BachoTeX 2010: Call for papers

February 4, 2010 in Meetings | No comments

This dropped into the UK-TUG inbox earlier today

Dear TeXies, programmers, typographers – TeX friends and lovers of fine typography,

This is the call for papers and invitation for BachoTeX 2010, the XVIIIth Polish TeX users Group conference. As usual, it will be held at the traditional TeXies’ and GUST meeting place, Bachotek near Brodnica, in the north-east of Poland, from April 30 until May 4, 2010, inclusive. This time we are especially trying to get-together typographers with programmers and designers of typography systems:

Typographers and programmers: mutual inspirations

Typography, the art of composing signs and graphics into pages and designing signs and graphics is nowadays inadvertently linked with using software. Programmers design and create systems which serve as tools for typographic projects.

During this conference we want to get together two groups of people: programmers and designers of typographic systems with typographers and other users of such systems. Share your experiences. Tell others how you are doing it. Let’s together look into what programmers can offer to those who create works containing letters and other signs and how programmers can profit from the knowledge and experience of the users of such systems, designers, typographers or creators of web pages.

The members of GUST, organizers of the conference, are especially sensitive to typesetting precision, solicitude and dependability, both in creating the tools and using them. We’d like the typographic and programming elegance and solicitude to be reflected in the conference presentations.

Especially invited are presentations on:

  • typographic projects ranging from business cards designs through web pages up to multi-volume books; we are interested is problems encountered, technologies employed, drawbacks of available software, unfulfilled dreams, successes or barriers and obstacles.
  • designing and creating programs and programming systems aimed and typographic goals: both batch and interactive typesetting systems, client-server realizations, especially such for web sites.
  • use of typography where programmability is vital: database extracts or combining multimedia and typography.

Of course we will gladly accept presentations relating the above with the TeX typesetting system but that is not a requirement for acceptance.

Let this meeting of typographers and programmers creating helper systems for typography become a step towards beautiful results!

Submissions, deadlines and addresses

Proposals (abstracts) should be e-mailed to the Program Committee, which listens at the address of prog-2010 at gust dot org dot pl. Boguslaw Jackowski (b underscore jackowski at gust dot org dot pl) is the appointed chairman. Also, please note the ‘Call for TeX Pearls’ below.

The deadline for abstracts and other proposals is March 28th 2010. The deadline for final papers to appear in the conference materials is April 10th, 2010.

The conference web pages, including a registration form, are at the canonical address: http://gust.org.pl/bachotex/2010.

Call for TeX Pearls

We are continuing the tradition of ‘The Pearls of TeX Programming’. Here is, briefly, what is wanted:

  • short TeX, MF or MP macro(s)
  • results must be useful, and the solution not obvious
  • easy to explain : 10 minutes at most

If you have something that fits the bill, please consider submitting a proposal. If you know of somebody’s work that does the same, please let us know, and we will contact that person. Other details and previously collected pearls can be found at http://www.gust.org.pl/projects/pearls/. The dedicated email address is: pearls at gust dot org dot pl.

Jerzy Ludwichowski
GUST, President

TeX Live 2009 DVDs

January 4, 2010 in General | No comments

The Committee have just received TeX Live 2009 DVDs from the suppliers. They will be mailed out to members in the near future. Non-members interested in getting hold of a DVD should e-mail the Committee.

Special Electronic General Meeting: Voting results

December 21, 2009 in Meetings | No comments

UK-TUG has been holding a Special Electronic General Meeting over the last week. The voting period has now ended, and the Committee are pleased to announce that all four motions to be considered have been agreed. Three motions were day-to-day running matters, and the fourth was a minor clarification of the Constitution. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Spring Meeting: LaTeX Support and Training

November 23, 2009 in Meetings | No comments

Following the successful discussions at the UK-TUG AGM on supporting LaTeX users, the Committee is now planning a Spring Meeting with the title LaTeX Support and Training. At present, things are still at an early planning stage. We are aiming the meeting as an even to bring together people who provide support or training about LaTeX to new users, for example university-based lecturers, IT support staff and active members of the various online support avenues. The Committee are currently inviting a number of exciting speakers to attend: please do make suggestions about potential speakers or to come forward yourself!

Speaker Meeting and AGM 2009

November 15, 2009 in AGM, Meetings | 1 comment

Thanks to everyone who came to the Speaker Meeting and AGM yesterday at UCL. The day was divided into three distinct parts:

  1. Talks and discussion
  2. The AGM
  3. A workshop on LaTeX Support and Documentation

The Talks

The meeting began with a talk by Jonathan Fine reporting on the recent UK Mathematics Contents Workshop. Jonathan gave an overview of the wide range of people interested in the area, and how the meeting had been funded. He then opened the floor to discussion about issues that arose from the ideas presented. There was considerable interest in methods for presenting mathematical content on the web, and also in digitising older material. Topics mentioned included:

The second talk was given by Joseph Wright on xparse, a part of the ongoing work of the LaTeX Project. xparse is intended to be a more flexible replacement for \newcommand. Joseph’s slides are available here in PDF format. Discussion following Joseph’s talk centred on some aspects of the xparse implementation and also how a better method for defining LaTeX commands could help with documentation.

The final talk was given after lunch by Simon Dales, and focussed on his PANO method for using low-resolution images as place holders for higher resolution replacements in documents. Simon explained how the idea originally arose from methods used when network connections were slow and printers struggled with high resolution images. The ability to use external image sources, such as Flickr, to avoid PDF file “bloat” was discussed.

