CSCWiki - User contributions [en]

User:Kspaans

2012-02-20T23:26:43Z

Kspaans: update work

== Kyle Spaans ==

A Computer Science (formerly Computational Mathematics) co-op student who started in Fall 2006, and isn't likely to graduate until 2012. He is interested in low-level computing: Operating Systems kernels, file systems, server software, as well as "systems programming languages".

=== Links ===
* http://kyle.wapanok.com/
* http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/

=== Work ===
==== Co-op ====
* Realtime Edge Software Inc. (formerly Excapsa Software Inc.); probably now defunct; Etobicoke
* Canadian Ice Service; part of Environment Canada; Ottawa
* CS 136 Tutor; for UW, had fun with http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/cs136/ and http://github.com/kspaans/nntp-to-dot/; Waterloo
* Xandros; on the Scalix team; Ottawa
* MessageLabs (AKA Symantec Hosted Services); Malware Analyst; Toronto
==== Full-Time ====
* RIM: Jan 2012 - Present, Phone Services Team & Advanced Technology Team

=== Misc ===
* cats
* turntablism
* good beer
** brewing beer
* long distance running
* parkour
* djent, heavy metal

Alumni Project

2012-02-20T23:11:13Z

Kspaans: Kyle's ideas for the newsletter

It might be nice to get in touch with our alumni. We have memberlists going back to 73 or so, and the old alums are still alive so we might be able to complete our records back into the late 60s. Since we are now way past our 50th anniversary we can't use that for reunion technologies (we could, of course, use a different arbitrary number, like 64). The memberlists are in FC1 under the tab old memberlists until they become digital.

This will be a big project, perhaps an enterprising President could contact the [http://alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni/ Office of Alumni Affairs] for help or something.

== CSC Expat Community (CEC!?!?!?) ==

One option is to allow this to happen more organically by providing graduating and recently graduated members that we are still in touch with tools to stick together and connect with new CSCers who are on co-op. Some specifics that could be done:

* csc-city mailing lists?
* A CSC Wiki page listing 'correct' establishments frequented by CSCers in foreign cities.
* ????
* Cities for initial focus: SF/Things you can BART/Caltrain to, Toronto, Seattle, New York, maybe Boston, maybe Montreal
* Should also try to stay in better contact with KW Alumni. Maybe an alumni pub night or something? Should contact sdt about this.

=== CEC Newsletter ===

A newsletter sent to the mailing list(s), fortnightly or quarterly. The purpose would be to solicit talks, donations, and in general build an active alum community. It should probably not be city-specific, as that would be too much fragmentation. kspaans volunteers to start this newsletter.

==== Purpose ====

* Maintain cohesion and focus on CSC Alumni community status
* Solicit talks
* Solicit donations
* Update readers on upcoming events
* Provide an edited, written history of the CEC

==== Format ====

* WHADDUP!!!
* shout-outs (letters?)
* Upcoming events in each city
* Ranting about the flavour of the week
* Links to resources (wiki, city-specific sites)

[[Category:Projects]]

Pop Run

2011-11-08T18:34:39Z

Kspaans: /* Candy */ do some bean counting?

== Office Capacity ==

At one count, the CSC had capacity for 26 packs of 24 cans (with 3 in the fridge) before counting other types of things (juice, Arizona...)

== Example Pop Run ==

=== Drinks ===

An empty car with two people in the front can fit ~20 packs of 24 cans. More research will be conducted.

* 4 Coke
* 2 Pepsi
* 3 Coke Zero
* 2 Gingerale
* 1 Sprite
* 1 Crush "Rainbow Pack" (some people like these pops, but they don't sell great individually)
* 6 Dr Pepper
* 3 Arizona Green Tea (large cans)
* 2 Arizona Iced Tea (large cans)
* 2 V8

Something here about juice

=== Candy ===

We want to avoid having too much candy, or candy that sits around and goes stale.

==== Proposal: Bean Counting ====

The office manager could take up the duty of maintaing a weekly (bidaily?) count of the candy. Hopefully this would give us enough information to react in a agile manner to the vast universe of changing customer demand. This should allow us to maintain our high standards and excellent customer service.

=== Price Estimate ===

More will be done here shortly.

Csc-industry

2011-09-04T03:34:56Z

Kspaans: creation of page with guidelines draft

= csc-industry Posting Guidelines =
* The purpose of csc-industry is for posts that are not necessarily of general interest to club members and usually industry related. Including but not limited to job postings, conferences, industry-sponsored events, recruiting events, and "wanted" ads.
* csc-industry is _not_ for scams. Members should never have to pay to attend or receive more information about offers seen on csc-industry.
* Suggested information to include in any posting:
** job postings: start date, renumeration, type (co-op, full-time), location, company name, recruiter/contact name
** events: date, time, place, duration, sponsors
* Those wishing to post to the list will be told that the list is opt-in and may not necessarily include all csc members.
* It is up to the discretion of the club exec to decide what is appropriate for posting to csc-general versus csc-industry versus /dev/null.

User:Kspaans

2011-08-24T20:21:42Z

Kspaans: more things about me

== Kyle Spaans ==

A Computer Science (formerly Computational Mathematics) co-op student who started in Fall 2006, and isn't likely to graduate until 2012. He is interested in low-level computing: Operating Systems kernels, file systems, server software, as well as "systems programming languages".

