — I began working for Wired.
• In 2000, I earned my master’s from the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
  • That same year, I accepted a position as a reporter and multimedia editor at Wired.com.
• In 2003, I co-authored a book called Dungeons & Dreamers: a story of how computer games created a global culture.
• In 2004, I accepted the position of producer and senior editor for MIT’s Technology Review Web operation.
• In 2006, I became an assistant professor at Northern Kentucky University where I ran its Media Informatics program.
• In 2009, I accepted a position at Ball State University, where I was an assistant professor of journalism.
  • In 2014, I earned tenure and a promotion to associate professor.
  • In 2015, I was the co-founder + co-graduate director of the university’s Center for Emerging Media Design + Development.
• In 2014, I launched The Geeky Press, a writing collective in Indiana that grew to more than 400 active members before we shuttered it in last 2018.
• In 2015, I launched The Downtown Writers Jam Podcast, an hour-long conversation between me and another writer. Curse words + alcohol aren’t required, but they are encouraged.
• In 2017, I accepted the position of Editor + Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) Press, which is one of two university presses at CMU. Before I took this job in 2017, I served as an advisory board member and an editor for ten years.
  • That same year, I edited my first ETC Press book, Frankenstein’s Legacy: Four Conversations about Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the Modern World.
• In 2019, I was promoted to Editorial Director of both CMU’s ETC Press and the University Libraries.
  • In that same year, I edited Pamela McCorduck’s final book, This Could Be Important: My Life and Times with the Artificial Intelligentsia.
• In 2022, I edited the book Creative Chaos: Learning Lessons on Inclusion & Innovation, and I wrote Nuts, Bolts, & Wheels: 100 Years of Buggy.

Writing

I’ve been a professional writer since 1995. Throughout my career, I’ve written hundreds of feature stories and hard news pieces for daily and weekly newspapers, daily news websites, and national magazines.

Affiliations

• PEN America (2017 – )
• The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (2016 – )
• South by Southwest Interactive Programming Board (2002 – )
  • SXSW Start-Up Accelerator Host and Judge 2009-2015

Previous Advisory Board Work

• F+W’s StoryWorld Conference
• Carmel Arts Council
• Indiana Writers Center

Other Writing Things