Hi

Time for my regular update as to what's been happening around our part of the world as far as Mac User Groups are concerned.

I was planning on sending out an update on a monthly bsis but this has not gone quite as planned. I am still awaiting positive news from Apple Australia concerning free Apple software for groups and have had no correspondence from any group in the region. I assume this indicates that everything has been going along smoothly. Stuart Harris, Apple Australia Software Manager has promised to send me a OSX 10.3 Panther presentation at the end of November and I will be passing this on to all groups that request for me to do so.

In the middle of September I received an email from my Apple User Group Advisory Board contact about a group in this region requesting a listing on the Apple web site user group locator page. This group was the Toowoomba Apple & Mac User Group Inc. This group has 26 members and meets in the Toowoomba Education Centre in Baker Street Toowoomba, Queensland on the 1st Wednesday of each month. I would like to welcome them to the leaders list and would like to hear any news they may wish to share with groups in the Australasian region.

The reason I was asked to advise on their request to have a listing was that Apple seeks three requirements, ie must have more than 25 members, list 3 contact names and have a web site. The Toowoomba group did not specify a web site so I suggested that they be given a listing on the condition that they create a web site within a period of three months.

This brings me to a point that I feel needs futher consideration by all groups. In my last update in September, I commented on on groups communicating with their members using the internet via email and web sites. Traditionally, groups such as ours have used monthly newsletters or magazines to keep their members updated as to activities their groups have or are about to engage in along with other items of interest to their members.

This form of written communication is still as important as ever, however the means of delivering this is now undergoing significant change. The advent of the pdf format and its widespread adoption now enables electronic delivery of newsletter and magazines at a much reduced cost. This can also be accompanied by an increase in quality, especially if you are currently sending out black and white issues.

After 20 years of posting out a paper magazine to our members, my committee has now decided to phase out the paper option and give members the alternative of having a copy emailed to them with a resultant reduction in their membership fee. I have recently purchased a copy of inDesign 2 and this application does a good job of creating pdf files, something that can also be easily done with any OS X application.

As editor of my groups magazine for the past few years, I know the difficulty in gathering sufficient items of interest to our members. recently I came across the magazine content section of the MUG Center website and subsequently subscribed to the email list. Now I get regular articles in my email and this makes editing a monthly magazine much easier.

Early this month I attended a meeting at the Apple Centre Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand to address a meeting convened to instigate the formation of a new Mac user group. There were 20 Mac users present and they made the unanimous decision to form a new group. This brings the number of new Mac user groups formed during this year on this side of the Tasman to three. I would like to welcome Arian de Wit who is one of three who have volunteered to act on the steering committee to the leaders list.

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


Regards


Graeme Moffatt
Australasian Regional Liaison