=== Links ===
* http://kyle.wapanok.com/
* http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/

=== Work ===
* Realtime Edge Software Inc. (formerly Excapsa Software Inc.); probably now defunct; Etobicoke
* Canadian Ice Service; part of Environment Canada; Ottawa
* CS 136 Tutor; for UW, had fun with http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/cs136/ and http://github.com/kspaans/nntp-to-dot/; Waterloo
* Xandros; on the Scalix team; Ottawa
* MessageLabs (AKA Symantec Hosted Services); Malware Analyst; Toronto

=== Misc ===
* cats
* turntablism
* good beer
** brewing beer
* long distance running
* parkour
* djent, heavy metal

Exec Manual

2011-08-24T20:19:38Z

Kspaans: /* Treasurer */ it's nice to have small bills in the cash box

= President =
This section covers various useful notes for the CSC president, ranging from who to call for room bookings to when the term should end. I'll rant some more later.

== What to do ==

The President is the person responsible. As ungrammatical as that may seem, it is exactly accurate. He or she is responsible to make certain that everything the CSC is involved in gets proper attention. Specifically, the President's duties are:

* to call and preside at all general, special, and executive meetings of the Club;

* to appoint all committees of the Club and the committee chair of such committees, except the chair of the Programme Committee;

* to audit, or to appoint a representative to audit, the financial records of the club at the end of each academic term.

Wherever possible, the President should delegate tasks to others. Not doing this can overburden the President.

== Explanation ==

As listed above the president is responsible for appointing committee chair's and other positions. So, it is basically up to the president to decide whether or not there is an explicit office staff. How do people become office staff? Must the office close every day? What do the members expect to get out of the club in this term?

== MathSoc ==

The CSC is a MathSoc club as such you should know the [http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/pinkbook.php MathSoc club policies] and know that the president is a non-voting member of MathSoc council, like MathSoc directors.

== SCS ==

See [[SCS Guide]] for how to deal with the School of Computer Science.

== Planning events ==

Planning events is a useful thing to know, so go read the Vice-President's section.

= Vice President =
This section covers various useful notes for the CSC vice president, ranging from who to call for room bookings to how to promote your events.

== Planning events ==

So, you're the CSC Vice President and you want to (hopefully) have the CSC host some really cool events this term. This chapter should help you get started with that. For starters, the most important thing to remember is this: plan your events early!. I recommend about 2 to 3 weeks in advance. This rough timeline should help:

* 2-3 weeks in advance: Get a title and abstract for the event from the speaker as well as a date and time.

* 2 weeks in advance: Book the room and any necessary equipment (projectors etc). Make posters for the event. Make initial announcements on Usenet and possibly by e-mail.

* 2 Days in advance: E-mail Chris Redmond (credmond@uwaterloo.ca) to get the event into the Daily Bulletin. Include a short (one-paragraph) description.

* 1 day in advance: Speak with ICR (in DC, first floor) about getting the speaker a parking pass if needed.

* Day of the event: Try to be at the event, or find someone who will be to make sure things go smoothly. Remember to get the projector if necessary. If there are people in the room you booked, ask them to leave politely. Mention that you have the room booked. Get refreshments to the room as necessary. Introduce the speaker.

* After the event: Thank the speaker in front of the audience and applaud. Offer to take the speaker out for dinner. Clean up the room and return any loaned equipment. Write him or her a cheque for any expenses if necessary. For out-of-town speakers a small gift might be nice.

The rest of this section will outline various tips that should be useful when running events and suggest some events that you might want to run.

=== Getting ideas and speakers for events ===

Obviously you will have to start your planning by coming up with an event. Here are some types of events you might want to hold:

* Talks held by CSC members. Ask around, there are probably a few members who have interesting things to give talks on. In the past CSC members have given talks about programming languages they like, Operating Systems, research projects, etc.

* Talks held by Faculty: Simply ask your CS profs, or get other exec to ask their profs or interesting faculty. Approaching faculty in person might get you better results than e-mailing, but be sure to follow up with an e-mail so that you have something written to remind them.

* Out-of-town speakers. The [http://www.acm.org/chapters/stu/ ACM student chapter website] has a section called "Lectureship series" where you can find information on getting an ACM Distinguished Lecturer. You can also simply approach interesting people (in Academia, Industry or the Free Software scene) by e-mail and ask them if they'd like to come and give a talk (or a few talks). Don't be afraid to ask high-profile people, the worst you can get is a "no." Be sure to have the treasurer budget money to pay for the guest speaker's expenses. If you can, try to pay for travel expenses (unless the speaker offers), but at the very least arrange for meals and accommodation as well as transport from the airport or bus/train station if necessary.

* Special events. In the past we've had an event called "Pints with Profs" where we invited the CS faculty (cs-faculty@cs.uwaterloo.ca) and any interested CS students to come out to a pub. The Bomber is a convenient location but we've found their catering to be expensive. Weaver's Arms (in WCRI) might be a good alternative. Be sure to budget this with Mathsoc, so you can pay for free food. Try to get both meat and vegetarian alternatives (e.g. Wings and Veggie Platters). Make sure you publicize this event very well, and don't hesitate to ask the profs to announce it in class (giving them overheads might be a good idea). This is definitely an event you should try to hold. If you can think of any other special events, go right ahead, be creative! Be sure to add them here.

