International Informix Users Group

Announcing the International Informix Users Group -- IIUG I am pleased to officially announce the formation of the International Informix Users Group (IIUG)! IIUG was formally established at the 1995 Informix Worldwide User Conference in San Jose, California. A number of people from the Informix user community have been working for some time on starting such a group, and it's exciting to have taken this first step. Mission and Goals ----------------- The mission of IIUG is to support Informix users worldwide by working to achieve several broad goals: o To promote the growth of local and regional Informix User Groups; o To provide a communication channel to disseminate news and other information efficiently to the Informix user community; o To give users a coherent collective voice to articulate the issues that they find important as they utilize Informix products in their particular environments; o To foster the professional development of individual Informix users through special training, documentation, and other programs; o To give an organizational home to those Informix users without access to a local group, and to allow local group members to participate in a global organization. A number of possible programs have been proposed to meet these goals. We will be investigating these and other proposals to determine which will provide real benefit to IIUG members and to the Informix community at large, yet will be feasible. Board of Directors ------------------ During the inaugural meeting in San Jose, a President and Board of Directors were elected and charged with the task of creating a Charter and a set of By Laws. They will also finish defining the internal structure of the Group. The following people are guiding the operation of IIUG during its first year: President: Walt Hultgren Atlanta, Georgia, USA Board of Directors: Clem Akins Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA Tom Bondur Fremont, California, USA Robert David Sunnyvale, California, USA Carlton Doe Salt Lake City, Utah, USA Cathy Kipp Fort Colins, Colorado, USA Lester Knutsen Washington, DC, USA Gavin Nour Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Mike Reetz Boulder, Colorado, USA Kerry Sainsbury Auckland, New Zealand Nancy Twomey Meno Park, California, USA Malcolm Weallans London, England Each of these people brings unique strengths and experience to the Board. Membership ---------- Membership in IIUG is open to everyone within the Informix User Community, including end-users, vendors, and employees of Informix Software, Inc. As a way of introducing IIUG to Informix users worldwide, we have declared the period continuing through December 31, 1996, to be a Free Charter Membership Period. During that time, membership in IIUG will be free of charge to anyone completing a Membership Application or joining through their local user group. We'll post more details soon on how to join IIUG. Current Programs ---------------- Establishing the full set of activities and benefits that we envision for IIUG will take time. However, there are several programs that we have already been able to put in place: IIUG Internet Home Site We have registered our own Internet domain, "IIUG.ORG", and have set up a home site on the Internet, iiug.iiug.org (IP 128.117.71.100). This site can be referred to as simply "iiug.org" in most cases. The two functions that iiug.org will serve initially will be to house our FTP archive and Web pages. A separate message will be posted with more details about these facilities. Resources for Local and Regional User Groups There are a number of resources that IIUG is offering to local and regional Informix user groups free of charge: a method for granting free IIUG memberships for all local group members at one time, space on www.iiug.org for local group Web pages as well as assistance in developing them, space on ftp.iiug.org for separate FTP archives maintained by local groups, plus other resources. We will soon be sending details on these offerings to each local and regional group. 1996 Informix Worldwide User Conference IIUG will be coordinating the various activities related to user groups at this year's Informix Worldwide User Conference in Chicago. Many of these activities will be brought back from last year, and there'll be some new features as well. Prominent among these will be registration discounts for IIUG members, and a special IIUG Call for Papers. Informix User Group Liaison Informix Software has created a permanent position, the User Group Liaison, to help promote the growth and success of all Informix user groups. For more information, contact Christine Shannon by sending e-mail to "usergrp@informix.com". She has been working closely with IIUG to help get us going, and has already contacted many local group representatives. More Information ---------------- As we continue with the process of turning the International Informix Users Group into a first-rate organization, we'll make sure to let everyone know of our progress through various channels, including postings to this forum. For more immediate information, visit our Web site at "http://www.iiug.org/"; or send e-mail to "info@iiug.org". It has taken a great deal of effort to bring IIUG this far, yet much formative work remains to be done. If you would like to get involved in any of our activities, feel free to contact me directly. Sincerely, Walt Hultgren President, International Informix Users Group -- Walt Hultgren Internet: walt@rmy.emory.edu (IP 170.140.97.4) Emory University UUCP: {...,gatech,rutgers,uunet}!emory!rmy!walt 954 Gatewood Road, NE BITNET: walt@EMORY Atlanta, GA 30329 USA Voice: +1 404 727 0648