[net.lang.st80] Smalltalk Users Group

jima@tekchips.UUCP (Jim Alexander) (10/16/86)

The following is a report of the efforts to begin a world-wide
Smalltalk user's group. The first meetings were held at the recent
OOPSLA conference and were open to all comers. Anyone interested
in being included on the mailing list or taking part in the
organizational effort can contact:

	
		SMUG
		c/o James Alexander
		Computer Research Laboratory
		Tektronix - M/S 50-662
		PO Box 500
		Beaverton, OR 97077

Name suggestions are welcome!
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             Report of the Smalltalk Users Group
         (SMUG) Organizational Meetings at OOPSLA-86


              Jim Alexander (acting secretary)
                 Jeff McKenna (coordinator)



Forty-one Smalltalk users met on  Wednesday,  October  1  at
OOPSLA  to  discuss  the creation of a Smalltalk Users Group
(SMUG). The initial meeting, led by Jeff McKenna,  consisted
of  a  discussion of group interests and the initial sugges-
tions for organization of the group. A second session,  held
the  following  morning,  was a meeting of the SMUG steering
committe. Anyone interested in being a member of the  steer-
ing  committee  was  welcome  to  attend  this meeting.  The
steering committee was assigned the task of setting  up  the
users group. This document summarizes the two meetings.

        1. Initial Meeting

1.1 Group Interests

     The group agreed that SMUG should be a vendor  indepen-
dent  organization,  thus  serving as a unifying and guiding
force for Smalltalk users from  all  vendor  sources.  Coin-
cident  with  this,  SMUG should serve as a guiding force on
the development of Smalltalk as a  language  and  should  be
active  in  the  development of future versions of Smalltalk
(i.e., LV3).

     Attendees voiced their opinions of  the  function  that
SMUG could fulfill, and the primary concern was that SMUG be
a  communication  clearing  house  for   information   about
Smalltalk and its use.

     The communications that the group would  provide  would
be best presented in two means:

  + Newsletter

  + Electronic bulletin board.

The topics that might be covered in these vehicles were:

  + Applications - Announcement and  discussion  of  systems
    developed in Smalltalk.

  + Research - Discussion on research in OOL in general  and
    Smalltalk in particular

  + Public modules - Dissemination of handy  code  (goodies)
    to all members.

  + Technical Support - Providing advice  from  vendors  and
    users for the maintenance of a Smalltalk system.

     Finally, SMUG should take an active role  in  promoting
Smalltalk to non-Smalltalk users.

1.2 Organization

     Organization of SMUG was left to the steering committee
which  was  charged  with  ensuring  that  the  organization
encourage local user groups as well  as  the  national  user
group.  The steering committee was charged with deciding on:

  + corporate/individual membership requirements

  + funding

  + affiliation

1.3 Communication systems

     SMUG  will  communicate  with  its  members  through  a
newsletter and bulletin board, though there was much discus-
sion of which should be the driving force. Three options:

  + Bulletin board would be the main  communication  mechan-
    ism, with the newsletter being a summary vehicle.

  + Bulletin board and newsletter would be largely  indepen-
    dent,  with  day to day discussion on the bulletin board
    and more formal papers in the newsletter.

  + A combination of the two.

1.4 Funding

     It is clear that an organization like this will need  a
fair amount of funding. Three sources were suggested

  + Seed money - from vendors and/or organizations like ACM

  + Membership Dues

  + Newsletter/Bulletin board subscriptions



            2. Steering Committee Meeting

     Seventeen people appeared  at  the  steering  committee
meeting,  on  Thursday, October 2 (8 am).  The steering com-
mittee agreed to concentrate on three topics initially:

  + Organization structure of SMUG

  + Creation of a Smalltalk newsletter

  + Creation of a Smalltalk bulletin board

     Forty-five minutes of active discussion of these issues
was  followed  by  the creation of three sub-committees, one
for each topic, responsible for the completion of the  deci-
sions. A schedule of events was set, and Jeff McKenna volun-
teered to serve as coordinator for the  three  groups  until
the  organization was ready to take care of itself. The dis-
cussion of the three areas will be summarized in order.