* Tutorials. Usually we hold a few UNIX tutorials at the beginning of the term. These are quite popular and you can get Faculty (especially the first and second-year CS profs) to announce them in class. Be sure to book a lab. If there are more than one or two other people in the lab, politely ask them to leave - in our experience, asking such groups to be quiet doesn't usually work very well. Aside from UNIX you could have tutorials for LaTeX, some programming language, some programming problem (e.g. "Writing a raytracer") or anything you think would be useful for people to learn.

* Contests. Programming contests can be a lot of fun and will certainly raise interest in the club. Try to get nice prizes so that you can attract a large group of contestants. Be sure to have the rules and the environment set up early on. Game solving contests are a good idea (this can range from writing programs to play rock-paper-scissors to having programs compete at playing chess), demo programming contests can also be fun or you might go for something more useful. It's up to you - be creative!

* Anything else you can think of. Be imaginative and ask for suggestions. The ACM website also has some good suggestions for events. Don't limit yourself to computer-related events - a volleyball match against the Pure Math Club might be fun.

= Treasurer =

The treasurer's responsibilities include:

* Preparing and presenting to MathSoc the budget for the term
* Keeping the cash box filled with change and small bills
* Writing checks to reimburse members for items they purchase for the club
* Submitting forms to MathSoc, MEF, etc. for items purchased, and MAKING SURE we receive promised funding

== Getting Reimbursed ==

It's important that we be reimbursed for all of our purchases. For expenses on the MathSoc budget, fill out an expense form (usually in the tray outside MC 3038) and submit it to the VPF. Make sure to specify which budget line item each expense is claimed against. Submit copies of all receipts and invoices, and keep the originals in the safe until we are reimbursed. Finally, bug the MathSoc VPF if we still haven't received a cheque from MathSoc after a week or two.

= Secretary =

The secretary is usually responsible for:

* Keeping members and students informed
** Posting minutes of club meetings
** Advertising club events (see section on advertising below)
* Club correspondence
** Checking our two mailboxes in MC 3038 and DC 3316
** Reading and responding to mail we receive
* Recruitment
** Membership drives
** Maintaining club bulletin board and other propaganda

=== Announcing the event: Posters and Posts ===

Once you have the abstract and the room booked you should get the word out. For starters you should send an announcement to the uw.csc newsgroup and possibly to the members by e-mail (try to reserve the latter for special events, although an update with upcoming events every now and then might be a good idea).

You'll also want to make printed posters. Simon Law made a cscposter.cls file for LaTeX which can be used to generate nice-looking posters in letter format. Try to not have too much text on the posters so that they grab more attention. Getting posters out earlier rather than later is definitely beneficial. To actually distribute posters you should use several methods:

* Put up the posters on the CSC boards. There are 3 boards: a small one right by the door of MC3036, a large one in the 3rd floor hallway of the MC and another large one on the second floor of the MC (directly below the third floor hallway).

* Give 6 posters to Mathsoc. Just drop by 6 posters in the Mathsoc office and they'll put them up around the MC and DC.

* Make use of the FEDS poster run. FEDS offers a (reasonably cheap) poster run where they will distribute many posters around campus. Check the [http://www.feds.uwaterloo.ca/services/marketing.html FEDS marketing website] for pricing and information on how to use it. While we aren't a FEDS club, we are part of MathSoc, so try to get the "student society" price. Also, make sure you budget for this from Mathsoc, you can probably get funds from them to use this.

There are other ways to get people to know about the event. If the event is relevant to classes, try to convince profs to announce it in class (giving them an overhead with the details is a good idea). Also, have the event announced in the Daily Bulletin (a daily update on the UW website about what's happening on campus). To do so, e-mail Chris Redmond (credmond@uwaterloo.ca).

Word of mouth is another important channel. Tell others in the CSC (both executives and members) to tell their friends about events. Tell your own friends and classmates about events that they might find interesting. Word of mouth is often how events get most of their publicity.

Lastly, you'll want to add the event to the website. Contact the CSC webmaster (or if there is none, the sysadmin) to have him or her do that for you, or find out how to do it yourself. This way others can check for events on the website, and you can also conveniently point people there if they ask, "What events is the CSC offering this term?"

=== Recruiting: Propaganda and Membership Drives ===

A notably successful way to recruit new members is to hold a membership drive. Recently, we have booked a table in the 3rd floor MC lobby through MathSoc and asked math students passing by to join. An effective tactic is to provide vouchers for $2.00 worth of pop as an incentive. The tickets in the office desk can be used for this purpose. Only new users should get free pop. Two tickets can be given, with half a ticket representing a free can. The tickets should expire after one week and you should count exactly how many you give out. This simplifies our accounting for the recruitment budget.

= Systems Administrator =

The system administrator chairs the [[Systems Committee]], and is responsible for keeping all of our computers in working order. The CSC computing environment is good, but not nearly perfect, and the sysadmin should look for ways to improve it. We don't have a strict "if it works, don't touch it" policy, and encourage people to try new things to see if they work better. Because of this, we don't have "5 nines" uptime or anything close, but do have a modern computing environment that is constantly improving. Our systems should be, and often are, better at the end of term than the beginning.

Early in the term, the sysadmin should consider what hardware upgrades we would like to have, and send proposals to the treasurer to add to the budget. A bit later, this happens again with MEF proposals.

The sysadmin should also make sure requests by our users (to systems-committee@csclub) are answered, and make recommendations to the Executive Council to add new systems committee members or reevaluate old ones.

