[aclug-local] Re: Suggestions: Next Meeting

[Tom Hull <thull@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think your bottom line is off-base; it's not really a beginner/expert
thing, it's more of a presentation/class thing. Presentations demand a
fair amount of work from the presenters, but very little preparation or
commitment from the audience. Unless you can assume an audience with a
lot of specialized knowledge (e.g., in an academic forum), you have to
find something to present that has relatively general interest and does
not have a strict prerequisite level.

It is doubtful that a detailed survey of the Linux boot sequence meets
this criterion -- not so much because of lack of interest as because of
the technical specificity of the material. A better forum for learning
about the Linux boot sequence would be a study group/class -- maybe six
two-hour meetings with homework in between and a couple of tests along
the way.

I think we need to think more carefully about what works as presentation,
and concentrate on doing that, because "my" bottom line is that meetings
have to get much better in order to hold a viable audience. At the same
time we could consider doing some real educational programs, to the
extent that there is interest and expertise available. But given that
meetings don't really suffice for education, I think the priority has
to be to figure out how to do better meetings, by accepting them for
what they are.

"James G ." wrote:
> 
> I am trying in different ways to explain the same thing. I think its
> pretty simple what I'm am trying to get across. Maybe its one of those
> things where it's so simple that it's hard (like swallowing when you have
> a sore throat).
> 
> Anyway, at the last meeting, I mentioned we should include a talk on how
> Linux boots up. Someone else (not me) translated that to mean I wanted to
> dissect the Linux kernel. No No No. Boot-up scripting steps is different
> then understanding the kernel. I feel I'm saying something simple and it
> gets miss translated somehow. The bottom line is: "How can we satisfy the
> beginner and expert at the same time without losing either."
> 
> Also.. by me saying we should narrow the focus away from core Linux stuff,
> I'm trying to stir up a reaction a little to get the comments going (not
> that that is what I want).
> 
> Your friend.....
> James Galimi
> (See you tonight)
> 
> On 2002.02.11 00:22 Jonathan Hall wrote:
> > James,
> >
> >   It's kinda hard to understand what your complaint is... when it changes
> > every 5 minutes.
> >
> >   Last week your problem was "We don't explain top, kill, and ps"
> >
> >   Yesterday your problem was "We don't talk about the kernel, so we
> > shouldn't be a LINUX group"
> >
> >   Now your problem is "We need to draw the line between root/non-root."
> >
> >   What exactly is the PROBLEM you see with our group?  If you have a
> > legitimate problem, I don't think anyone here would be unwilling to try
> > to
> > resole it.

-- 
/*
 *  Tom Hull * thull at kscable.com * http://www.tomhull.com/
 */