Sydney Linux Users Group (SLUG)

As a users group, SLUG is dependent upon its thriving community. There are many ways in which you can participate in the SLUG community.

Simple steps

Here are some basic steps you can take to become involved in SLUG as a newcomer quickly and easily:

1. Subscribe to our low-traffic Announcements mailing list, RSS feed or ical feed, to be kept notified of our meetings and events.
2. Join one or more of our other mailing lists. You can participate on these to get help and to get to know our community.
3. Attend a SLUG meeting or other event (calendar, list).
4. Become a SLUG member (optional, but recommended).
5. We strongly recommend that you become a member of Linux Australia, the peak body for Australian Linux Users Groups. Membership is free and can be done online.

Read on for more detailed information on how you can participate in SLUG.

Community

As a community organisation, participation is the lifeblood of SLUG.

Popular ways to participate in the SLUG community include:

• join as a paid member (not compulsory)
• attend meetings
• speak at meetings
• organise or help out at meetings and other events (calendar, list)
• participate on the mailing lists and IRC channel
• assist to moderate our mailing lists and IRC channel

Benefits on participating in SLUG include:

• get help on any problems/questions that you may have
• take part in fun and interesting activities and events, and learn new things along the way
• improve your skills and learn new things from our diverse and skilled membership
• help others with their problems, and impart your own knowledge to benefit all
• find new friends, job opportunities and business contacts
• be happy that you're contributing to a global community of Linux and FOSS users!

Got an interesting idea? Raise it on the Activities mailing list for the community to discuss. Most types of community participation do not require involvement by the Committee, but in some cases the Committee may be able to help out.If you want something cool to be done, it's fully within your power to step up and make it happen.

Committee

The SLUG Committee exists to facilitate and enable the community. It ensures that facilities exist for community members to easily communicate and collaborate, through the co-ordination of meetings, events, mailing lists and so on.

In other words, the Committee provides the tools that members can wield to sustain and further build the community. In open source fashion, the success of the community is dependent on itself, but we help to make that easy.

The Committee positions are as follows:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• three Ordinary Members

The Committee's main responsibility is to organise and run the monthly SLUG meeting. This includes organising speakers and assuring the smooth operation of the meeting.

The Committee also holds their own monthly meeting to discuss and plan for the following month. This is currently held a week after the SLUG meeting, on a Sunday afternoon.

Day-to-day activities include the following:

• being receptive to questions and comments
• ensuring the smooth running of SLUG online properties (Web site, wiki mailing lists, etc.)
• keeping members informed of any important news or events

All of these responsibilities are shared amongst Committee members, but many (like mailing list moderation) may be delegated to volunteers. Regardless, it is the responsibility of the Committee to ensure that these are done.

Interested in joining the SLUG Committee? The Committee is determined by election, held during the AGM at the March meeting. Only paid members (holding a membership card) may vote. If you wish to be a candidate, make sure that you are willing and capable to take part in the above-mentioned tasks. The Committee can facilitate other activities (with promotions, contacts, funding, etc.), but these are secondary to their core functions. If you have an idea, you might be better served by working from outside of the Committee, and hence avoiding the administrative burden of being a Committee member.

Constitution

SLUG is bound by its constitution. The current version of the SLUG constitution can be found here.