On Jul 5, 2005, at 9:36 PM, boblq wrote:
So Gregory, other than acting as an umbrella organization
that provides useful cover from the legal bureaucracies that
stifle so much activity in this world, what do you see as
useful goals and activities for the SDCS.
I will admit that I don't see that much else for it to do.
But I will also admit that I am visionless in this arena.
How about this for a vision:
http://www.sdcs.org/About.html
Sure, that's not a huge world-changing vision, but it's what SDCS
should be doing as a nonprofit organization - helping spread
education, knowledge and resources to bring better computing to the
people of San Diego County.
How to follow that vision is really up to your imagination. As it
stands today, the best way that SDCS can go about its mission is to
support the SIGs, because they're the ones currently doing all the
work. Look at KPLUG's installfests and the LTSP work done over at
the Mira Mesa school.
In the past, SDCS had the manpower and resources to do great big
things by itself, like help wire our schools, which was the genesis
of the SDCOE relationship that now provides us with meeting rooms.
Unfortunately as the computer industry grew and specialized, focus
seems to have shifted to the SIGs. Or perhaps it was past SDCS
leadership that didn't keep their eyes open for new opportunities.
Maybe political infighting got everyone off focus. Probably some
combination of these and other factors.
So here we are today - SDCS is an umbrella, because it's a waste of
time to have it be anything else until someone wants to take the helm
and find ways for SDCS itself to be more proactive in helping the
community. Does this need to happen? Not really. We discussed this
at a previous board meeting, and many seemed to like the idea that
someday SDCS could take on community projects again. But I believe
it was Lan who wisely suggested that SDCS take it slow, and only
consider getting ambitious once the leadership transition is over and
the current umbrella is running smoothly.
Once that's done, it's still going to take great amounts of effort to
make SDCS go anywhere beyond being an umbrella. It's going to take
board leadership that can look out at the community and find areas
where SDCS can be helpful. Then it's going to take some social
networking to put together the resources necessary to help
effectively. We already have an "army" of SIG members who could be
called upon to help, but they're going to need to be reached by SDCS
through their SIG leaders, and they're going to need to have
confidence in the SDCS vision.
Here's an example project - set up free community wireless access
points in some part of downtown or Hillcrest that isn't currently
covered with connectivity. This is a project that's been done by
nonprofit groups in many other cities. SDCS could be the one to do
it in San Diego. We'd contact local tech companies for equipment
donations. We'd call upon KPLUG to put together a customized Linux
distro to run on the access points. We'd call the other SIGs for
manpower to do the installation. We'd contact local area leaders and
organize a community installfest where people can come for help
getting the wireless going on their laptop. And on and on...
The ideas aren't too hard to come by, but right now it seems that the
manpower and interest are. SDCS needs to start out by being an
umbrella, and doing the best and most efficient job at being an
umbrella that it can. From there it can start reaching out to the
SIGs with extra goodies - the ad in ComputorEdge, organizing joint
meetings between SIGs to attract larger vendors, having a multi-
platform installfest, etc. It can reach beyond the existing SIGs to
find other fledgling computing groups who'd like to join forces.
But for now... it's an umbrella. And for now... that's just fine.
--
Joshua Penix http://www.binarytribe.com
Binary Tribe Linux Integration Services & Network Consulting
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-steer
