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From: Paul.Regenhardt@p0.f500.n5000.z200.METRONET.ORG (Paul Regenhardt)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Subject: International Smalltalk Association
Message-ID: <33.27B4BEDB@bohemia.metronet.org>
Date: 9 Feb 91 16:46:00 GMT
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I wish that I had time to respond to all of the EMAIL I've received
individually!  Because so many questions are the same, I am responding
to everybody with one message.  
 
But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Many people have asked, what is ISA
and how much does it cost?  ISA is the International Smalltalk 
Association, which is currently free (although there may be a 
membership fee in the future -- one of the issues to be decided).  The 
newsletter has so far been funded by myself and Simulation Sciences 
Inc., neither of which are promoting any Smalltalk related products or 
seeking recompense.
  
How does the membership work?  We don't really know yet as we are still
trying to establish a charter for the organization.  The preliminary 
plan is to have ISA on two levels.  Regional groups which meet and help
the users in a variety of ways similar to the user groups that exist 
now (in fact we expect many of the existing groups to just switch to 
become a regional group).  The International Level which will organize 
the regional groups and divy up the tasks to large for any one group to
handle.  This will provide a tie-in for all of the regional groups, 
giving the regional groups a much larger base of information.
   
Do I have to be present at an ISA meeting to cast a vote?  Absolutely
not!  Before each meeting an agenda of that meeting will be published.
Users can vote on any item in that agenda, or make statements by 
mailing them to the secretary before the meeting.  Similarly you can 
propose new business for the next meeting.
 
I have been very impressed by the quantity of people who have requested
to become members of ISA from this source alone.  But I have a question
about the quality of these people.  ISA is there to support it's 
members, but it also depends on the support of it's members.  In a 
previous message I said that ISA membership is currently free.  This 
isn't really true.  ISA members are expected to give back to the 
organization.  Without this kind of support, ISA will go the way of the
previous attempts at organizing the Smalltalk User groups.  So will
ISA survive?  The odds are very much against it.  But if you get
involved by volunteering for committees and writing articles for the 
newsletter then it will not only survive, but flourish.
 
                           -- Making Smalltalk in Denver
                              Paul Regenhardt
--- QuickBBS 2.75 Ovr (Gamma-1)
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