A catchy subject line will go here

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

>Richard Dunbar <Z9RMDUNB@am.pnu.com> wrote:
>I would first like to complement the developers of the Klug web page. I 
>think they have done a fine job.
Thank you! We have worked to produce a useful tool, and I take your praise
as an indication of our success.

>While I agree that the Linux group needs organization  I am not sure that I >have anything that I can contribute at an organized level at this time.
We beleive that everyone has something to offer. If you can't do technical
tasks (such as giving presentations), you can contribute in other ways. Can
you write meeting minutes? Help with publicity? sketch out ideas for the 
website, or research new links? Great! You CAN contribute something; the 
technical knowledge and skill will come.

>This is due in part to my lack of usable knowledge of the Linux operating 
>system.
Look over the positions described, and nowhere will you find a qualification
such as "ability to write Linux scripts", or "knows how to hack the kernel"
as a requirement for volunteering. Everyone has something that they can do;
people without Linux systems have contributed to this group, and we expect
the same will continue to happen.

>Much of the terminology used at the meetings is way above my head and to this
>day I still do not know how to gain the most from the operating system.
A lot of what you have said is not only true, but it's also a symptom of how
the group has changed as it's grown. When KLUG started, everyone knew what all
(or most) of the "alphabet soup" meant, now a smaller proportion of us do.

One of the goals of KLUG is to show you what Linux can do for you, and if we're
failing to do that, we need to learn some lessons and chage our approach.

>The Group
>There is talk about expanding the group and reaching out to a new group of 
>people. This is destined to fail unless the group can inform others as to 
>the potential of Linux. ....
That's quite true, and a large part of the problem here is that the currently
active group of working volunteers pretty much has their hands full providing
the services you see now. In order to deliver a broader, better tuned, message,
we simply require more people to help out.

>Information must not only be technical but understandable to the average
>person.  There are many people out there, who know of Linux but do not have 
>any idea of what Linux can do for them. 
We need a broader set of presenters, people who are willing to stand up and 
talk about topics, their own experiences. We need people who will look at 
more applications, and make some recomendations, based on the quality
of the software they see available. We need people who can do some of the 
footwork that allows us to schedule a technical program that keeps us going,
topic after topic, week after week. We need people who will provide broader
and more diverse perspectives than we have now. Some of us beleive that we're
not going to get there without a bit more structure, and more active people
than we have now.

>The Average User
>We must inform them by addressing their needs, such needs as word 
>processing, data management, internet access, spreadsheets and games. 
There are a number of ways to do this, such as closely examining how Linux 
systems are installed, picking the best ideas and using them, perhaps writing 
scripts for some distributions to install predefined sets of applications
and tools. Some distributions already do this; we need to educate people
on how this is done best.

Until we get more people to do some of this, it's not happening, since asking
the currently active set of people to do this means abandoning some of the
things we're already doing, or overloading them.

The only people we have to draw on are the people reading this mail message,
and we're already asking them to consider a structure of volunteers that will 
promote these ideas. [ http://klug.armintl.com/organize ]

>The average user is not going to give a darn about the technical setup or 
>technical jargon. 
That's right, and one of the things Microsoft has done well is hide, to the 
greatest extent possible, the technical setup/jargon part of things. This
is one of the keystones of their success, packaging and controlled delivery.
(like it or not, folks & rail against it if you like, but that don't make
it less so).

>The Solutions
>In my opinion there are three ways to solve our problems.
>1) The Web
> We must provide a spot on our web page devoted to new users (newbies)...
>2) Meetings 
>Meeting's must be at a level where the average user can understand what is 
>going on....
>3)Promotion
>The means to promote our group and the Linux operating system has been 
>given to us....
These are all good ideas, well thought out and presented with care and 
interest. If you take these thoughts and look at the proposed set of 
volunteer positions, you'll find all of these functions included. We 
need to the ideas you've written about so well to sustain us and move
us forward, and IMO we need the proposed organization to help us deliver
on these ideas.

>Conclusion 
>It my belief that for the group to survive and flourish , the group must do 
>what it can to promote the use of the operating system by educating both 
>the average and the novice users as to the full potential of a solid 
>operating system.
Thank you Richard, you've done about as good a job as possible of stating the
mission of KLUG. If everyone can agree on these ideas and adopt them as 
guidelines for an action plan, we can indeed make progress. If we can adopt
a beter form of organization, we can amplify everyones skills to focus them
upon these initiaves.

                                                       Regards,
                                                         ---> RGB <---