The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group In the Hot Seat Dave Botherway daveb@melbpc.org.au

With our motto of "Users Helping Users" it is important that we maintain a good pool of members willing to help other members. In turn, this enables us to keep our costs down and provide quality service to all members at low cost. In the months ahead we have a number of key projects requiring effort and we must ensure there is appropriate support.

Areas of Assistance

Volunteers are sought in three areas - short term, ongoing, and occasional call.

Short term projects are:

• Internet relocation - specialist resources needed early October to disconnect equipment from racks and assist with its re-installation at Burnley. People with experience at installing racked equipment, cabling and administration of commercial UNIX systems are welcomed.
  
  
• Office relocation - packing equipment, books, records etc for the removalist to pick up and transport to Chadstone, where we unpack, re-install etc. Assistance is needed mid-October through to early November.

Ongoing Tasks are:

• Office Support - while we have some permanent office staff, additional assistance is sought for answering telephones, membership mail-outs, reviewing membership data and similar work. People able to regularly contribute (say) half a day per week are needed to supplement the existing team. Either technical or administrative skills are appropriate, with further training available from the existing teams.
  
  
• Internet Help - people with reasonable knowledge of how to use our Internet system are sought, mainly to assist members by returning phone calls. This can usually be done from your home, using an access-from-home database system to record and track member problems. (Note: Phone-call costs are reimbursed).

Occasional Call activities:

• At times our routine support people may ring in "sick" or be away on a holiday break. Alternatively, there may be unusual peaks of office activity. It is planned that we have a pool of extra people who can possibly bridge these gaps on the odd day.
  
• Similarly with Swap Meets, where we run an enquiry table usually at two suburban venues each Sunday. People on call to help for two or three hours, close to your home, are needed.

Overall we have more than 200 volunteers who contribute to the running and support of the group, and with extra resources as described above we can better share the total workload. If you are able to assist in any one of these three areas (especially at our new Chadstone location), please e-mail me president@melbpc.org.au stating your skills and interests, or leave these details with the office staff (phone (03) 9567 8000).

E-mail Updates

The gremlins were with us last month - when I invited people to register their non-Melb PC e-mail addresses with us. Hyperlink technology beat us and resulted in overly complex (and incorrect) instructions. For those wishing to record their external e-mail addresses with the group, the correct address to advise is simply "mailouts@melbpc.org.au" - without quotes and with the subject SUBSCRIBE. Details in the message body are not needed.
 
Office Relocation Timing

Work on our new offices at Chadstone is on track for mid October completion, and relocation of City based activities from Dorcas Street is currently planned for the end of October, so that all activities from 1 November will be at the new site. November PC Update will confirm these relocation dates and provide details of the facilities, building access, parking areas and public transport methods.
 
Computer Gaming

Amongst our new facilities is a room devoted to networking - be it home networks or interfacing local PCs. One such use is for interactive gaming, where players on separate PCs compete against each other. This is a new area for us, and I am seeking interest from both potential participants and someone interested to lead such an activity. E-mails are welcomed to president@melbpc.org.au or to our Groups Coordinator, Bill Dair. groups@melbpc.org.au.

Office Staff

Following the departure of Trish Swan, we had hoped by now to have a new Office Manager appointed. Regretfully our final candidate withdrew at the 12th hour, and we are now having to look again. In the meantime, the other office staff are stretched - and I thank them for their extra effort.

October Monthly Meeting
 
For our next main meeting, we are again at the Hawthorn Campus of University of Melbourne Private, 442 Auburn Road, with plenty of parking under the buildings (enter via rear entrance off Robinson Rd). Key topics for October will be "Internet: Making your own Blog" and "Dragon Dictate for PC Voice Recognition".  Note: The start time is 7.00 pm; finish between 9.30 pm and 9.45 pm.

Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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