= General Information =

== Useful Contacts ==

There are several people that many exec will need contact information for. Their contact info follows and should be updated when these people change!

* Donna Schell: Book most rooms in the MC or elsewhere on campus. She can generally book any lecture hall. If she can't do it, she can tell you who can! She can be reached at dschell@uwaterloo.ca or at extension 2207.

* Vera Korody: ICR secretary. Should we wish to use the DC fishbowl for anything we can contact her. She may require us to get the permission of a ICR director to use it. Currently the friendly director is Vic DiCiccio at vicd@uwaterloo.ca. I am including the text of an email I sent and the response from Vic below. It is easiest to talk to her directly at the ICR reception area beside the fishbowl in DC, however she can also be e-mailed at vkorody@uwaterloo.ca or called at ext. 2042.

Hi,

The Computer Science Club is interested in booking DC 1301 (The Fishbowl) for a student-prof
mixer on the afternoon Monday, October 17. We were told that it would require the permission
of someone higher up in ICR since we're a student club. We considered asking our faculty
advisor, Prabhakar Ragde, to book it on our behalf, but that would require him to be present
for the entire event and we don't want to impose on him to that extent unless we have to. We
are hoping to get your permission to book it since our primary purpose is to remove alcohol
from the picture, to get it away from the "pints" mentallity and focus it more towards the
frosh.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tim Loach

CSC President

His Response:

Hi Timothy,

Sure, I would definitely approve this. Have you been turned down by others? But you need to
email Vera Korody to book the room, because it might be booked, and you need to get her
rules about moving chairs, etc. I'll copy her on this email.

BTW, does the CSC know that Mike Lazaridis is coming to Fed Hall on Oct 3 to explain why
RIM is a cool place to work, and that there are still challenges there to interest co-ops
and grads. We could use your help in getting the word out. You've probably seen the posters.

Best,

Vic

* MathSoc: It is often smart to have executive in MathSoc who are friendly with the CSC. To that end it is helpful to keep up with the MathSoc exec and attend MathSoc events. Their office is directly across the always closed door from ours. The president and VPF are particularily helpful, in case we go a little over budget for any event they can approve funding up to $100 extra by themselves. They can be reached at president@mathsoc.uwaterloo.ca and VPF@mathsoc.uwaterloo.ca. They also have a projector that we can borrow from time to time.

* AV stuff should be handled through AV services at extension 3033. Keys for AV stuff can be obtained at E2 1309. Note that they will charge you $80 if you intend to use a projector (and that's non-refundable - apparently bulbs are expensive and need to be replaced often).

== External links ==

* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/procedure.tex Old procedure manual (LaTeX)]
* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/procedure.pdf Old procedure manual (PDF)]
* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/mathsoc.club.pdf MathSoc club manual (PDF)]

[[Category:Guides]]

Meeting:Term Notes/S2011

2011-08-24T20:02:30Z

Kspaans: safe batteries

See also: [[Term Notes/W2011]] and [[Term Notes/F2011]]

= Prez Notes =

= Veep Notes =

= Trez Notes =
* Do try to submit receipts for reimbursement to MathSoc as soon as the money is spent, rather than all at once at the end of term.
* Keep the cashbox supplied with 5 or 10 dollar bills.
* Batteries for the safe numpad were replaced.

= Secz Notes =

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201105]]

Meeting:Term Notes/F2011

2011-08-24T19:16:31Z

Kspaans: create an empty page, ready for the Fall

See also: [[Term Notes/S2011]] and [[Term Notes/W2012]]

= Prez Notes =

= Veep Notes =

= Trez Notes =

= Secz Notes =

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201109]]

Meeting:Term Notes/S2011

2011-08-24T19:15:46Z

Kspaans: creation / some of Kyle's Trez notes

See also: [[Term Notes/W2011]] and [[Term Notes/F2011]]

= Prez Notes =

= Veep Notes =

= Trez Notes =
* Do try to submit receipts for reimbursement to MathSoc as soon as the money is spent, rather than all at once at the end of term.
* Keep the cashbox supplied with 5 or 10 dollar bills.

= Secz Notes =

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201105]]

Meeting:Term Notes/W2011

2011-01-17T20:36:47Z

Kspaans: added prev/next term links

See also: [[Term Notes/F2010]] and [[Term Notes/S2011]]

= Prez Notes =

= Veep Notes =

= Trez Notes =
* Signing authority process is almost normal, but the addition start now is that we also have to sign a second ID form for each signing officer. See the forms in the safe.

= Secz Notes =

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201101]]

Meeting:Term Notes/W2011

2011-01-17T20:35:58Z

Kspaans: created page

= Prez Notes =

= Veep Notes =

= Trez Notes =
* Signing authority process is almost normal, but the addition start now is that we also have to sign a second ID form for each signing officer. See the forms in the safe.

= Secz Notes =

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201101]]

Meeting:Term Notes/F2010

2011-01-17T20:33:40Z

Kspaans: /* Secz Notes */ ACM Student Chapter -- not worth it

See also: [[Term Notes/S2010]] and [[Term Notes/W2011]]

= Secz Notes =
* consider requiring memberships/renewals to be in 8-month blocks to reduce administrative overhead
* talks: keep up the scheduling
* ACM Student Chapter: What are the pros and cons?
* frosh: more recruiting
* office space: what would we do with space in the DC?
* Determined that it's probably not worth it to be an ACM Student Chapter, we already get most of the perks by being on campus.

