Re: What Kelvin's talkin' 'bout?

Hey Kelvin,

I saw your post that followed last night's posting of the minutes, and you brought up some points on how you thought SOCIS could improve. Reading those, I thought you had some good insight on what could be done. The condemning statements of "Wishful thinking" were a bit inappropriate, but otherwise, I really liked the comments I saw. So now I want to take some time and see if SOCIS can build on them a bit.

First off, your suggestion to post the meeting minutes over the listserv: I think that's a fantastic idea! Since I work full-time, I don't always get around to this website on a regular basis, and having the minutes sent to me would make me happy. Execs: if you're worried about spamming people over the listserv, there's no reason why you couldn't create a second one specifically for the minutes.

But the one I really wanted to expand on is your second point. Time and time again, I've seen SOCIS attempt to reach out to upper-year students, but often to no avail. Oftentimes, I get the impression that it's not that these students don't know what's going on, but they're just not interested. The core members of SOCIS all seem to have similar interests that may not be shared by the greater number of CIS students. The same events and activities are run again and again, that many people don't care for. But it's not their faults - they know what they like, and no one else is telling them what they want.

I was at the meeting last night, where people were discussing what supplies and events that SOCIS wants to spend it's time on, and I just heard the same 3 things over and over again. But that's because that's what they want. Unfortunately, it seems to me that we've gotten so used to our regular routine, people don't really want anything. I imagine SOCIS is going to have a small budget request from CPESSC this semester.

I know that my interests are different from the majority of those who attend SOCIS meetings, and I mentioned a few of them at the meeting last night. Most of them were met quite favourably. So I don't really think that people's minds are closed - They just need to know what people want.

So, Kelvin, I have a task for you: Go around to other students you know in CIS, and ask them what they want SOCIS to do FOR THEM! Let them know that a portion of their student fees pay into SOCIS, and that every request will be considered. I will do my part too in order to solicit feedback.

Now's as good a time as any to make changes in SOCIS, and create an organization that tailors to everyone!

Cheers all,

Josh