After a series of updates on the website, the group has turned rather quiet last week and this week, probably because of Chinese New Year people take break and so do I.
I attended the FOSS February meeting last week, met two Java guys (from Jayway) Niclas Hedhman and Edward Yakop there. Edward asked me a question which inspired me to create this blog entry – "How is the Java User Group doing?". Shortly after that, Wai Keong and Kean Meng asked the same question in IM.
So, how is Malaysian Java User Group doing and where it is heading to? Let me give some background information of what had happened in the past 6 (or more) months. MyJUG is definitely one of the successful user groups in Malaysia, it has a large user base of 600+ members. It however lacked activities in the recent years. We did not and do not enjoy this, we had a meeting in the August of 2007 to launch a revival mission. We put things into action, by generating more discussions in the mailing list and by bringing up this website. Throughout these months, a number of people had talked to me, I really appreciate that.
Have we done enough? Not yet. The website is still in a beta mode, it still has some missing pages for you to fill in. Yes, you. Not just the website, there are more things that you can do for the group, really. I am a believer of "community for the people, by the people". The group will never work without a group of good leaders, active members and industry support. So here are a few suggestions:
- Spread the words – Tell your mates and colleagues about the Java User Group. Blog about it! Our URL is http://www.my-jug.org/.
- Be the committee – If you believe you are a passionate person or you want to do more things than being just a regular member, drop us an email.
- Be the sponsor – If you would like to sponsor us, in any forms such as goodies, books, venues, etc., please read the Sponsorship page.
- Keep an eye on us – Subscribe to the RSS feeds to be notified of the group and site activities.
These are just a few of the very first steps. There are a series of things that we would wish to achieve within this year. Here is a draft of the roadmap, some small steps:
Q1:
- Draft out a list of possible technical topics
- Roll out schedule of 2008
- Host the first informal meet up
Q2:
- Get rid of beta state of website
- Host first official/formal technical meet up
Q3, Q4:
- Look into affiliation with other JUGs, JavaPolis, OSS societies, etc.
- Pass incubation! Yes, we need to do something here.
Don't think these are good enough? Tell us what do you think and what do you want! Now, start discussing in our mailing list!
I thank whoever have been so supportive in making things happen, Wai Keong for all the great help for the smooth domain name and email transition, CustomWare for the theme design (thanks Kumar) and Confluence hosting.
