Newsgroups: comp.org.acm
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!acm.rpi.edu!acm
From: acm@acm.rpi.edu (RPI-ACM)
Subject: Re: Dying ACM...
Message-ID: <a2wgc9a@rpi.edu>
Nntp-Posting-Host: acm.rpi.edu
Organization: The Voice of Fate
References: <qsvg2+p@rpi.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 91 06:43:13 GMT
Lines: 88

As the Secretary for the Student chapter of the ACM at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, I'd like to discuss Naut's points.  He
has made several good points, but I'd like to correct a couple of things
about the chapter, and bounce some ideas off the community at large.

(For RPI people, this is posted seperately to rpi.acm.  Followups on
specifics should go there.)

> Well, I am new to our local chapter, but it is dying...

You're right on the money there.  It's been sick for a long time.  In the
past several weeks we've been working with the Student Union and among
ourselves to revitalize it.  There is certainly a long ways to go.

> The main attraction is a talk server like IRC (called Connect).

The day-to-day operation of Connect is largely out of our hands nowadays,
and has been for several years.  Most users of Connect have no clue what the
ACM is.

So what is our "main attraction" nowadays?  There are several, depending on
the user:
- A social group  (SIGFriendlies)
- Providing accounts for the MTS operating system and for the ACM operated
  3b2 UNIX machines (which we got from AT&T).
- Providing on-line consulting services.  (ACM:CONSULT)
- Groups of people (such as the recently formed DEVELOPERS group) who are
  interested in working on things, such as various projects, and
  educational classes.

> I am trying to get people involved, but the membership has
> dropped by an order of magnitude (~200 to about 20) in two years.

The latest membership list has 227 members (not including people who have
joined in the past 2 weeks or so).  Of those, 118 are Undergraduates, with
most of the rest being either RPI staff, Alumni, or Grad students.  This is
up from 120 members about 5 years ago.  Membership at meetings has averaged
about 30 people per meeting, which is down from about 60 people 5 years ago.

Gettting people involved is not easy.  They expect to see something already
going, and to get something going - we need more people.  (If anyone has a
solution to this catch-22... please?... pass them along?)

Yes, the RPI-ACM is in bad shape, what are we doing about it?
(Anyone else is free to borrow these ideas, and yours are well appreciated.)
- Trying to increase awareness of what we are and what we do on the campus.
  How?  Posters advertising the meetings, announcements in the campus paper,
  trying to get the ACM name on programs that students use, etc.
- Talking to Information Technology Services (the computing center) to
  provide additional applications for the Computers in Education project
  (something that RPI is into nowadays - bringing high-end workstations into
  Math, Physics, and Chem labs).
- Guest talks this semester included demostrations on Virtual Reality and a
  Beginners Guide to the Internet.  More talks and classes are already
  scheduled for next year.
- Moving most of our public files from MTS to UNIX.
- Updating our online Consulting service.

These are only a start, before we get off the Intensive Care list there are
a lot of things that we still have to do:
- Getting more resources (books, microphones, information on-line) for our
  members and the RPI community.
- New classes to help connect people who know lots with those who wish to
  learn lots.
- We have a lot of old programs on MTS, we should update them for UNIX.
- There are lots of good ideas for new projects, lets get them started and
  show them to the public.
- Run another programming contest (its in the planning stages still), our
  last one was 2 years ago and was a huge success.  (What other club tries
  to set up a contest where the winners are the ones that can break into an
  operating system?  {:  )
- Find a place to store a dozen or so 3b2s, a 3b15, and several other pieces
  of equipment, and then get them on the campus network for public access.

Well... I've babbled enough.  I hope I've given some people an idea of what
we do.  If any of you have additional ideas, I'd love to hear them (cause
sometimes I think we can sure use it.)

Allen S. Firstenberg  (Prisoner)
RPI-ACM Secretary

(These views do not represent the entire RPI-ACM, but comments and ideas
were solicited by many.)

-----
prisoner@rpi.edu                              "Do you know what this means?"
prisoner@acm.rpi.edu                          "Yes, It means I'm free."
prisoner@rpitsmts.bitnet                      "No"      -Les Miserables
