                      LOCAL ACTIVITIES IN JANUARY

On January 25th, EFF-Austin sponsored a general membership meeting,
billed as the 1994 Strategy Session, which attracted a total of about 40
participants.  This is somewhat disappointing, in that we are *still*
struggling with effective publicity campaings to keep members informed
of EFF-Austin activities.

On the other hand, it meant more Shiner Bock beer for the rest of us.

We did poll those present on what issues were important, but it was
generally hard to substantially differentiate answers. Some people would
raise their hands on some issues, while other people would raise their
hands on a different issue, but all in all, roughly the same number of
hands were in the air at any given time.

What this shows is that the ballot (printed in the January issue of
Word) pretty much reflects the ballpark area where EFF-Austin needs to be
involved.  "Commercializing the Internet" was the most popular subject
raised, while "Universal Access" was the least interesting. Given that
Austin now has at least five Internet access providers competing for
this market, this is not very surprising.

If there was a general message to be learned, it is that EFF-Austin
members are hands-on and participatory, more interested in the practical
aspects of the net than the theoretical.

On January 27th, EFF-Austin co-sponsored a book signing with the UT
Co-op and the Internet User's Group -- Austin.  John Quarterman and
Smoot Carl-Mitchell signed copies of their latest book, The Internet
Connection, and distributed free copies of their newsletter, Matrix
News.

A presentation on "The Internet, the Matrix, and the Information
Superhighway" was held later that evening.  This was similar in
structure and information delivered to the Internet demo sponsored in
December.  About 80 people attended.


                               LINE NOISE

EXPANDED USE OF VOICE MAIL BOX

EFF-Austin is expanding the use of the voice mail box system to be more
of an "information" line about sponsored events and programs. So if
you're not sure about when and where the next EFF-Austin function is,
you can call 465-7871 to find out.

AUSTIN WWW USER'S GROUP FORMED

A new non-profit organization to support users of the World Wide Web has
been formed, to stimulate interest in the use of this Internet tool. WWW
is a system of hypertext documents, graphics, videos, and sounds
distributed through the Internet, and combines access with other
Internet tools such as anonymous ftp, gopher, and WAIS.  The co-founders
of AWWWUG are Mark Gaither, acting director, (markg@issi.com), and Brian
Combs, publicity, (combs@quadralay.com).


CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS

March 23 - 26           Computers Freedom and Privacy 1994

March 26 - 27           Robofest V. Austin Coliseum.  Volunteers are
                        already needed to start preparation and
                        organization.

April 16                Howard Rheingold (author of Virtual Communities)
                        Tom Jennings (creator of FIDOnet) will
                        co-sponsor a workshop or presentation involving
                        cyberspace communities.

April 30                Book-signing : Doug Rushkoff, author of Cyberia.
                        Held at Europa books, time as yet unknown.

June                    Ed Cavazos book signing tentatively scheduled.

July 24 - 26            Leri@Con.  Convention hosted by members and
                        participants of the Leri-L mailing list.
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