2.1 Organizational Issues

Members: Jim Alexander, Nanette Harter, Martin McClure, Jeff
McKenna,  Steve  Thompson, Reiner van Oosten, Alexander Ward
(contact for legal issues)

     The official organization  of  SMUG  will  involve  the
creation of an administrative structure, writing of by-laws,
the gathering of funds and  possibly  the  attraction  of  a
parent  affiliation.  Apparently the first and most critical
step in the creation of an  organization  like  SMUG  is  to
create  a  set of by-laws that will allow SMUG to be classi-
fied as a non-profit organization. The creation  of  by-laws
is also necessary for attracting a parent affiliation.

     Second the organizational committee must set  down  the
guiding  purpose  of  SMUG.  For  now, the organization will
oversee the production of the newsletter and bulletin board,
but eventually might become a missionary organization and/or
a driving force in the development of Smalltalk as a produc-
tion language.

     In addition, the organizational committee  must  decide
on  the  means  to  attract  members  and  the obligation of
memberships.

     Finally the Organizational committee  is  charged  with
finding  funding  methods.  Seed funds can often be acquired
from large organizations like ACM, though  there  are  often
many  restrictions which may be attached to such a possibil-
ity. Smalltalk vendors are another possible source  of  seed
funds.   Tektronix  has  already  expressed some interest in
providing funds to maintain SMUG in  the  embryonic  stages.
Eventually  the  organization should maintain itself through
membership fees, and corporate affiliation fees.  The organ-
izational   committee  should  identify  the  mechanism  for
attracting members and affiliates.

2.2 Bulletin board

Members: Pieter van der Meulen, Trygve  Reenskalig,  Phillip
Wayne


     The creation of an Electronic Bulletin board is seen as
a  major  need  for  the viability of SMUG. The BB should be
accessible from most common nets which would be available to
members. In addition there should be an effective gateway to
Europe and Japan. European members saw the  BB  as  critical
for their active participation in SMUG.

     Phillip  Wayne  volunteered  to   begin   investigating
mechanisms  for immediate start up of the network. Currently
there is net.lang.st80 on the Unix network which  may  serve
as  a  model. However, some members expressed an interest in
controlling the BB in a way that  only  SMUG  members  would
have  access  to  it.  Funding of such a BB would be another
issue. The BB Committee will investigate and report  on  the
start-up  and  maintenance  costs.  Proposals are to examine
using existing networks (i.e.,CompuServe, ARPA, USENET)  and
identify  possible  gateways and individuals to transfer the
news between networks.

2.3 News Letter

Members: Jerry Archibold,  Sam  Adams,  Jean  Bezivic,  Norm
Kerth, Rene Plouvde, Alexander Ward

     The newsletter committee will gather information on the
startup  and  production  costs  of  the SMUG Newsletter. In
addition it will be charged with identifying the  nature  of
the  newsletters contents, sources of articles and create an
editorial policy for inclusion in the letter.

     Initial suggestions were that the newsletter be  infor-
mal  and  follow  the  pattern  of  the newsletter currently
edited by Xerox Parc/Parc  Place.   However  the  difference
would   be  that  this  newsletter  would  not  be  oriented
exclusively   towards   Smalltalk-80   but   would   include
Smalltalk-V and other versions of Smalltalk. Possible topics
in the letter could be research reports, application  studys
and summaries of the BB (a la Bix in Byte).

2.4 Time-line

The following is the time-line for action  by  the  steering
committee:

  + October 15 - Report of meeting
  + December 1 - Initial sub-committee reports  delivered to
    Jeff McKenna
  + January 15 - Bulletin Board in place
  + February 1 - By-laws draft.
  + February 1 - Membership plan/Call for members
  + March 1 - First Newsletter Publication