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201009]]

Meeting:Term Notes/F2010

2010-09-21T02:11:11Z

Kspaans: /* Secz Notes */ from meeting with MWG

Clothing Ideas

2010-09-18T18:57:12Z

Kspaans: uncle sam style, themed designs

We should make new tshirts.

Our old design is simple and awesome. Ian Goldberg said we suck and CSC used to have cooler tshirts with designs

Note that a lot of people have our current shirt and therefore will not be buying it if we get the same design.

== Old Design ==
* These worked well.
* People already own them though, so they won't rebuy.
* Ian Goldberg said they were boring and that we used to have ones with designs.

== Math is hard ==
* Front: "Math is hard, let's do Computer Science\n Computer Science Club" Back: Same as old shirt. Shirt could be pink with black writing
** ilcharle said he wouldn't want to wear it because someone might not get the reference and think that he thinks math is hard (see: insecure)
** ALT: "Computer Science is hard, let's go shopping!\n Computer Science Club". More direct reference to the barbie thing, the more thorough sarcasm should protect the egos of the insecure.
* A pink shirt would be awesome regardless.

== CSC is the status quo ==
* An Uncle Sam-esque character saying "I've payed my CSC membership, have ''you''?"

== Themed designs ==
* A keyboard/laptop/computer gear toting figure battling with Cthulhu Mythos monsters (e.g. http://blog.jonnay.net/uploads/DONOTFUCKWITHCTHULHU.jpg)
* Something like the MathNEWS cover pages from Fall 2006
* A more artsy version of the CSC logo, with some nerdy joke <pre>:(){ :|:& };:</pre>

== Seasonal wear ==
* rjputins mentioned this, I'll let her fill this in.

== Underwear ==
* Again, something that rjputins mentioned. Useful for resurrecting no pants day?

Meeting:Term Notes/F2010

2010-09-15T14:38:29Z

Kspaans: created, with secz notes

Meeting:Term Notes/S2010

2010-09-15T14:36:07Z

Kspaans: create placeholder

See also: [[Term Notes/W2010]] and [[Term Notes/F2010]]

no notes?

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201005]]

User:Kspaans

2010-05-28T00:17:11Z

Kspaans: /* Work */ Spring 2010 work at Symantec

== Kyle Spaans ==

A Computer Science (formerly Computational Mathematics) co-op student who started in Fall 2006, and isn't likely to graduate until 2012. He is interested in low-level computing: Operating Systems kernels, file systems, server software, as well as "systems programming languages".

=== Links ===
* http://kyle.wapanok.com/
* http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/

=== Work ===
* Realtime Edge Software Inc. (formerly Excapsa Software Inc.); probably now defunct; Etobicoke
* Canadian Ice Service; part of Environment Canada; Ottawa
* CS 136 Tutor; for UW, had fun with http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/cs136/ and http://github.com/kspaans/nntp-to-dot/; Waterloo
* Xandros; on the Scalix team; Ottawa
* MessageLabs (AKA Symantec Hosted Services); Malware Analyst; Toronto

Meeting:Term Notes/W2010

2010-04-28T00:13:52Z

Kspaans: /* Prez Notes */ more complete term notes

See also: [[Term Notes/F2009]] and [[Term Notes/S2010]]

= Prez Notes =
* bought new fridge and registered it with manufacturer (in name of Lord Calum Dalek, exec@csclub)
* with CIF money ordered 2 new office chairs and a new desk (a-f, thin-client, and O2)
* Power Outage on the 24,25 we had some experience booting our core servers
* floor waxing on the 26th, machines and desks were dusted off
* Google-sponsored programming contest was a big hit, thanks to j3camero for that

== Things to do in Future Terms ==
* Keys are now arranged through SCS, rather than MathSoc (except for Prez MathSock key)
* Keep up the new Office Staff method and policy
* We were given MEF funding for new disks for the mirror. Profs want us to mirror Fedora. Talk to Dave Gawley of CSCF who is supplying partial funding.
* Monthly Meeting with MWG: good for discussion things like funding
* CS Exec Meeting, UAC Meeting, we need to send reps to these '''every term'''
* Need to make us a Student Chapter of the ACM again, need student members...
* "CS10" lecture series that we had (mostly) in DC1304 was very successful, we need to keep up the momentum with these
* Still need to ask PlantOps-maintenance people for: new shelves (CIF funding), coathooks in the walls

= Others' Notes =
post-mortems

[[Category:Term_Notes|TermNotes201001]]

Meeting:Term Notes/W2010

2010-04-26T19:10:43Z

Kspaans: /* Prez Notes */ meetings that we should be attending

Meeting:Term Notes/W2010

2010-04-26T14:24:53Z

Kspaans: more half-notes

Meeting:Term Notes/W2010

2010-04-21T19:34:16Z

Kspaans: PrezKyle's preliminary notes

Exec Manual

2010-01-21T18:31:37Z

Kspaans: /* Recruiting: Propaganda and Membership Drives */ free pop

= President =
This section covers various useful notes for the CSC president, ranging from who to call for room bookings to when the term should end. I'll rant some more later.

== What to do ==

The President is the person responsible. As ungrammatical as that may seem, it is exactly accurate. He or she is responsible to make certain that everything the CSC is involved in gets proper attention. Specifically, the President's duties are:

* to call and preside at all general, special, and executive meetings of the Club;

* to appoint all committees of the Club and the committee chair of such committees, except the chair of the Programme Committee;

* to audit, or to appoint a representative to audit, the financial records of the club at the end of each academic term.

