User Group (user group, user group) is an informal association ( club ) of specialists connected by common technological interests, usually (but not always) computer , a meeting place for technical experts, organizationally and technologically active people.
Such communities, as a rule, are absolutely open, anyone can become a member by registering on the site or attending a meeting.
Content
History
User groups appeared in the early days of mainframes as a way to share knowledge (sometimes with great difficulty) and useful software, usually written by end users, regardless of software vendors. The first was SHARE share.org ), a group of IBM mainframe enterprise users in the aerospace industry.
DECUS DECUS , a DEC user community, founded in 1961, during its heyday was closely linked to the nascent hacker culture [1] [2] . (Currently, it has become part of the Hewlett-Packard user group).
The number of user groups began to multiply during the microcomputer revolution in the late 1970s and early 1980s [1] . Lovers came together to help each other with programming , setting up and using hardware and software . Until the World Wide Web appeared, getting technical assistance related to computers was often burdensome, and computer clubs willingly provided free technical support .
Activities
A user group can organize for its members (and sometimes the general public):
- periodic meetings
- annual (or rarer) user conferences
- lectures
- news bulletin
- information library
- software archive
- “Public places” on the network, such as BBS or Internet sites
- " Flea markets "
- tech support
- various social events
User groups can be organized around a particular brand of equipment ( IBM , Macintosh ), certain programs and operating systems ( Linux , Microsoft Windows , Clipper ) or a number of interconnected technologies ( Google technologies). Less commonly, they may be dedicated to legacy systems or historical computers such as the ZX Spectrum , Apple II , PDP-11 .
In Russia, the most active and organized groups of Linux users ( English Linux User Group, LUG ). Recently, Google Technology User Group (GTUG ) is gaining popularity. You can also find Russian-speaking user groups of such systems and technologies as TeX ( Eng. Tex User Group, TUG ), Java ( Eng. Java User Group, JUG ), .NET , Autodesk software products, Adobe Flash , GAP computer algebra systems and etc.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Stephen Levy. HACKERS, Heroes of the computer revolution = Hackers, Heroes of the computer revolution. - “A Penguin Book Technology” , 2002. - S. 337. - ISBN 0-14-100051-1 .
- ↑ Leonid Chernyak. Cultural and technological phenomena of Open Source
Literature
- Michelle Malcher. User Group Leadership . - Apress, 2015-12-29. - 91 p. - ISBN 978-1-4842-1116-8 .