FYI

[BSDI.COM">kolstad]

by Neil Todd
<neilpio.gid.co.uk>

Preliminary Announcement and Call for Papers

UKUUG LISA 93 - "Coping with change"

London, 30th June 1993




Preliminary Announcement
========================

The UKUUG announces that the theme of this year's System Administration
and Management conference will be "Coping with Change", with an
informal subtitle of "Strategies for hitting a moving target".


With the increasing complexity of the working environment and the rate
of change of that environment, in terms of both the variety of hardware
platforms and associated operating systems, as well as the increasing
number of third party software products available for those platforms
the task of the System Manager has become increasingly difficult.


How does one encapsulate the differences in System Administration
procedures? How does one evolve strategies for supporting complex third
party tools and their varying licensing methods?  How does one set
about evaluating new software and hardware?


The requirements of quality certification procedures mean that much
better system operation documentation is required, and must be
produced. How can this documentation be generated, and then be kept up
to date with the minimum of manual intervention?


SAGE/UK
=======


It is not only the working environment that is changing, the very role
of the System Administrator is changing. System Administrators are now
being recognised as being more than just skilled operators. They need
to be involved in the planning process when new systems and networks
are being ordered. However, at the same time organisations often make
inexperienced people take on the job of System Administrator without
adequate training or support.



In order to help raise the standard of System Administration and to
advance it as a profession, this conference will see the creation of
SAGE/UK - a UKUUG Special Technical Group for System Administrators.
Successful SAGE groups are already running in the USA and Australia and
the UK group will keep in close contact with their activities. The
group will provide a focal point for System Administration activities
and will organise workshops and tutorials as well as developing
guidelines for the proper management of systems.



Call for Papers
===============


Papers are requested on topics relating to the broad themes outlined
above. Submissions on other System Management themes are also
welcomed.


All accepted authors will be expected to submit a paper in electronic
form conforming to the conference guidelines, copies of the guidelines
are available from the UKUUG Secretariat.


You do not have to be a member of UKUUG to submit a paper. Submissions
from speakers from outside of the UK are welcomed.


Significant dates
=================


Closing date for abstracts: 2nd April 1993
Accepted authors notified: 7th April 1993
Final papers due: 15th MAY 1993


Method of submission
====================


Potential authors may request further information by sending electronic
mail to "ukuug-lisa-93bnr.co.uk", or may contact a member of the
programme committee directly.


Initial abstracts should be sent either electronically to
"ukuug-lisa-93bnr.co.uk", or in hard copy format to the UKUUG
Secretariat. Electronic submission is preferred. All submissions will
be acknowledged.


Programme Committee
===================


Neil Todd [Chair]		Lindsay Marshall
GID Ltd.			Dept. of Computing Science
1 Captain's Gorse		University of Newcastle
Upper Basildon			Newcastle upon Tyne
Reading				NE1 7RU

Berks RG8 8SZ

0491 671 964			091 222 8267
neilpio.gid.co.uk		lindsay.marshallnewcastle.ac.uk


Andrew Macpherson		Bill Barrett [UKUUG Secretariat]
BNR (Europe) Ltd.		UKUUG
London Road			Owles Hall
Harlow				Buntingford
Essex				Herts
CM17 9NA			SG9 9PL

0279 402423			0763 273475 
				0763 273255 (fax)
a.macphersonbnr.co.uk		billukuug.uucp


About the UKUUG
===============


The UK UNIX User Group (UKUUG) is a not-for-profit organisation which
exists to provide a body representing the users of UNIX and open
systems in the United Kingdom. It is unique in catering for the needs
of users and being totally independent from specific hardware and
software vendors.



Our membership is drawn from the information technology, commercial and
research/academic sectors in equal proportions. Our members are found
working in software engineering, in computer manufacturing, as
end-users, in software houses, and in universities and research
centres. They all share the fact that they are UNIX users, whether they
develop kernel modifications, develop applications, are involved in
teaching and research, use their system in a turnkey environment, or
any other sphere of interest. In order to maintain its independence
from software and hardware vendors, the UKUUG is funded entirely from
membership subscriptions. All the major suppliers of UNIX,UNIX-related,
and open systems are members.



Members of the UKUUG are active in UK, European, and American standards
bodies such as the British Standards Institution (BSI), the
International Standards Organisation (ISO), and the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). They provide significant
input to committees involved in creating standards, such as ANSI,POSIX,
SVID, and X/Open.



The UKUUG is affiliated with EurOpen, the European Forum for Open
Systems, the umbrella organisation covering similar national groups to
the UKUUG existing in over twenty pan-European countries. Through this
affiliation, UKUUG members also benefit from services provided by
EurOpen and other national groups.