Wherever possible, the President should delegate tasks to others. Not doing this can overburden the President.

== Explanation ==

As listed above the president is responsible for appointing committee chair's and other positions. So, it is basically up to the president to decide whether or not there is an explicit office staff. How do people become office staff? Must the office close every day? What do the members expect to get out of the club in this term?

== MathSoc ==

The CSC is a MathSoc club as such you should know the [http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/pinkbook.php MathSoc club policies] and know that the president is a non-voting member of MathSoc council, like MathSoc directors.

== SCS ==

See [[SCS Guide]] for how to deal with the School of Computer Science.

== Planning events ==

Planning events is a useful thing to know, so go read the Vice-President's section.

= Vice President =
This section covers various useful notes for the CSC vice president, ranging from who to call for room bookings to how to promote your events.

== Planning events ==

So, you're the CSC Vice President and you want to (hopefully) have the CSC host some really cool events this term. This chapter should help you get started with that. For starters, the most important thing to remember is this: plan your events early!. I recommend about 2 to 3 weeks in advance. This rough timeline should help:

* 2-3 weeks in advance: Get a title and abstract for the event from the speaker as well as a date and time.

* 2 weeks in advance: Book the room and any necessary equipment (projectors etc). Make posters for the event. Make initial announcements on Usenet and possibly by e-mail.

* 2 Days in advance: E-mail Chris Redmond (credmond@uwaterloo.ca) to get the event into the Daily Bulletin. Include a short (one-paragraph) description.

* 1 day in advance: Speak with ICR (in DC, first floor) about getting the speaker a parking pass if needed.

* Day of the event: Try to be at the event, or find someone who will be to make sure things go smoothly. Remember to get the projector if necessary. If there are people in the room you booked, ask them to leave politely. Mention that you have the room booked. Get refreshments to the room as necessary. Introduce the speaker.

* After the event: Thank the speaker in front of the audience and applaud. Offer to take the speaker out for dinner. Clean up the room and return any loaned equipment. Write him or her a cheque for any expenses if necessary. For out-of-town speakers a small gift might be nice.

The rest of this section will outline various tips that should be useful when running events and suggest some events that you might want to run.

=== Getting ideas and speakers for events ===

Obviously you will have to start your planning by coming up with an event. Here are some types of events you might want to hold:

* Talks held by CSC members. Ask around, there are probably a few members who have interesting things to give talks on. In the past CSC members have given talks about programming languages they like, Operating Systems, research projects, etc.

* Talks held by Faculty: Simply ask your CS profs, or get other exec to ask their profs or interesting faculty. Approaching faculty in person might get you better results than e-mailing, but be sure to follow up with an e-mail so that you have something written to remind them.

* Out-of-town speakers. The [http://www.acm.org/chapters/stu/ ACM student chapter website] has a section called "Lectureship series" where you can find information on getting an ACM Distinguished Lecturer. You can also simply approach interesting people (in Academia, Industry or the Free Software scene) by e-mail and ask them if they'd like to come and give a talk (or a few talks). Don't be afraid to ask high-profile people, the worst you can get is a "no." Be sure to have the treasurer budget money to pay for the guest speaker's expenses. If you can, try to pay for travel expenses (unless the speaker offers), but at the very least arrange for meals and accommodation as well as transport from the airport or bus/train station if necessary.

* Special events. In the past we've had an event called "Pints with Profs" where we invited the CS faculty (cs-faculty@cs.uwaterloo.ca) and any interested CS students to come out to a pub. The Bomber is a convenient location but we've found their catering to be expensive. Weaver's Arms (in WCRI) might be a good alternative. Be sure to budget this with Mathsoc, so you can pay for free food. Try to get both meat and vegetarian alternatives (e.g. Wings and Veggie Platters). Make sure you publicize this event very well, and don't hesitate to ask the profs to announce it in class (giving them overheads might be a good idea). This is definitely an event you should try to hold. If you can think of any other special events, go right ahead, be creative! Be sure to add them here.

* Tutorials. Usually we hold a few UNIX tutorials at the beginning of the term. These are quite popular and you can get Faculty (especially the first and second-year CS profs) to announce them in class. Be sure to book a lab. If there are more than one or two other people in the lab, politely ask them to leave - in our experience, asking such groups to be quiet doesn't usually work very well. Aside from UNIX you could have tutorials for LaTeX, some programming language, some programming problem (e.g. "Writing a raytracer") or anything you think would be useful for people to learn.

* Contests. Programming contests can be a lot of fun and will certainly raise interest in the club. Try to get nice prizes so that you can attract a large group of contestants. Be sure to have the rules and the environment set up early on. Game solving contests are a good idea (this can range from writing programs to play rock-paper-scissors to having programs compete at playing chess), demo programming contests can also be fun or you might go for something more useful. It's up to you - be creative!

* Anything else you can think of. Be imaginative and ask for suggestions. The ACM website also has some good suggestions for events. Don't limit yourself to computer-related events - a volleyball match against the Pure Math Club might be fun.

