SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (SIGS)
GENERAL SIG INFORMATION:
The Special Interest Group (SIG) is on the leading edge of action for the Front Range PC Users Group. The idea of the SIG is to bring people of similar interests together to see what happens. It's as simple as that. This page is to chronicle the activities and experiences FRPCUG members that are involved in the SIG's.
SIG SCHEDULES:
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Desktop Publishing: Third Wednesday of the month at the Fort Collins Senior Center from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
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Digital Imaging: Second Tuesday of the month at the Fort Collins Senior Center from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
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Saturday Morning Shop Talk: Every Saturday (except major holidays) at the Fort Collins Senior Center from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
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Technology: Third Thursday of the month at Blue Bird Manufacturing, 1421 Webster Ave. Fort Collins, CO, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
- Web Development: Currently, web development discussions usually take place at the Saturday Morning Shop Talk sessions, and via email. To participate, visit one of the Saturday sessions, and/or contact members Jim Bragonier (james.bragonier(at)comcast.net) or Chuck McJilton(cdmcjs(at)gmail.com).
In addition to monitoring this page for SIG schedule and topic information, schedules for all FRPCUG events can be viewed in the FRPCUG Google calendar. There are two links to this calendar on the FRPCUG homepage (and on this page). One is the dodecahedron calendar image at the upper right corner of the page. The second is the Graphical Events Calendar link in the right side panel of the page. Schedule information is also available in the HTML Newsletter, and in the PDF Newsletter.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING (DTP) SIG
The Desk Top Publishing SIG has developed out of the Advanced Word Classes by Mike Morris and his presentation on the subject at a FRPCUG General Forum meeting. This SIG was created to compare different software applications, to help with choosing the right application for the task, and to learn about the features of different applications.
- The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 18th. If you have a question, problem or topic of interest, bring it to the meeting. Even better, send it via email to SIG leader Mike Morris in advance (twriterext(at)gmail.com). That allows for some preparation time and perhaps a more complete answer.
DIGITAL IMAGING SIG
The Digital Imaging SIG has grown out of the Digital Imaging Clinic lead by Rick Mattingly, and the increasing use of digital cameras by members. Topics can include cameras, scanning, or software. The hot topic currently is software for organizing and, especially, modifying images once out of the camera and into the computer.
- The next meeting will be on Tuesday, June 10th.
The topic: GIMP vs. Photoshop: A Comparison of Selected Tools and Adjustments.
GIMP is open source (free) and the Photoshop price is $650 (single license, full version, full retail). Just how comparable are they? Find out from this presentation by member Jim Bragonier.
SATURDAY MORNING SHOP TALK
The Shop Talk sessions are a means for FRPCUG members to share questions and successes with each other, and to provide assistance to the community at large. These sessions are located in the Senior Center lobby on Saturday mornings in order to make that help readily available to the public. Anyone wanting to participate in these learning events is welcome.
TECHNOLOGY SIG
The Technology SIG is one of the longer running SIGs in the club and is run by Charles McJilton. The meeting content varies greatly depending on the issues and problems brought by the members for resolution. The group is a consolidation of one-time active, previous groups including the HTML and Website Development, Networking, and Linux Interest groups.
Significant topics include internet connections, networking in offices (of members), computer security and the installation of computer security software. Activities include tasks such as improving networks, adding wireless connectibility, exploring voice over internet protocols (VOIP), and researching new Linux applications. The group is not limited to the various versions of the Linux operating system, however. Discussions of the Unix and Windows operating systems are within the charter of this group.
In the past, Technology SIG help included locating good component matches to order and build an optimized computer. That included contributing to the evaluation of various combinations of CPUs, motherboards, memory and video cards.
WEB DEVELOPMENT SIG
The FRPCUG web development activity has involved cascading style sheets (css), html and xhtml coding, and Java script calls to date sensitive images. All of which result in a very interesting learning experience.
The FRPCUG website is the result of many years effort by a growing number of people. It is "morphing" from a strictly HTML format to a Cascading Style Sheet format. We hope to include more photos, and update the graphics, build on content of the past and encourage the membership to take a more active part in it's maintenance. Current work on the web is guided by the Web Development Worksheet on the frpcug.pbwiki.com. Please check it out and leave your comments if you're inclined.
Currently, FRPCUG web development is achieved on an informal basis. However,all participants are open to the expansion of this task into a SIG that will extend the topic to include web site develoment in general. That goal is consistent with the educational purposes of FRPCUG.
Investigate this further at the "Shop Talk" sessions Saturday mornings at the Senior Center lobby, or, at the monthly meetings.
