STC SIGs: Scam or resource?

[Geoff hart <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Darren Barefoot wondered <<I was just renewing my STC membership and once
again was confounded by their offer of joining Special Interest Groups
(SIGs). I actually belonged to several last year, and the only advantage I
found was being able to be on the Management email listserv, which is not
particularly active.>>

Look at it this way: if you join a SIG, you typically get 4 newsletters per
year, which amounts to $1.25 each. Subtract postage, and you've basically
covered photocopying and envelope costs plus a little bit for
administration. Nobody gets paid for any of this, don't forget. There are
some SIGs I've dropped over the years, because they didn't give me much
useful information, and others that I've hung onto since the start, because
I get lots of useful information and have made a few good contacts. I'm
currently moving into the position of running the Science SIG, which has
been very slow getting going, and I'm hoping to turn it into something
increasingly useful... but that's going to be a lot of work, all unpaid, and
if I'm the only one who does the work, that simply won't happen. So "Ask not
what your SIG can do for you; ask what you can do for your SIG!" <g> And if
it's not working for you, don't come back to the SIG; they're an option, not
a requirement.

--Geoff Hart, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca 
"The paperless office will arrive when the paperless toilet
arrives."--Matthew Stevens