[Glastonbury] Tonight's meeting

[Martin Wheeler]

Very constructive meeting tonight, despite the fact that there were only 
four of us present (with apologies for absence from Sean, stuck in 
Shepton; and Greg, doing his accounts).  Very chastising to realise that
I was the only one there who hadn't driven for more than half an hour to 
get to the meeting -- with folks coming from as far afield as Wellington, 
it's more than ever necessary to ensure that meetings are well-advertised 
in advance, and the events worth attending.  (Although it was pointed out 
that some actually enjoy the unstructured approach, which gives room to 
chat about personal queries.)

Didn't see anything of Mike Lee, or the caretaker; but Room 4 was open, 
and the projector worked just fine with my laptop (thanks TimW, for 
finding the remote) -- even allowed me to demonstrate a DVD film with 
sound.  [Whilst on the subject, can anyone on list help Peter with 
installing xine under SUSE 9.3?  Via the list for starters; then Peter 
will be bringing his machine in to the next meeting to see if we can fix 
various anomalies for him.]

Interesting comments arising from general discussion showed that we really 
need to do something about the website, to make it easier for *anyone* to 
update, or add reviews, comments, etc. to it.  The current version of 
Mambo is a nightmare, even if it *is* pretty to look at.  (Personally, 
after all the comments made, I think we should scrap it, and start 
afresh.  Tony suggested we take a look at the Devon & Cornwall LUG site; 
and in particular their wiki -- having just had a butcher's, I think it's 
something we should definitely think about adopting ourselves; see :

      http://www.dclug.org.uk/

I notice they've also already got on their front page one of the ideas put 
forward tonight for our own enhanced organisation  -- Librarian.)

*Very* exceptionally, I've attached to this e-mail a copy of the 
OpenOffice presentation used tonight as a basis for discussing the future 
organisation of the group.  (q.v.)

Basically, we threw around ideas which formalise quite a lot of what 
exists already -- the idea of a "core" group of three people to represent 
the group (to the press, to local educational establishments, to anyone 
who requires an 'official' of the group to be present when third-party 
premises are being used, etc. etc.)  At the moment this function is 
roughly carried out by Steve, MartinW, Kelvin, Sean and TimH.

Plus other named persons responsible for Meetings Organisation (we don't 
have anyone doing this specifically, at the moment -- Cherry; Ian -- fancy 
taking this on?); Postmaster, to look after the mailing list (currently 
carried out by MartinW, Sean and Kelvin); Webmaster, to look after the 
website (currently carried out by Sean and TimH); Librarian, to take care 
of software and books acquired by the group (currently devolves on Steve); 
Quartermaster, to look after hardware and equipment donated to the group 
(currently devolves on Steve also); Treasurer (haven't needed on yet, so 
no-one has been doing this for the group.  Any offers?)

Comments, please ?
Offers to fill any of the proposed posts ?  Further suggestions ?

It was also tentatively suggested that group meetings continue on a 
monthly basis, on the SECOND TUESDAY of the month; thus making the January 
meeting Tuesday, January 11th.
(Times still kept at 19.00-21.00 for the time being.)

As for the question of premises, I hope to have news for the group in the 
next few days which will solve many of our current problems.

Until then, it would be nice to get discussions under way on the proposals 
made in the presentation -- so it's over to you now.

Cheers,
-- 
Martin Wheeler   -   StarTEXT / AVALONIX - Glastonbury - BA6 9PH - England
mwheeler at startext.co.uk                http://www.startext.co.uk/mwheeler/
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