All three talk stimulated a lot of lively discussion, and the Committee thanks all of the speakers for presenting at the meeting.

AGM

Formal minutes of the AGM will be produced in due course. The main business transacted at the AGM was the election of a new Committee. Jonathan Fine continues as Chairman of UK-TUG for another year. The new Committee currently consists of:

  • Jonathan Fine
  • David Saunders
  • Joseph Wright
  • Charles Goldie
  • Simon Dales
  • Jonathan Webley

Motions were not passed at the AGM, and the Committee will be holding a Special Electronic General Meeting to transact ongoing business of UK-TUG. Members will be informed about this directly.

The final accounts for 2008–09 were presented by David Saunders: these are essentially unchanged from those circulated earlier.

Workshop on LaTeX documentation and support

The final part of the day was used as an opportunity to discuss documentation and supporting  new LaTeX users. There was a spread of experience in those attending the meeting, and a number of useful ideas came up. The Committee hope to summarise these in a published form, to appear in Baskerville and other appropriate outlets. More details of this will follow when available.

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Funding opportunities

November 13, 2009 in General | No comments

UK-TUG has funds available for supporting TeX related projects, made available by a motion passed by its members. To that end, we have set up a sub-committee to identify projects that the members would like to support. The sub-committee is headed by Jonathan Underwood.

All projects that benefit the members will be considered. Examples might be: software projects projects aimed at providing training and teaching resources users, documentation projects, support for meetings etc. UK-TUG can pay for web-site hosting, travel to conferences, purchase of books and similar materials.  It can also pay for team members to travel to meet each other (but not for the work done at that meeting).

There is no deadline for submission of proposals, and we are happy to receive applications of support for projects of all sizes. Of course, funds are limited and so those who apply earlier are more likely to succeed!

More details can be found on the Funding page.

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AGM and Speaker Meeting, 14th November 2009, UCL, London

November 5, 2009 in General | No comments

The AGM of the UK TeX Users Group will take place on Saturday 14th
November at 2 pm at:

Physics and Astronomy, Room E7
University College London
London (walking distance from Euston)
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/silva/phys/find

The entrance to the room is inside the main quadrangle of UCL. Enter
from Gower Street, and the entrance to the building is in the far left
corner. We will put up some signs from there.

There will be a speaker meeting and workshop as part of the AGM day, to
run from 11 am to 5 pm. The outline programme is:

  • 11 pm Arrival, and coffee is available
  • 11:30 am to 1 pm
    • Jonathan Fine: “Report on Mathematical Content Workshop”

      http://groups.google.com/group/uk-math-content-2009/web/home

    • Joseph Wright: “xparse – beyond \newcommand”
    • Lightening talks: Open to anyone to give a 5 to 10 minute talk on any
      TeX related subject of their choice
  • 1 pm to 2 pm Lunch/informal discussions
  • 2 pm to 3 pm UK-TUG AGM
  • 3 pm to 5 pm Workshop on TeX documentation and support

If you wish to give a talk, either in the lightning sessions or a longer
presentation, the committee would like to hear from you.

There is no charge for attending any part of the session: non-members
are also welcome, but of course cannot vote at the AGM!

AGM Information: reports 2

November 5, 2009 in AGM, Meetings | No comments

Further to the last post, we are pleased to make available:

AGM Information: reports

October 31, 2009 in AGM | No comments

As reported earlier, the UK-TUG AGM will take place on the 14th of November at UCL. As part of the AGM, there will be reports from various members of the outgoing Committee. The following written information is available for reading now:

The Committee hope these are useful.

AGM 2009: 14th November, UCL, London

October 23, 2009 in AGM | No comments

This is to give you formal notice of the 2009 Annual General Meeting of the UK TeX Users Group, and to tell you about submitting motions and standing for the Committee.

Information about the Speaker Meeting taking place at the same time is will be posted here shortly, and will also be circulated separately.

We will be sending out Accounts for 2008-09 and officers reports shortly, and also be posting these to the website.

Date, time and location of AGM

The AGM will take place on Saturday 14nd November, from 2 pm to 3 pm. If further time is required, the Committee expects the AGM will decide to adjourn until 5 pm.

The AGM will take place at:
Physics and Astronomy, Room E7
University College London
London (walking distance from Euston)

All members are entitled to attend the AGM, and without charge.

Standing for the Committee

Under the Constitution (clause 17(5)), all members of the Committee apart from the Chair retire at the start of the AGM, and can stand for re-election. The Chair was elected last year for a two year term, and so there is no election for Chair this year.

Nominations for the Committee must be received before the formal start of the AGM: there is no notice period. The signature of the candidate and a proposer are required for a valid nomination.

Please consider joining the Committee, and do contact me or the committee if you would like more information, or would like one of us to nominate you (uktug-committee@uk.tug.org).

Submitting motions to the AGM

Any member wishing to submit a motion to the AGM should do so by writing or by e-mail to the Secretary, to arrive by the 31st of October (i.e. 14 days before the AGM, as required by clause 10(5) of the constitution).

A seconder is not required to submit a motion.

Writing to the Secretary

Please contact the Secretary, David Crossland, by e-mail in the first instance to check on postal arrangements, particularly in view of the ongoing strike action at Royal Mail.

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