The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
CPU (Club President's Update)
Colin Lovitt
 colinl@melbpc.org.au

There are Committees who simply sit around and talk and those that do things. The survey, the Rules amendments, the Internet - we like to think that we don't just waffle about "wouldn't it be good if....." .

To that end, we are now well on way to the compilation of a New Members' Disk after the painstaking efforts of a team led by Peter Freeman. A special message area was set up late last year on the BBS and members are welcome to have their say. If you don't use the board, write to Peter c/o the office.

SIGs - it's time!

We are going to conduct a thorough appraisal of SIGs, regional "SIGs" (RIGs), and the place of such groups in Melb PC life.

I have long regarded the SIGs as the "Engine Room" of Melb PC, having a vital role to play in providing a focal point for members' general interests (eg, Windows, Comms, OS/2) and indulgences and hobby areas (eg, Unix, Computer Music) alike. It is often by joining a SIG that a member first meets and chats with others, novices and gurus, the committed and the unsteady new user. Through such contact and exchange, further interest in the Group is often fostered. I know - it was that way with me!

When I became President, I was determined to smooth over what had by then developed as an unseemly row between the Committee and one Regional SIG, and had also learned of the apparent antipathy between the RIP (Retirees and Interested Persons) SIG and the then President, Charles Wright. It was clear that some SIGs had grown to the stage of demanding a degree of autonomy that my predecessors were not prepared to grant. I was not prepared to rush into action. Frankly, I needed more time to learn about such things.

Perhaps partly for that reason, not much happened last year in the SIG area, with the exception of obtaining a PC for the SIG room, and an attempt, utilising the talents of those such as Peter Freeman and Philip Lew, to build a few bridges with SIGs who were complaining about the very fact that not much was happening! About the time of the December AGM, I determined to write a SIG charter in order to settle such thorny issues as

  • What rights and duties SIGs owe Melb PC?
  • What are the obligations of SIG conveners?
  • What are the duties and obligations of Melb PC to SIGs?
Accordingly, in last month's magazine, I reported that I had taken on the role of SIG coordinator, with a view to gradually coming to grips with the issues involved, seeking the input of SIG conveners and attendees alike. Eventually, after attending a variety of Melbourne and regional SIGs, I will be organising a meeting of conveners and other interested members, intent on thrashing out the answers to quite a large number of thorny perennials.

To that end, I recently posted a message on the BBS aimed at whipping up some discussion. Portion of that message reads

"I would be obliged if SIG attendees and conveners started putting up here wish lists, concerns, whinges, disappointments and obsessions, not to mention realistic demands and unrealistic fantasies.  :-)

For openers:
  • What equipment is fundamental?
  • What does the SIG machine in the SIG room need and how can it be managed in order to prevent simply a morass of incompatible operating systems and files/directories?
  • How should a SIG be created? When someone wants to convene a SIG, how many informal meetings if any and how many attendees should constitute a minimum before consideration will be given to providing a time slot in the SIG room at our office premises?
  • How should a SIG be disbanded? For what reasons?
  • What control should the Committee of Melb PC have over conveners, venues, formats, etc? Should each convener have to sign some document indicating his/her responsibility to run the SIG in the "approved" manner?
  • Should the Committee be able to remove a SIG convener?
  • Should the Committee be able to wind up a SIG?
  • What autonomy should SIGs be assured of?
    (Ash Nallawalla, someone who has been a SIG convener, Committee member and with considerable knowledge of the overseas experiences of other User Groups, responded to this question: "Anything that concerns their subject matter is their own business. The committee can overrule a SIG convener at all times.")
  • What should be the limits of financial contribution of the Group to SIG venues?
  • How can the Group aid conveners to better publicise SIGs?
  • Should SIGs be able to raise monies on their own account?
  • Are there any identifiable legal duties owed by the Group regarding insurance?
  • How is the Group to handle requests for raffle or door prizes for Regional SIGs? (This is a regular problem with Regional SIGs requesting a slice of the Monthly Meeting giveaways, and the Committee taking the view, inter alia, that the majority of vendors want to give prizes to the audience at which they are making their presentation.)
  • Should there be any and what distinctions between Regional SIGs (RIGs) and metropolitan SIGs?
    (Ash responded: "Regional SIGs should be called 'Chapters.' The term 'Regional Interest Group' is not an accurate description.")
  • Are there any Regional SIGs who desire either a BBS feed or help setting up their own board with some of our local areas?
I would like to see some animated discussion here whilst a crystallisation of ideas develops over the next two months. In the meantime, I am anxious to visit some SIGs, particularly those which are conducted away from Melb PC premises, including Regional SIGs. I will be attending Ballarat in early March, and want to trip about, no doubt "tripping up" in the process.

There have been differences between some of the Regional SIGs and the Committee over the past few years. Tell me about 'em. The RIP SIG (Retirees and Interested Persons) seems to have some reservations about the Committee and I remember certain unhappy views expressed some time ago in Committee about the Retirees. What are the problems here and how can we sort them out?"

I think it is only fair to emphasise to those who have been less than happy with the lack of certainty in the past and those who have been complaining about what the Committee is not doing for their SIG - that if they simply hold back and allow others to do the work, they may get the Charter they deserve! In other words, if you don't put in your two-pennyworth now, don't whinge about it later if things don't go your way!

You have been warned!

Reprinted from the March 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
 

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