= Treasurer =

The treasurer's responsibilities include:

* Preparing and presenting to MathSoc the budget for the term
* Keeping the cash box filled with change
* Writing checks to reimburse members for items they purchase for the club
* Submitting forms to MathSoc, MEF, etc. for items purchased, and MAKING SURE we receive promised funding

== Getting Reimbursed ==

It's important that we be reimbursed for all of our purchases. For expenses on the MathSoc budget, fill out an expense form (usually in the tray outside MC 3038) and submit it to the VPF. Make sure to specify which budget line item each expense is claimed against. Submit copies of all receipts and invoices, and keep the originals in the safe until we are reimbursed. Finally, bug the MathSoc VPF if we still haven't received a cheque from MathSoc after a week or two.

= Secretary =

The secretary is usually responsible for:

* Keeping members and students informed
** Posting minutes of club meetings
** Advertising club events (see section on advertising below)
* Club correspondence
** Checking our two mailboxes in MC 3038 and DC 3316
** Reading and responding to mail we receive
* Recruitment
** Membership drives
** Maintaining club bulletin board and other propaganda

=== Announcing the event: Posters and Posts ===

Once you have the abstract and the room booked you should get the word out. For starters you should send an announcement to the uw.csc newsgroup and possibly to the members by e-mail (try to reserve the latter for special events, although an update with upcoming events every now and then might be a good idea).

You'll also want to make printed posters. Simon Law made a cscposter.cls file for LaTeX which can be used to generate nice-looking posters in letter format. Try to not have too much text on the posters so that they grab more attention. Getting posters out earlier rather than later is definitely beneficial. To actually distribute posters you should use several methods:

* Put up the posters on the CSC boards. There are 3 boards: a small one right by the door of MC3036, a large one in the 3rd floor hallway of the MC and another large one on the second floor of the MC (directly below the third floor hallway).

* Give 6 posters to Mathsoc. Just drop by 6 posters in the Mathsoc office and they'll put them up around the MC and DC.

* Make use of the FEDS poster run. FEDS offers a (reasonably cheap) poster run where they will distribute many posters around campus. Check the [http://www.feds.uwaterloo.ca/services/marketing.html FEDS marketing website] for pricing and information on how to use it. While we aren't a FEDS club, we are part of MathSoc, so try to get the "student society" price. Also, make sure you budget for this from Mathsoc, you can probably get funds from them to use this.

There are other ways to get people to know about the event. If the event is relevant to classes, try to convince profs to announce it in class (giving them an overhead with the details is a good idea). Also, have the event announced in the Daily Bulletin (a daily update on the UW website about what's happening on campus). To do so, e-mail Chris Redmond (credmond@uwaterloo.ca).

Word of mouth is another important channel. Tell others in the CSC (both executives and members) to tell their friends about events. Tell your own friends and classmates about events that they might find interesting. Word of mouth is often how events get most of their publicity.

Lastly, you'll want to add the event to the website. Contact the CSC webmaster (or if there is none, the sysadmin) to have him or her do that for you, or find out how to do it yourself. This way others can check for events on the website, and you can also conveniently point people there if they ask, "What events is the CSC offering this term?"

=== Recruiting: Propaganda and Membership Drives ===

A notably successful way to recruit new members is to hold a membership drive. Recently, we have booked a table in the 3rd floor MC lobby through MathSoc and asked math students passing by to join. An effective tactic is to provide vouchers for $2.00 worth of pop as an incentive. The tickets in the office desk can be used for this purpose. Only new users should get free pop. Two tickets can be given, with half a ticket representing a free can. The tickets should expire after one week and you should count exactly how many you give out. This simplifies our accounting for the recruitment budget.

= Systems Administrator =

The system administrator chairs the systems committee, and is responsible for keeping all of our computers in working order. The CSC computing environment is good, but not nearly perfect, and the sysadmin should look for ways to improve it. We don't have a strict "if it works, don't touch it" policy, and encourage people to try new things to see if they work better. Because of this, we don't have "5 nines" uptime or anything close, but do have a modern computing environment that is constantly improving. Our systems should be, and often are, better at the end of term than the beginning.

Early in the term, the sysadmin should consider what hardware upgrades we would like to have, and send proposals to the treasurer to add to the budget. A bit later, this happens again with MEF proposals.

The sysadmin should also make sure requests by our users (to systems-committee@csclub) are answered, and make recommendations to the Executive Council to add new systems committee members or reevaluate old ones.

= General Information =

== Useful Contacts ==

There are several people that many exec will need contact information for. Their contact info follows and should be updated when these people change!

* Donna Schell: Book most rooms in the MC or elsewhere on campus. She can generally book any lecture hall. If she can't do it, she can tell you who can! She can be reached at dschell@uwaterloo.ca or at extension 2207.

* Vera Korody: ICR secretary. Should we wish to use the DC fishbowl for anything we can contact her. She may require us to get the permission of a ICR director to use it. Currently the friendly director is Vic DiCiccio at vicd@uwaterloo.ca. I am including the text of an email I sent and the response from Vic below. It is easiest to talk to her directly at the ICR reception area beside the fishbowl in DC, however she can also be e-mailed at vkorody@uwaterloo.ca or called at ext. 2042.

