[H-GEN] Vice President's report.

[Robert Brockway]

On Sat, 23 Jul 2011, Arjen Lentz wrote:

> I think there's a difference, a shift in use of computers over the last 
> 3 decades. It's the difference between the goal and the tool. When we 
> got in to stuffing around with computers, we were exploring them for 
> their own sake as their real-world applications were limited (you can 
> argue this, but compare with now).
>
> Now, I reckon it's very important for people to have an understanding of 
> how computers work as they're all around us and use them daily. But it's 
> equally important to recognise that for most people they're tools, not 
> goals in themselves. They want to do something and a computer can help

Hi Arjen.  I think we all agree with that.

In fact I often point out to people that _I_ view computers principally as 
tools.  They are tools that I find interesting but never-the-less if they 
weren't useful I wouldn't go to so much effort to understand them.

But this all dances around the real issue.

There are still people out there who like to understand how technology 
works (short of a fundamental change in the human condition).  We aren't 
seeing them attend Humbug though.  It looks like they attend other user 
groups.

I feel that the principal problem (but not necessarily the only problem) 
is that the meeting format is not seen as relevant by potential members. 
I've really felt this was a problem for a while (see my comments on IRC 
and the lists over the last couple of years).

It follows then that if Humbug wishes to grow in membership it will need 
to offer something else.

As I've noted in other posts, I think Humbug Meta was a step in the right 
direction.  I'll try to catch up with Clinton soon and see what his 
thoughts are on restarting it.

The real question to me is whether Humbug can successfully carry two long 
meetings and one short (talk focussed) meeting per month.  That's a lot 
for volunteers to accomodate.

I suggested a few months ago on IRC that one long meeting may have to go 
to accomodate the shorter talk meeting but that wasn't very popular :)

Cheers,

Rob

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