RedBrick Newsletter :: Saturday 2nd April 2005 Hi everyone, and welcome to the April edition of the RedBrick newsletter. We hope you take the time to read through this mail and find out what's been going on with your society over the past while, as well as details on the last few surprises we have in store for you before the end of the semester. :: Recent Events :: Tech Week: First up is a short review of our extremely successful new initiative. We held a series of well attended talks and debates, including a heated Linux -vs- Windows debate and interesting talks on everything from 3D Sound to Internet Security. We can also boast to be the only DCU Week this year that's run onto a Saturday, with Wavehunt creating a stir within the internet community and being mentioned everywhere from Slashdot to the ILUG mailing lists. As well as the very specific technical talks we also hosted exhibitions, wine and cheese receptions and gaming tournaments in an order to please as many of our members as possible. RedBrick would like to extend a special Thank You to the various members of DCU staff that donated their time to RedBrick throughout the week, and to the other societies involved in the organisation of the events (MPS, GameSoc, FotoSoc). :: The Inside Track :: This section of the newsletter aims to inform you all of the work being done by the RedBrick committee, and any initiatives by our members that we think would be of particular interest to the society. RedBrick Library: The RedBrick Library has been in development since the beginning of the academic year, but is not due to be fully implemented until next year. We have been in constant contact with O'Reilly, who have agreed to donate some books to us and possibly provide us with a discount for our members. We are also currently engaged in talks with another company who may be willing to donate some more books to us, and in the meantime we are more than happy to accept old/unwanted books from our members. Our online booking system is under construction and we will keep you informed of future updates. For more information, or if you wish to donate books, please contact the PRO at pro@redbrick.dcu.ie. Technical Updates: RedBrick recently received a fibre-to-ethernet converter. This will enable us to easily make fap.redbrick.dcu.ie our firewall/router machine, with this change happening in the next few weeks. A little closer to the present, however, is the long-planned move to the new Intersocs IRC network. This will introduce more features, and bring the well known Chanserv/Nickserv/Memoserv services to the Intersocs network. These services are commonly found on large IRC networks, and enable users to effectively 'own' their own nickname and IRC channels. RedBrick Wiki: We would like to draw your attention to the relatively new RedBrick wiki that is currently being maintained as a communal tool for RedBrick users. http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~cammy/twiki/bin/view.pl/Rbwiki/WebHome The Wiki is designed to be a one-stop source for all things RedBrick, and relies on the users to log in and share their knowledge with the rest of the community. We urge you to take some time to log in and add in your own input, whether it be focused on the technical or social aspects of the society. With RedBrick's 10th anniversary on the horizon, a shared tool like the Wiki could prove to be a key part of the planning process. ::Upcoming Events:: Table Quiz: It's back! The biggest and best Table Quiz in DCU will take place in the Old Bar on MONDAY THE 4TH OF APRIL (make a note of that in your diary). This is the one quiz in DCU that's not to be missed, we have four fantastic iPod Shuffles to give away to the winning team this year, along with runner up prizes and the usual wealth of spot prizes to be won on the night. This quiz, as always, will be open to all our members and guarantees to be a fun and rewarding night. Debates: The School of Computing is hosting a high profile debate in assocation with RedBrick in the upcoming weeks. This debate will be concerned with Software Piracy and will see RedBrick holding a series of heats. Winners of the heats will then go on to compete in the finals, with big prizes for the overall winners. We are very lucky to have been invited to be a part of this debate and it is destined to be a very important event on the DCU calendar. AGM: The RedBrick Annual General Meeting is to be held in Q121 on Tuesday the 12th April. This is your chance to give back to the society, with positions ranging from the very technical to the artistic and sociable. Remember, if you want to run for Admin, Helpdesk or Webmaster, you'll need to sit a test prior to the election, details of these will be announced closer to the date. We are currently in the process of compiling a committee prospectus which will outline precisely the details of what each position entails. We will forward you the prospectus as soon as it's finalised, and highly recommend that you have a look and see if there's anything that suits you there. Apart from the fun you'll have, being on committee is highly rewarding and your future employers will look very favourably on those who've dedicated themselves to positions of such responsibility. RedBrick Awards: Straight after the AGM on the 12th is your chance to see if you've been selected as one of the chosen few. We are holding an awards ceremony for some of the most talented, creative and addicted of our members. You will all have the chance to vote on a number of pre-selected categories and a voting script should be online very soon. For more details about these awards see the .events board now. Make sure you vote and turn up to lavish worship on some of our best members and see if you've managed to top the polls yourself. ::The End:: That's it for now, if you've read this far into the mail - congratulations! Watch out for another update, and enjoy the next few weeks. -- Aisling Devlin Secretary (2004/2005), DCU Networking Society ("RedBrick") http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/