235 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
235 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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THE WAYS OF CACHE
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Charles F. Douds
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Why was it that at CACHE's elections for 1983 officers that the
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voting and the announcement of the results were handled in what
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seemed to be a very casual manner? To understand one has to look
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back at some of the organization's history.
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CACHE actually pre-dates the personal computer "revolution."
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That revolution can be quite precisely dated - the Altair 8800 in
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the cover story of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics.
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The first meetings of the group that later became CACHE were
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organized by Bob Swartz and held at Northwestern University
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beginning in 1974.
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Bill Precht took up the ball and really got things going along
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about the time he got his Altair kit. I suspect he had an
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ulterior motive. Not knowing which end of a solding iron to pick
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up, he was looking for people to help him get that 8800 going.
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Actually, everybody needed help. Things were pretty primitive
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then. Boards were poorly designed and needed lots of "fixes,"
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documentation varied from abysmal to non-existant, tape recorders
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were tricky (there were no floppy disk systems), EPROMs could
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hold only 256 bytes, software was primitive and loaded with bugs,
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and so on. Only by banding together could one survive.
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Survival was the name of the game. Only rich bachelors didn't
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have to concern themselves with the hundreds of dollars one put
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into that hunk of silicon and iron. Most of us heard about it
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from our wives - or parents for there were a good number of teen-
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agers involved, too. "Isn't that thing working yet?"
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And when you did get it working - first the CPU in the box with
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1K of memory, then the 4K memory board, then to actually run a
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program!!! - those were all events to be proud of. They were
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things to show off to your friends! But it was only your friends
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at CACHE that could understand, for your neighbors certainly did
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not.
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One of the greatest sources around for software that really
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worked was a fellow we all looked forward to seeing every month.
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His name was Ward Christensen. He was then, as he is today, a
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prolific producer of software that really worked and did useful
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things. Not only did Ward write wonderful software and solve
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lots of hardware problems, he was always willing to help you out.
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He could never say no.
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After there had been a few meetings at somewhat irregular
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intervals it became apparent to all that survival through sharing
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was the only way to go. We decided that we ought to get
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organized. Bill became the first president. (Bob Swartz was
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extremely involved in a micro-related commercial venture, as he
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still is.) Ward became the secretary. Maybe there was a vice
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president, maybe there wasn't. It was even more informal then.
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Meeting topics were not too hard to come up with in those days.
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Everyone was using the S-100 bus and someone could always talk
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about the latest product they had tried. Survival through
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sharing was the name of the show. Though oftentimes Bill would
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find an invited speaker for us. Ward would send out the
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postcards. Geoff Lowe was collecting the dues. We did need a
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bit of money for those postcards so he volunteered to be treasur-
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er. Then Geoff started putting together a newsletter. Ward
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eventually became a major contributor to it and we all liked his
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stuff. You could always tell where Ward was at a meeting - just
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look for the crowd.
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It was the newsletter that stimulated Ward to write the CBBS
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program. If I recall correctly, it was one week from the time he
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got the idea until Randy Suess had the hardware together, Ward
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had the softare written, and CBBS was up and working! That was
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February 17, 1978, just five years ago. The first computer
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bulletin board system in the nation. Randy and Ward still keep
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it going. Two sharp guys both of whom did a lot for CACHE.
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We were getting pretty good crowds. In 1976 the membership was
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around 200 people. With that many coming around someone decided
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maybe it would be a good idea to incorporate. One of our members
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was a lawyer and he took care of submitting the paperwork. Of
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course the State insisted that all of the officers and board of
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directors sign the charter application. Hmmm. That posed a bit
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of a problem. We weren't really organized.
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There were lots of people regularily coming to the meetings. To
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survive, they had to. Things _were_ happening. There were four or
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five, or ten or twelve - it's not too clear now and it wasn't too
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clear then - people who were making things happen. Somehow or
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other it came to pass that there was a president, vice-president,
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secretary, treasurer and a few board members.
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Floppy disks were coming on the scene but they could be made to
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work only painfully. Suddenly all the operating system problems
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were solved - CP/M had appeared. It worked and it worked well.
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Not only that, it came with an assembler (ASM), a debugger (DDT),
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and an editor (EDIT). Who had time to write a constitution and
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by-laws?
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Actually the decision was not made in such a cavalier manner. It
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was very deliberately made. The organization was open to all.
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It was very clearly understood that anyone could come to any
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meeting. We expected that if you kept coming back you would pay
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dues, but it was also clearly understood that there would be no
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pressure to join. Survival through informal sharing was the
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norm.
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We were not having meetings for the sake of having meetings. Not
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all of our meetings were exciting, but you were never bored by
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tedious business sessions. Anyone could walk out at any time, a
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tradition we continue today. CACHE always has been, and
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continues to be, informal. Informal in the spirit of sharing and
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helping each other out. Based on the experience of some of the
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ones who were making things happen in other organizations, the
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whole idea of a constitution and by-laws seemed to suggest rules,
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regulations and whole aura of formality that ran directly counter
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to want CACHE was and what it was accomplishing. "If it's
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working, don't fix it." And it was working.
