I am one of those people who has been silent (up to now) but reading this thread. One of the reasons to have a "greater" New Hampshire statewide organization is so that it can serve as a dispatcher and coalescing point. There should be a smoothly-running mechanism for other organizations, like NHSTE, to get a request for help distributed to GNHLUG members.
To see a tragic example of what happens when this mechanism is lacking, pick up a copy of this week's (Jan. 30-Feb. 5) Boston Phoenix. On pages 18-19, there is a story about how Massachusetts would be embarking on a "dangerous" course if they implement their open-source policy for the state government's software procurement. The article is biased and not internally consistent, apparently written by a person unfamiliar with how large organizations purchase software, but (most important for us) not well researched. Most quotes come from defenders of proprietary software, including from the Association for Competitive Technology, which I think is a front for Microsoft (anyone have hard data on that?). New Hampshire state government is also becoming more sympathetic to open-source software, and if a NH-based news outlet wanted to get the pro-OSS side, could they reach an articulate spokesperson in a timely fashion through gnhlug.org? I think you have to read the article to see how badly a reporter can be thrown off track; his whole frame of reference was set by special interests and there is no indication that he realizes that he was being misled. Another case where a state-wide organization is beneficial is when you want to interact with other state-wide technology groups. Examples: Software Association of NH NH Internet Service Providers Association NH Telecom Association IEEE NH Chapter and the aforementioned NHSTE. These groups may have strengths that can be applied against GNHLUG's weaknesses, and vice versa. Some of the despair about "getting members to do something" can be addressed by proper use of groupware (e.g., mail aliases) in combination with setting expectations consistent with what the members already do. If the members have already demonstrated a willingness to show off their expertise in a particular forum, try to bring those who need expertise into that forum. If asynchronous communication, such as this ongoing email thread, is the best way to get broad participation, then try to slant the activities toward asynchronous communication. (Note the time-of-day that I'm posting this!) From this foundation, you can then look at the preferences of those who ought to be members but aren't. .................David Marston [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Gnhlug-org mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org
