South Coast Telecommunications Alliance
Minutes of Fifth Meeting
August, 3 1994

The meeting was started at 6:49 by Anne Cameron.  She began by reading the
Mission Statement.

The room was hot!  32 people were present.  About five more trickled in
later.

We described how to get on mailing lists and newsgroups that are concerns
of SCTA.  There are several newsgroups about tri-counties issues; all
begin with "tri."  There are several SCTA newsgroups.  These all begin
with "tri.scta"  There are also a few email lists, which can be subscribed
to and which will result in the subscriber receiving email on the subject
for which the newsgroup is named.  Currently, the following email lists
associated with SCTA exist:  scta-list, sctalk-list, scta-org-list,
scta-grant-list, and scta-ed-list.  To subscribe or to find out more, send
email to majordomo@silcom.com.  For help with majordomo, sent the word
"help" in the body of the message.  To subscribe to a list or lists,
include "subscribe listname" without the quotes in the body of the
message.

Tonight's agenda:       Committee reports
                        Announcements
                        Define the discussion groups for tonight.
                        Introductions of new people
                        Break
                        Have discussion groups

There was a short report from the Education Committee regarding the idea
of having a column in the News Press, but Bruce Schuman wasn't here to
report on the progress.

Dale reported from the Events Committee regarding a potential event,
cosponsored with RAIN, which is in formulation.  The timeframe is around
October 6 or 7, during the RAIN Virtual Reality Conference which is
scheduled to take place from Oct. 4 through 8.  The idea is to jointly
present the event with RAIN.  Dave Hofstatter reported that there is an
event being arranged at UCSB in February on some of the same topics, such
as how telecommunications can benefit the community.  There is a Science &
Engineering Council meeting tomorrow at noon at the UCSB Institute for
Theoretical Physics.

Sharon reported that not much was going on in the outreach group.  Several
suggestions were made that we organize special interest groups.  It was
suggested that we post reminders about the meeting on the general list.
Someone from SCTA needs to take responsibility for that part of it.  So
everyone should subscribe to their lists of interest and to the general
list as well.  Caddyshack BBS will be getting a feed of the "tri."
newsgroups and passing them along to the other BBSs locally.

There was a show of hands of people who were not currently using email,
and a half dozen people indicated they didn't.

Mike Marzolla indicated that he's here to see if he can find out how to
use this telecommunications stuff to accomplish things, not just chit
chat.  Sterne said he (Mike) needs to learn how to filter the chit chat.
There was a UC conference last week where the subject of how to get the
information you want from the Net was discussed in four different
sessions, so that is a big topic currently.  Back to the SCTA meeting, a
discussion was held about the topic of finding a way to use the medium
more effectively.  We generally agreed that that is one of the purposes of
SCTA: learning how to use this telecommunications stuff and spreading the
word about it.

The point was made that we should first solve the real problems that come
up in the meetings.  That can be done without organization.  Then we
should develop specific goals, and once we have goals we'll know how to
organize around those goals.

There was discussion about what SCTA is all about.  Are we an umbrella
group?  A mediation group?  It was pointed out that we are here to promote
and educate about the use of telecommunications technology.  We want to
provide a forum for groups and individuals to find out about each other so
that duplicate efforts aren't made in the community.  The point was made
that SCTA is a good breeding ground for small companies to form.  A good
place to network, so to speak.  There was more discussion about what we're
here for.  Is it a social group?  Or do we need to decide on a specific
purpose?  Or is it just fine the way it is?

Mike Marzolla asked for help setting up a network for a bunch of youth
groups.  How do we put something together that helps these groups network?

It was suggested that we put a place together on the net somewhere so that
our documents would be available.  Frank Dziuba will set up an archive
server for SCTA, where you can fetch documents on-line via email.  A FAQ
is a handy thing to have for new members and to post periodically on
email.  Nancy Oster was volunteered for this job.

A request was made for a business needs and wants group somewhere.

Sharon discussed "redlining" and pointed out that there was a paper on the
table outside the room that people can get on the subject.  The book
Elements of Email Style was pointed out as a handy little tome.

If anyone is a BBS sysop and would be interested in a free newsgroup feed,
talk at the break.  Contact John Wiley  for more
information.

Sharon Clausen of the grant committee spoke about the Nickelodeon project.
It's a one day event at five sites around the country, SB being one of
them, which will be televised nationwide using kids as a conflict
resolution project.  Big Help Day.  Fostering kids helping each other.  A
longer term grant committee project is: SB telecommunications potential.
Trying to arrange with UCSB to focus attention on the fact that UCSB was
one of the original sites on ARPANET, and all of the local companies that
sprang up out of that effort.  If anyone wants to help, let Sharon
 know.

There were brief introductions around the room.  Then there was a break.
The meeting never really resumed; it was too hot in the room.  The next
meeting was set for Wednesday, August 17, at 7PM, at Antioch University.