[Talk] A template for monthly meetings/talks. COMMENTS PLEASE

[David Bullock]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004, Greg Black wrote:

> On 2004-01-19, Steve Jenkin top-posted and failed to suitably trim:
>
> > In the context of the debate/discussion on AUUG's focus, 'proprietary'
> > vs 'Open Source', I have only received ONE private response to this
> > note, and that was a suggestion to place it before the chapters and the
> > exec.
>
> Vendors don't need support from AUUG -- they have their own
> methods for getting their message out wherever they want.

The difference of a meeting is that the vendors and their
potential or actual customers have an opportunity to interact.
Vendors might get the open-standards message louder if they
met with AUUG members more frequently.  It is too valuable a
forum to dismiss.

Further, I think the proposal has merit, not as an exclusive
format, but as an adjunct to existing styles of meeting.  The
more options an individual chapter leader has in his or her
bag of tricks, the simpler it is to run a valuable chapter.
There's a lot of value in that.


> What AUUG should be focussing its energies on is stuff like open
> standards and open software -- that's the domain that needs work
> from all of us, and it's where we stand to gain.

General point taken, but do you have concrete ideas how such
energies might best be expended?  'focussing' on open-standards
in AUUG chapter meetings is somewhat preaching to the choir
(unless the vendors are there too, listening).

Should AUUG participate in the creation of such standards,
or lobby for standards to be adopted or created?  Or seek to
become a popularizer of university research into key problem
domains in computing (get the good stuff into industry earlier),
or a whip to the universities to get to work on the things
that actually matter?

I like the 'AUUG should be directing the industry' undertone
here, but how does one achieve bang-per-buck given finite
resources?

cheers,
David