Grand Computers
Surprise, Arizona
Region 9
Grand Computers is dedicated to helping residents of Sun City Grand interested
in using a computer, whether a new or experienced computer user. Members of
Grand Computers can sign up for their classes which are taught in a classroom
that has 9 student computers. Members can utilize their 16 Windows and 6 MAC
computers in the general use room during the hours of operation. As well as
being a member of APCUG, Grand is a member of the Arizona Alliance of Computer
Clubs (AZacc) which was formed for the purpose of jointly booking outside
speakers for computer user group (computer club) meetings. The intent is for the
larger user groups to be able to draw the premier speakers that the smaller
groups couldn’t, independently. User groups line up their meetings as closely as
possible to one another, allowing the outside speaker to come to Arizona, stay a
while, and possibly meet with up to 40 user groups over a month.
Grand Computers has incentives as a thank you to the volunteers who help in the
classroom and general use room, teach classes, facilitate the SIGS, and help
operate the club.
PERKS FOR CLUB VOLUNTEERS include:
Ability to enroll early to obtain the classes they desire.
Qualifications:
- Monitors who have served 3 times since last registration
- Class assistants
- Instructors
- SIG facilitators
- Board Members
Attendance at the Volunteer Dinner in March (free dinner & door prizes).
Qualifications:
- Monitors who have served 5 times in previous calendar year
- Class assistants for 3 classes in previous calendar year
- Class registration assistants
- Instructors
- SIG facilitators
- Board Members
- Past Presidents
At the present time, Grand Computers has three SIGS (an Investment Education was
recently approved by the Board).
Compose Yourself SIG – Memoir Writers
The members of Compose Yourself write personal memoirs for children and
grandchildren, believing life stories may be lost unless preserved on paper.
Participants are invited to share drafts with one another either at monthly
meetings or over the Internet. Members give positive responses. Meetings include
discussions of possible topics and suggestions for writing as well as the
sharing of both early drafts and finished pieces. Time for ten-minute writings
on a suggested topic is a popular monthly activity, with discussions following.
Plans for the current year include a joint meeting with the genealogy club,
program segments of future meetings presented by member volunteers, and a social
get-together in the spring. The SIG provides club members a forum for writing
about their family. They are writers using word processors that share writings
with one another regularly via email and at monthly meetings. Their goal is to
enjoy writing for personal reasons or publication by participating in the
sharing of writings, ideas and knowledge. The finished writings may be sent to
friends or relatives, especially children or grandchildren, and some may be
submitted for possible publication elsewhere.
New Technologies SIG
The New Technologies SIG focus is sharing knowledge and experience and helping
members to fully realize the potential of their personal computer. The mission
of the Sun City Grand Computer Club New Technologies Special Interest Group is
to provide the club members with a forum for the open discussion of
technologically advanced ideas and experiences. They look at PC upgrades and
enhancements and the different ways on how to build or modify their own PC to
obtain its maximum potential. They have “hands on” demonstrations and
discussions of the latest computer software and hardware interfaces. The subject
matter discussion is very advanced, and is given at a higher level then their
general classes. These subjects include hardware / software relating to advanced
video, networking, security and the latest cutting edge technologies. Also
covered are operating systems such as LINUX, and BSD UNIX.
The New Technologies SIG:
- provides a focal point for people to meet and work together in a common
interest,
- encourages members to share their experiences in the world of new
technologies,
- assists members in developing skills for software installation and
configuration,
- enables members to share configuration solutions/problems and other issues
with other members,
- advises members of Internet sites that will provide information of interest
such as forums, solution resolution, and useful tools, and
- assists members in computer configuration techniques on different operating
systems,
The New Technology SIG facilitator works with the Grand Computers Web Master to
maintain a web-based archive of handouts and meeting information. The site is
updated monthly after each meeting and resides on the Grand Computers Club Web
site at: www.grandcomputers.org.
The December meeting featured a Show and Tell of the following technologies: Web
2.0 (communicating and connecting), social bookmarking, moviemaking,
greenscreen, tubing (video hosting), gadgets, gizmos, online surveys, google the
giant, (personalize homepage, group calendar, docs, maps, videos, google page),
blogs and videologs, pbwiki, webcam, video effects, avatars, video tutorials to
make-probably a jing example.
Genealogy SIG
The Genealogy SIG serves the particular needs of Sun City Grand Computer Club
members interested in genealogy research. The target audience for genealogy
reports, charts and books is mostly family and relatives with the hope that
children and grandchildren will utilize the genealogy data for further research.
This SIG:
- provides a focal point for people to meet and work together in a common
interest,
- encourages members to create family genealogy books and reports,
- assists members in developing skills for inputting and organizing their
family data,
- enables members to share genealogy problems and issues with other members,
- advises members on simple means for limited self-publication, and
- assists members in computer techniques to aid in writing reports on their
family.
The November meeting featured a Bring your Problems workshop. They used
www.ancestry.com to help find missing family information. The February meeting
will be a joint meeting with the Compose Yourself SIG re “Publishing a Book”
Grand Macs SIG
The Grand Macs SIG focuses on sharing knowledge and experience about the Apple
Macintosh computer.
This SIG:
- provides a focal point for people to meet, socialize, and work together on
Macintosh computers,
- encourages members to use the Computer Club’s Macintosh computers,
- assists members in developing skills and computer techniques for using
Macintosh computers and products through classes, demonstrations, and the
experience of others within the Club,
- provides a gateway for members of Apple User Groups, retail merchants, and
others outside the Sun City Grand community, and
- represents the Computer Club in contacts with other MAC SIGs within the
area.
In addition to the monthly SIG meeting, Green Apples Tech Talk meets twice a
month. Attendees are encouraged to bring their Mac questions to be answered by
Grand Macs volunteers.
Meetings planned for 2008 include: Made on a Mac Ideas; MacMedia seminar;
CompUSA Mac representative.