APM: APM - Future activity

jameschoate at austin.rr.com jameschoate at austin.rr.com
Tue Dec 23 11:18:42 PST 2008


Dobrey Utro,

---- lists at chrisbaker.net wrote: 
 
> > User groups in general are a terrible place to get projects
> > off the ground if you want the group in toto to do it, too
> > much politics, apathy/self-interest, and push_me-pull_you.
> 
> Three years ago, some people in ALG managed to get some volunteering for
> the Katrina relief efforts downtown going. I have seen it happen with lots
> of groups in town, though.

Which actually speaks to my point (that and the history of ALG), it had little
to do with Linux. When I started CT-LUG it took less than two years before
one of the members hijacked the domain name, started a parallel list and
began to 'take over' the group. Those actions are what led to ALG forming.
Dissatisfaction with ALG is what led to the Goodwill Linux Group forming
and who still meet at Tek Republik (if you stop by tell Chris Tom "hi").
Austin is a great town for user groups and lots of smart people with self-
confidence/ego. That makes it hard for groups to really get past the
once or twice a month meeting, the individuals are usually chasing their
own dreams, which are usually not group oriented. They participate as a
means to an end, not the end in and of itself.

> > A good example of the difference between most user
> > groups and one with spark, the Austin Robot Group.
> 
> I have definitely heard of them, but don't have much interest in robots.

Which again speaks to my point.

In an odd way this parallels the 'Perl is dying' meme. Consider that the
most common use for Perl is for web sites and business process
software. Out of any technical population there are many who are into
many other things.. However, since Perl in general doesn't talk a lot
about that, they see little support for themselves. What I'm looking for
are people who use Perl for something besides just a business
application.

Myself, I'm a science geek. A computer and programming for me are
tools, past a certain point I couldn't care less. Sometimes I can't help
but chuckle at some computer people, it's like watching an
automechanic fondle their 1/4" wrench. Sometimes it seems like an
obsession with the process and not the goal. Then again, the feeling
of building some mechanism and watching it work as intended the
first time is truly addictive (whether it is hardware or software).

Even odder is that my first big project was a hands-on science
museum here in Austin, Discovery Hall (1984 - 1991). It was an
experience where we had several user groups and SIGs meeting,
and a continous flow of projects (I think I worked on something 
like 70 exhibits over those years). If you watch Mythbusters or
Prototype This!, that's what it was like every week. Long term,
that is what I'm trying to rebuild. I got to meet several Nobel
Prize winners, We were on David Letterman, had all kinds of
stuff going on. And it died due to personal vision conflicts. I'd
say that every project passes or fails on 'vision'. With vision
just about anything can be overcome and without it almost
nothing can reach its promise. That boils down to finding the
right people out of the groups. Wheat & chaffe.

 -- -- -- --
Venimus, Vidimus, Dolavimus

James Choate
jameschoate at austin.rr.com
james.choate at twcable.com
512-657-1279
www.ssz.com

Adapt, Adopt, Improvise
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