NBCUG – A Great Local Computer Resource
by Wayne Maruna
When dealing with something as technically mystifying as computers, software, and networking, it’s good to have a personal expert you can turn to for help. Not all of us can be that lucky. Fortunately, there is a group of computer users in our area who are ready and willing to help when called upon.
Back in 1994, before the Internet became available in the New Bern area, there were only sites called bulletin boards. In a general sense, these were kind of akin to today’s interactive ‘blogs’ (short for Web Logs). The bulletin board was maintained on someone’s PC, and using a pathetically slow dial-up modem, one could post their computer-related questions or comments for all other members to see, and other people could respond in kind. A few users of a local bulletin board decided to meet for breakfast, get to know each other, and trade computer war stories. This was the genesis of what later became known as the New Bern Computer Users’ Group, or NBCUG for short. The group has continued to meet, mostly monthly, for the past 14 years, first at the now-defunct Berne Restaurant, then at Craven Community College and a few other locales. Currently the group meets at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 1125 Pine Tree Lane in New Bern. There is a social hour with free coffee from 8 AM to 9 AM. Meetings start promptly at 9 AM, and are always done by 10:30 AM.
Many of those founding members are still active in the group today. From an initial membership of a half dozen or so, the rolls have climbed to well over 300. Attendance at monthly meetings, however, has fallen off from a prior average of 60 to 70, down to where the group has had trouble maintaining an average of the 50 attendees necessary to pay the hall rental based on the $3 admission fee. As of January of this year, the active members, having had difficulty getting new people to step up and volunteer to find or lead programs, decided to try cutting meetings back to quarterly. So currently, meetings are held on the third Saturday of the first month of each quarter. The next meeting will be July 19th, 2008.
Attending a meeting is the sole requirement for being considered a member of the group. Once you become a member, you are placed on the NBCUG email distribution list, which functions just like our local Taberna email distribution group, ‘TabMail’. (If you are unfamiliar with TabMail and would like more information, please send an email to the author at wamaruna@suddenlink.net.) While the meetings provide a forum for networking, socializing, and focused training and discussion, the real value of membership is the email group access. There are perhaps a dozen or so folks who are either dedicated hobbyists or I.T. professionals who are willing to answer questions and offer advice about computer problems. While these folks may charge for home visits or carry-in repairs, their online advice is always freely given. When you have problems, questions, or just need guidance, this is a great place to start.
The fact that NBCUG continues to function after 14 years is pretty surprising, since this is about as informal a group as one might see. It can’t really be called an organization, because there is no formal organization. There are no elected officers, no charter, no dues, and volunteers outside of a dedicated core few are harder to come by than hens’ teeth.
From a demographics standpoint, not much has changed since Dave Wallace, one of the founding members and part of that dedicated core, last surveyed the membership in late 2003. At that time over 90% of members were beyond the age of 55. While male members dominate, the group is far from exclusively male, with several regular lady email posters and meeting attendees. Initiatives to try and bring in a younger cross-section of participants have not met with success, but to be sure, anyone interested in computers, from grade school age on up, would be welcome to attend a meeting and become a member.
I invite you to consider attending the next NBCUG meeting on Saturday, July 19th. Go ahead, go mark your calendars right now. Stop at the new Dunkin Doughnuts on the way to the meeting and bring enough for a new friend, but don’t bother buying their fine coffee, because equally good coffee is available free as part of the $3 admission fee. Our speaker will be someone I know well, because I see him in the mirror each day. The topic will be “Build Your Own PC”. Even if you have no interest in building your own PC, the material to be covered will provide insight on upgrades and repairs, something all computer owners face at one time or another. And as a bonus, you can join the email list and gain access to lots of help in the future.