May 29, 2018
Youth Advisory Board: Musa Mustafa
This is the fifth in a series of episodes featuring interviews
with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. If you're just
joining us: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting
20 kids, aged 14 though 18, from around the U.S. to share their
opinions about computers, test software, and promote Atari's
computers at events.
This is an interview with Musa Mustafa, who was one of those
kids.
A March 25, 1983 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Loretta
Noffsinger said:
"Computers without keyboards, toys that come to life at the
sound of a child's voice and programs that shoulder the chores of
thank-you letters — that's what the whiz kids see in the future.
They envision a computer disguised within a toy to tell youngsters
about the workings of the universe and others 'far beyond man’s
imagination.' And Atari is listening to them."
Later in the article, Noffsinger wrote: "Musa Mustafa, 15,
says he hopes to design an astronomy program to chart the location
of stars and planets at specific times ‘so that I can easily track
them down in a telescope.' The Walnut sophomore, who will skip his
junior year at Rowland High School, also envisions computers
designing computers. This year, they're helping him make a movie
about the 1984 Olympics. A combination of computer animation and
film, the endeavor will 'open a new category' in the Los Angeles
International Film Exposition this spring, he says."
My interview with Musa took place on April 26, 2018. In it, we
discuss Ted Kahn, whom I previously interviewed.