Graeme Moffatt Apple Regional Liaison: Oceania May 2004

Hi

Once again it’s time for my regular update as to what’s been happening ‘down under’ as far as Mac User Groups are concerned.

I had hoped to be able to write this report earlier but unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day and I regularly work in excess of 12 of them each day, sometimes including weekends.

At the moment, I am deep into the throes of assisting in the organising of our third annual Digital Solutions Expo in conjunction with two local Macintosh resellers and our second nationwide MovieFest short movie competition. The MovieFest competition is growing into a premier event and this year we have secured the sponsorship of a number of major suppliers including Canon and the local Apple distributors, Renaissance New Zealand Limited.

My group, the Wellington Macintosh Society, has taken the decision to invite other Mac user groups throughout New Zealand to participate in the MovieFest competition and for the first time this year, we will be holding a northern and southern regional final in Auckland and Christchurch respectively. Next year we are planning on expanding this and propose that any New Zealand group that can provide a minimum of 12 entries from their locality hold a local regional final next year. I see this as an opportunity for all New Zealand groups to participate in a combined project which will assist in a providing a closer liaison between individual groups. As I have stated before, with the shrinking of the virtual globe due to improved electronic communications, communities once relatively isolated can now be part of a broader online community, assisting one another from the comfort of their homes.

I would like to hear from any group or groups that are either holding or contemplating any major projects such as a movie competition or expo so that other groups may be able to benefit from your experiences. This is one area that our groups can assist one another and avoid the possibility of reinventing the wheel. Also if any group is interested in organising any such project and would like some advice or assistance, please let me know and I’ll see if I can find someone who has experience in that particular area.

I attended a meeting of the Palmerston North Mac Users Group last week to inform them of the two events I outlined above and was asked by one member why we were organising a movie competition as it did not seem to him to be a typical user group activity. After some thought, I replied that the function of computer user groups has altered from their inception some twenty or so years ago. In the days of the 68000 processors, video editing and the likes was not a feasible option and user groups tended to concentrate on the applications and hardware then available. Obviously this has changed considerably and now there are so many more options available to computer users and our groups must adapt their activities to this new environment or be left behind.

Many of these newer choices tend to be more complicated than was previously the case and it is generally the younger generations who are electing to jump on the technology bandwagon. Unfortunately, the memberships of many of our groups is becoming comprised of ageing and relatively inexperienced users, something which is at odds to the makeup of the greatly expanded computing community. This is a challenge facing computer user groups and one that if not tackled will see their ultimate demise.

In my previous update in February of this year, I mentioned that Macintosh user groups outside of the US and Canada were now able to access the Apple Sales Web (ASW). In order to gain access to the ASW, I asked each group to email me with the name of their ambassador to get the instructions on how to do this as the information is privileged. This is the person who must apply for Apple Sales Web (ASW) access and details of how to do this will be emailed to him/her. So far I have only received around 6 requests which is only a fraction of the 20 or so groups that are eligible. The ASW site is extensive and well worth the effort of gaining access. If you have not yet done so, please send me an email with your ambassadors email address and I will send back the details. If you are unsure of who your ambassador is, please let me know and I will find out for you.

If you have registered your group with Apple for inclusion on the Apple Web Site User Group Locator are eligible to register for this resource, including the quarterly mailbox containing certain Apple software products and presentations. If you are not registered for this, you can do so at <http://www.apple.com/usergroups/find/register/> and one person must be appointed as the groups Ambassador. If you have not yet registered your group, then now would be a good time to do so. There are only three requirements, firstly your group must have 25 members, secondly you must have a web site and lastly you must nominate three members for contact purposes.

Some of the 6 groups who have contacted me so far have experienced difficulty in getting their applications for ASW access approved. It is important when filling in the form that it is done exactly as detailed in the email I send you. The ASW folk check to see if the person is listed as ambassador in the locator and that the group is active. If either of these are not true, then the application bounces. If this still does not get the required results, contact me and I will get it sorted out for you.

Keep those emails rolling in (or start if you have not already done so) and I will pass them on to everyone via this forum.


Regards


Graeme Moffatt
Australasian Regional Liaison