Having been nominated for president, I feel it's only appropriate that everyone know what my vision for CLUG is. So here goes (apologies in advance for the long post):
I can summarize it in one word - Improvement. I feel the previous executives have done a fantastic job. However as with any organization, there is always room to make things better. Expanded, my vision looks like this - Improved public visibility I would like to see CLUG as a household name throughout the Calgary area whenever the topic of Linux/FOSS comes up - even for those who are not in technical fields. - Improved access By this I mean easy/easier access to the executive members, to the resource library, CLUG events, etc. No one should feel they cannot make an honest/objective comment, or ask any question. No one should feel excluded. - Improved transparency (I'm stealing the term coined by Niels here - have to give credit where credit is due... <grins>) There should be no question about what the executive, or the group in general is doing - nothing should be hidden. Of course there are exceptions to this - the personal contact info for our members should never be made public by the executive. If the member chooses to post this information, that's up to them. There will be times when the executive has to deal with sensitive situations - in these cases, the transparency goal may need to be suspended until the situation is resolved. - Improved communications We do a pretty good job of this as is, but I'd like to see it even better. If you have an idea that you think will improve things, speak up. All opinions are welcomed - even if they are opposing views. We also need to improve our communications with the general public, and let them know who we are, what we do, and how we can help them out when/if they need help regarding Linux/FOSS. - Improved focus Our current focus seems to be be "anything related to Linux/FOSS". All such topics are discussed in the general mailing list, with a small(er) amount of discussions happening on the specialized lists. However, we have members who only need to know about server specific technologies, we have members who don't care about the server side of things, but need to manage Linux desktops. We even have members that do both, or that work with embedded Linux. Currently the mailing list provides a place where we can all get help, but it can also be better focused. The focus can also be applied to the website and to some of our activities. - Improved members (better wording - improving the skills & experience of our members) I don't mean that our members are not good enough. No, I mean when a member joins us they have a certain level of skill and experience. I would like that same member's skills/experience to improve the longer they are a member of the group. This happens now to some degree, but there are a few who may have reached a plateau. I'd like to see us fix things so none of us hit a plateau in our skills/experience This may not be Linux specific, or even FOSS specific - for example, exposure to the group may help members become better professionals and/or business people. -Improved resources We (as a group) don't currently host any ISOs, and don't really have that many resources available to our members. I'd like to see CLUG gain/become a resource center to meet the needs of our members - whether it's providing ISOs, books, articles, or people to help out. This includes better/faster/easier access to the resources we do have. I'm of the opinion that the president of the group is responsible to ensure the bylaws are followed (with some help from the executive). But more importantly, the president ensures the activities of the group are in accordance with our mission statement, bylaws, and the high level goals of the group. If an activity is desired, but does not directly support at least one of the goals of the group, then either the activity should be avoided, or the goals of the group need to be changed. We need to be flexible enough to change with the changing face of technology and society. The goals laid out above are high level ideals. How do we achieve them is the next question. The group is already doing a number of things that will help achieve these goals. And I would rather not decide on specific plans at this time, only to have to change plans as the world evolves. Rather, I'd like to see us identify an opportunity to achieve one or more of the stated goals and then take appropriate action, as the opportunities arise. The first such opportunity is our website. It serves a function right now, but is mostly rather static (no offense intended to those who endeavor to keep it up to date). The site can become very dynamic and carry pertinent current news for both the group, and the Tech industry at large (with a focus on Linux/FOSS), as well as provide other valuable, up to date resources. The site is probably the first impression the general public gets of the group - so it should be vibrant and dynamic, but at the same time very tasteful, useful and pertinent. There are a large number of ways to make this happen, and work has been ongoing to do so. Further discussions will be needed by the group (via the mailing list), and via the executive on how best to handle this (in other words, no choices have been made yet ;-) ). Another opportunity is the workshops. We are currently planning an Apache workshop to happen in the next month or so. There seems to be enough interest that we may have to hold more than one to accommodate everyone. There has also been talk (on the clug-workshops mailing list), of re-examining these workshops and to expand on them. The idea is that a number of us are trying to build IntrAnet servers - email and web services only offer part of that solution. Perhaps with the greater objective, we may be able to invite the general public to attend a workshop - sort of like an installfest, but much more focused, and with the pre-requisite for the server to already be installed. Convergence is another opportunity to help achieve our objectives. People are already working on this, but I'm sure more hands would be appreciated, or even just some ideas of different things we can do to help "spread the word". Other opportunities will come up, and we will choose to embrace them or not as they do. But we don't have to wait for the opportunities either. We can take actions that will lead towards our goals (posting meeting announcements in the Herald is one example) whenever it is deemed necessary or do-able. A quick note about my background to help put things in perspective. My first experience with a computer was with the Commodore PET computer in the early/mid 1980's. From there I took computers in high school, and worked with computers for almost the full 8 years I was in the Canadian Forces Communication reserve. In 1994, I went back to school to study computer technology at SAIT. I also had my first exposure to Linux that year with Slackware 1.x, though I wasn't quite ready to understand it at that time. After SAIT, I went on to work as a network engineer for 3 years. This was continuing the experience I had gained in the army. Then the dot.com bubble burst, and I shift focus to programming. I have been programming professionally since the fall of 2000. Also in the fall of 2000, I became involved with the A.V.Roe Heritage Museum (www.avromuseum.ca), and was asked to be a board member in 2003. I am still involved with the museum (and on the board), and do what I can to help them out. More recently, I have struck out on my own and am running my own consulting business, and seem to be doing ok at it thus far. My involvement with CLUG is a matter of public record - I've been active on the list since joining the group in 2002. Whew... that felt like I was doing a job interview... er.... um...... :) I would like to thank EVERYONE for their consideration (and even for reading this tome - if you got down this far...). If elected, I will do my best to do what is right for the group, and to guide us towards our high level goals. I will also do my best to listen to everyone, and weigh their opinion/knowledge in any decisions I may be called on to make. Thanks. Shawn Grover _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
