Re: Those IT guys are loony

On Sat, 17 Mar 2007, Damien Hull wrote:

> I agree with some of what you are saying here. Things need to change. What do
> we want AKLUG to become? I hope it's not super hacker geek only club.

When I look at how industry trade groups run I see a clear pattern from the
more successful ones: they can't be one-dimensional, they need to be
multi-layered. We need the new blood to infect them with the same love of
technology that we have, but we can't stop with the infection. Those that
have the aptitude and interest need to be launched to higher levels. There
should be avenues of fulfillment to that effect within the organization. As
I see AKLUG right now, it's flat. If you join, where do you go from there?
Where can it take you? A necessary part of the equation is certainly
personal initiative, but another part should be opportunity.

> I do things with the PC user group. I'm also helping out a group of high
> school students at Highland Tech learn Linux. That's the high school we have
> our meetings at. In both cases there are different kinds of users. There are
> advanced users, intermediate users and those that juts want there computer to
> work so they can check their email. How do you create a group/organization
> that includes them all and at the same time bring in new users? The PC user
> group has been working on this very problem for a few years. They haven't
> figured it out.
>
> I'm an advanced user that wants to learn more about Linux and technology in
> general. I'm also one that enjoys helping others and watching new users get
> into Linux. I'm hoping that some of these users become super hacker
> programmer geeks. We need new developers to keep our open source software
> running. I also enjoy watching those that only use a computer for email,
> pictures web surfing etc... Every now and then I learn something form them.
> They might be running an application I've never herd of or they filter their
> email in a different way. I benefit in both cases.
>
> One thing we should take into consideration here is the next gen user. The
> high school kids I work with are doing things we couldn't do 10 years ago. If
> we don't find new and interesting things for them they may not show up. It
> may be to boring. One student has Fedora Core 6 running on his Play Station
> 3. He also has a web server running Suse and Apache. He had to put it on a
> different port because Clear Wire blocks port 80. I would say this kid is
> well on his way to becoming an advanced Linux user.
>
> I enjoy the open source community. I've learned more from open source users
> on the net, this mailing list and the AKLUG meetings then I ever could in a
> classroom. I hope we can keep things moving forward. I also hope AKLUG will
> continue to be a place where I and others can learn a few things.

I think all of what you've said here is laudable, and I think we agree in
theory: there needs to be a complete lifecycle and ecosystem for Linux
geeks in AKLUG.

One thing that probably needs to be more formally developed is SIGs within
AKLUG (as Greg pointed out). And we need people who straddle the barriers
between groups so they can spot those that show interest in other areas so
they can say "hey, you might be interested in this SIG as well", etc. I
think a good idea would be a one-on-one mentoring program where new guys
interested in certain skills could get some in-depth training from someone
well-versed. We tend to strand a lot of good folks who see a neat
presentation, but when they try to start playing in the same arena at home
discover it's Pandora's box. Many of them get frustrated, get bored, and
give up. A mentor could keep them chugging along.

How about the monthly meetings? At one point we had set up a deal where we
could get free copies of new titles from the publishers as long as someone
would commit to reviewing it (it would need to be posted on the web site,
but having the review given during a monthly meeting w/a Q&A would also be
great). I remember when Dee was running things he had established a lot of
relationships with vendors who would give us free stuff for door prizes,
etc., which brought in a lot more people to the meetings.

Now, I used to do a lot of work for Dee, Mike Tibor, and Mike Barsalou,
helping with various things. I'd be more than happy to offer my time again,
but there is a danger to be avoided. If you guys want this place to come
alive like it used to be we will all, to an extent, need to invest
more of ourselves. Having a small cadre of folks doing 90% of the work to
keep things interesting is tiring. Getting that spirit of volunteerism is
definitely the hard part. We've had a couple of regime changes already that
appear to have petered out before they began simply because it's too much to
ask a few individuals.

To take a step back: I've never advocated that AKLUG should be elitist, or
hackers only, but that there be a space for all skill levels, and hopefully,
a way to get new blood into all skill levels as well. There's probably more
than a few here that are budding hackers in the making, all they need is a
kick start. For that matter, I've met a few in this group that had good
skills but lacked self confidence. Because of that they've held themselves
back from competing for opportunities they had every right and ability to
take advantage of. That's unfortunate -- for all of us.

         --Arthur Corliss
           Live Free or Die
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Received on Sat Mar 17 17:49:27 2007