2010 Summary of Activities
Again in 2010, a
printed directory
of the Santa Clara Valley Section end-of-year membership was
produced
from
the Section roster file downloaded from the ACS website in
mid-January,
2010.
A Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 4 printer with a
"Pro
Collection" font
cartridge was used. Programming was done in PowerBasic 3.20
(available
from PowerBASIC, Inc., http://www.powerbasic.com) to read
information
from the roster file, make
necessary
file format conversions, select home or work address and phone
number, format the results column by column and page
by
page, and send them to the printer. Program listings are
available from
the Section Secretary on request.
There were exactly
3171 records in the 2010 database, 120 fewer than in 2009.
The directory ran to 38 pages for the
version
supplied to most Executive Committee members (1 page less than
last
year); the Chair and Secretary
received more detailed ones which ran to 53 pages (3 less than
last
year). The directory was distributed to the 17 members of
the Executive Committee
(officers, councilors, and alternate
councilors), to about 5 committee
chairs and other non-voting members of the Executive
Committee,
and to no one else.
When
this
project was started in the late 1980's, roster files in
electronic
form were issued once per year, on 5-1/4", 360-KB floppy
disks. An
annual printed directory was the only practical way to
provide the
roster information to the members of the Executive
Committee. Today,
Section rosters are updated monthly, and can be downloaded
from the ACS
national website. The Executive Committee recently
indicated that
making the roster information available to them via a
password-protected area on the Section website would be
preferable to
using nearly two reams of paper needed to print 25 copies
of the
directory. And so, after more than two decades, the
directory project
comes to an end.
Karl Marhenke
Secretary