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One of the things that was working well was the development of
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the special interest groups - the SIGS. They really came into
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prominence with the appearance of the Apple and the Radio Shack
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TRS-80. For the first time, we began to have major chunks of the
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membership with distinctly different interests, needs, and back-
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grounds. With the growth in the organization, the SIGs provided
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a way for people to get to know each other better through their
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common interest.
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Having become "organized," we started having annual elections.
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I've always felt that the activity year begins in September and
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that is when it is logical to have new officers take over, but
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nobody else agreed with me. We had the newly elected officers
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take over with the new calendar year, so December became the time
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to have elections. November was the month of arm-twisting.
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There were always some people you could count on to be a
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director, but never enough. The really tough slots to fill were
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treasurer and president. They were so important that the present
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officers and concerned board members tried to get a nominee for
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each lined up well in advance. It always took a lot of
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persuasion.
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Filling the last one or two board nomination slots seemed to be
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as hard as finding a new treasurer. Oftentimes the chairman of
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the larger SIGs - TRS-80 and Apple, in particular - were asked to
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serve. Oftentimes chairmen of small SIGs were asked. Sometimes
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they accepted; sometimes they did not. As I said, November was
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the month of arm-twisting. If they became a board member, they
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were like any other new board member - sometimes they attended
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regularily, sometimes not; if they came, sometimes they contri-
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buted, sometimes not. But this is the way it goes in _any_ organi-
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zation. CACHE is not unique.
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There never was a formal nominating committee. It just seemed to
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happen. Of course, this is not true. There were some concerned
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people, mostly board members, who took the responsibility. Some-
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times it was they who reminded the president that elections were
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coming up; sometimes it was the president who got the ball
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rolling. The first few years it wasn't hard to figure out the
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good prospects. Everybody knew most everyone else. As the club
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grew this became more of a problem, but the SIGs helped overcome
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the problem to some extent. They provided people who could
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suggest someone.
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Of course, the larger the organization gets, the more difficult
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it is for people to know many others, and so the well-intentioned
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informal nominating committee - as they see themselves - becomes
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the closed group maintaining their own cabal in the eyes of some
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others. Again, this happens in many organizations (whether or
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not they have a constitution). CACHE is not unique.
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Serving on the board has not been particularily onerous. Until
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quite recently the board has usually wound up meeting only two or
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three times a year. The last three years, as we began to feel a
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need to encourage more mutuality of purpose among the SIG leaders
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and among the board, there has been one meeting a year to which
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all the SIG leaders were explicitly invited. This has been for a
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Sunday afternoon meal in a restaurant private room. (CACHE does
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not pay for the drinks.) I have personally been disappointed
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that only a few of the SIG leaders could find the time to attend.
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There have been occasions when a SIG asked the board for money
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for a special project. Sometimes it has been for a small grant
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to get something started, more often for a loan - usually to buy
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floppy disks. Nearly every one of these requests has been
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granted - perhaps all of them. After the first one or two, the
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board decided that the requests should be made in writing.
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Right from the beginning, we never had a meeting in July. Espec-
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ially in the beginning, there was often a fair amount of swaping
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and selling back and forth among members at the meetings. August
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became our month for our own little formalized swapfest and
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picnic. About the only remnant of the picinic idea today is
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CACHE buying a few cases of soda for the event. Then we used to
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have a Christmas party. The idea was to have games on the
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machines (remember, there was a time with no video arcades or
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home video machines), bring along the kids, have cake and punch,
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and take a few minutes out for the always un-contested election.
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Although in many organizations the vice-president is also the
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program chairman, in CACHE the president has taken, or been left
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with, this responsibility. Being responsible to see that there
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are nine interesting main meetings a year is a formidable task.
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About three years ago the vice-president tried to relieve some of
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this burden by working with the SIGs. The idea was to have each
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SIG responsibile for one meeting. The meeting didn't have to be
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put on by the SIG. They just were to _sponsor_ a panel discussion,
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speaker, demonstration, or whatever. The idea didn't catch on.
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One or two SIGs did present a program. There were a couple of
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other programs presented in the name of a SIG although nearly all
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the work was done by a director not part of the SIG.
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In general, the SIGs operate quite independently under the
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umbrella of CACHE. Perhaps this is the way it should be. CACHE
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has encouraged new SIGs, provided a forum, provided newsletter
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space, and let them grow or fade away. Individually, they sur-
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vive as long as there is active sharing. CACHE leadership does
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not intercede in SIG affairs. CACHE provides the umbrella under
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which our various interests can be encourged and cross-
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fertilized.
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This is one person's view of how we have come to behave the way
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we do. We seem to agree it is time for a change. It is a shame
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that bigness has to bring more formality in some respects. But
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whatever we are to become, it will grow from what we have been -
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for that is what made us what we are. We can all try to keep
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what has been best while improving on the rest. Our unstated
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motto has always seemed to be, "There are no dumb questions at
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CACHE," as we sought to survive and grow through sharing.
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[Ed. note: The above article is intended to provide some
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insight into the casualness of CACHE. But it also can serve as
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the nucleus for an informal history of CACHE. Please feel free
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to contribute your recollections, corrections, whatever, for
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inclusion in future drafts.]
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