Computer Club Takes Action
Des Moines, Iowa (Jan. 31, 1997)--A new server, a computer dating service and membership in a new computer organization topped the discussions from members of Interface, Drake University's computer club, as the group's vice president attempted to bring some action to the dormant group.
Monday's meeting in the Olmsted lounge was the first formal gathering of the group. Dismayed from the lack of group action, Jason Arnold (AS 2), the Interface vice president, organized and conducted the proceeding. "I feel Interface needs activity badly," Arnold said while opening the meeting.
The meeting began with an informal introduction of the group's members and its officers. After introductions, members filled out an interest survey to help decide Interface's agenda for the rest of the year. The plans included fundraising ideas such as tutoring, selling floppy disks, and even holding a computer dating service in the future.
To implement the plans, Arnold called for the members to sign up for committees to determine and execute the agenda of Interface for the coming year. The committees will be in charge of tasks such as updating the membership roster, planning guest speakers, fundraising, updating Interface's web page, and evaluating new technologies for purchase.
Arnold, along with guest John Zelle, assistant professor of computer science, probed Interface about the possibility of starting a chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM. Zelle called ACM "the premiere association for computer professionals." Even if Interface didn't wish to become a student chapter of ACM, Zelle said, students should still become members to show a serious love toward the computer sciences. Zelle said professional organizations demonstrate that a computer user is not someone "just hacking around."
The discussion turned to purchasing a new server for the club. This file server, which would run the Linux operating system, would be purchased out of Interface funds and would be used for the purpose of learning a form of the UNIX operating system. Brent Doll (FA 1), president of Interface, reported that the server would cost approximately $600- $1,000. Although the group was generally in favor of purchasing the server, many members worried that the cost would eat too far into the group's standing balance of $1,200.
Tom Kula (AS 1) spoke in favor of keeping a nest egg. "What if we want to bring in a speaker and we don't have the money?" Kula asked.
Interface Faculty Adviser Dr. Robert Wood, associate professor of information systems and director of the Drake Information Systems Consortium, also advised caution, saying that if the server was purchased, "four years of fundraising would go down the drain." After the debate, the group felt more research and further fundraising was necessary before definitive action could be taken.
Interface will continue to meet biweekly on Mondays at 9 p.m. Anyone interested in joining the group may attend the regular meetings or contact Jason Arnold.
Interface's current web page, http://www.mac.drake.edu/org/interface/menu.html contains further information about the group. Interface also has a listserv mailing list. This list allows students to receive communications about Interface from the officers and other members. To subscribe to the Interface listserv, send an e-mail to MAILSERV from the mail prompt. In the body of the message type: "SUBSCRIBE INTERFACE-L ".
© 1997 CyberPress Communications, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Drake University 50311.
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