Hi,

The Computer Science Club is interested in booking DC 1301 (The Fishbowl) for a student-prof
mixer on the afternoon Monday, October 17. We were told that it would require the permission
of someone higher up in ICR since we're a student club. We considered asking our faculty
advisor, Prabhakar Ragde, to book it on our behalf, but that would require him to be present
for the entire event and we don't want to impose on him to that extent unless we have to. We
are hoping to get your permission to book it since our primary purpose is to remove alcohol
from the picture, to get it away from the "pints" mentallity and focus it more towards the
frosh.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tim Loach

CSC President

His Response:

Hi Timothy,

Sure, I would definitely approve this. Have you been turned down by others? But you need to
email Vera Korody to book the room, because it might be booked, and you need to get her
rules about moving chairs, etc. I'll copy her on this email.

BTW, does the CSC know that Mike Lazaridis is coming to Fed Hall on Oct 3 to explain why
RIM is a cool place to work, and that there are still challenges there to interest co-ops
and grads. We could use your help in getting the word out. You've probably seen the posters.

Best,

Vic

* MathSoc: It is often smart to have executive in MathSoc who are friendly with the CSC. To that end it is helpful to keep up with the MathSoc exec and attend MathSoc events. Their office is directly across the always closed door from ours. The president and VPF are particularily helpful, in case we go a little over budget for any event they can approve funding up to $100 extra by themselves. They can be reached at president@mathsoc.uwaterloo.ca and VPF@mathsoc.uwaterloo.ca. They also have a projector that we can borrow from time to time.

* AV stuff should be handled through AV services at extension 3033. Keys for AV stuff can be obtained at E2 1309. Note that they will charge you $80 if you intend to use a projector (and that's non-refundable - apparently bulbs are expensive and need to be replaced often).

== External links ==

* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/procedure.tex Old procedure manual (LaTeX)]
* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/procedure.pdf Old procedure manual (PDF)]
* [http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/misc/mathsoc.club.pdf MathSoc club manual (PDF)]

Meeting:Term Notes/W2010

2010-01-21T17:04:02Z

Kspaans: create it

See also: [[Term Notes/F2009]] and [[Term Notes/S2010]]

= Prez Notes =
Keys, contests, talks

Main Page

2009-12-11T14:26:30Z

Kspaans: Undo revision 2312 by Kspaans (Talk)

This is the Wiki of the [[Computer Science Club]]. Feel free to start adding pages and information.

== Guides ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Budget Guide]]
* [[Club Hosting]]
* [[Member Hosting]]
* [[Exec Manual]]
* [[Imapd Guide]]
* [[MEF Guide]]
* [[Office Staff]]
* [[SLEF Guide]]
* [[Talks Guide]]
* [[SCS Guide]]
</div>

== News and Events ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Meetings]]
* [[Talks]]
* [[Projects]]
</div>

== Machine/System Documentation ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[MySQL]]
* [[Authentication]]
* [[Backups]]
* [[ceo]]
* [[Conserver]]
* [[Cross Compiling]]
* [[DNS Records]]
* [[Debian Repository]]
* [[Digital Cutter]]
* [[Directory Services]]
* [[FreeBSD]]
* [[IPv6]]
* [[Library]]
* [[Machine List]]
* [[Mail]]
* [[Mailing Lists]]
* [[Mirror]]
* [[Nagios]]
* [[OID Assignment]]
* [[OpenSolaris]]
* [[Puppet]]
* [[QoS]]
* [[SNMP]]
* [[Switches]]
* [[Sony Camera]]
* [[Systems Committee]]
* [[UID/GID Assignment]]
* [[User-data]]
* [[Webcams]]
* [[Website]]
* [[Virtualization]]
</div>

== Miscellaneous ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Budget]]
* [[Clubs]]
* [[Executive]]
* [[History]]
* [[MEF Proposals]]
* [[Office Policies]]
* [[Projector]]
* [[Term Notes]]
</div>

Main Page

2009-12-11T14:24:11Z

Kspaans: added notes about school life at UW

User:Kspaans

2009-11-22T20:21:53Z

Kspaans: create my userpage

== Kyle Spaans ==

A Computer Science (formerly Computational Mathematics) co-op student who started in Fall 2006, and isn't likely to graduate until 2012. He is interested in low-level computing: Operating Systems kernels, file systems, server software, as well as "systems programming languages".

=== Links ===
* http://kyle.wapanok.com/
* http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/

=== Work ===
* Realtime Edge Software Inc. (formerly Excapsa Software Inc.); probably now defunct; Etobicoke
* Canadian Ice Service; part of Environment Canada; Ottawa
* CS 136 Tutor; for UW, had fun with http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~kspaans/cs136/ and http://github.com/kspaans/nntp-to-dot/; Waterloo
* Xandros; on the Scalix team; Ottawa
* final co-op term TBD

Office Staff

2008-03-27T19:04:46Z

Kspaans:

The CSC office staff have the following responsibilities:
* Keep the office open as much as possible.
* Keep the office clean at all times, through weekly cleaning and consistent removal of garbage.
* Take care of adding new members, updating memberships and any other membership-related tasks through the use of CEO (CSC Electronic Office).
* [[Burn]] our free operating system CDs.
* Answer questions.
* Make sure the fridge is always full of pop.

Office Staff

2008-03-27T19:04:32Z

Kspaans:

The CSC office staff have the following responsibilities:
* Keep the office open as much as possible.
* Keep the office clean at all times, through weekly cleaning and consistent removal of garbage.
* Take care of adding new members, updating memberships and any other membership-related tasks through the use of CEO (CSC Electronic Office).
* [Burn] our free operating system CDs.
* Answer questions.
* Make sure the fridge is always full of pop.