Off to See the Wizards

by Tina Darmohray
<[email protected]>

Tina Darmohray, editor of SAGE News & Features, is a consultant in the area of Internet firewalls and network connections, and frequently gives tutorials on those subjects. She was a founding member of SAGE.



I'm just back from the very successful and well-attended LISA conference, where the brave attendees ("Boston in December?") were rewarded with downright balmy weather. There was lots to see and do, and, most of all, fellow admins to talk to; I always learn so much in the short time I spend at LISA. The high point of the conference for me was receiving the SAGE Outstanding Achievement Award. Fortunately I wore a red turtleneck sweater that morning, which helped tone down the matching cheek-color I was sporting as I heard my name announced. I'm grateful for the honor.

I think recipients of awards like this one seldom come to the podium alone. By that I mean that they've likely been assisted, influenced, mentored, and encouraged by a lot of people along the way, and therefore represent a whole group of people's effort. I know that's the case with me. Many of the people I worked with early in my career were very willing to answer questions and point me in the direction of additional sources of information.

Later, when my coworkers and other professional friends felt I had useful information to share, they encouraged me to do so by submitting a paper to LISA, then editing the Job Descriptions booklet, and now editing for ;login:. Each time I considered doing any of these I always felt ill-qualified. Each time, however, I also met willing mentors who shepherded me along until I became able to accomplish the task on my own.

I liken my experience to Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. She very much wanted an audience with the Wizard, anticipating how much he could help her. At first, the Wizard seemed unapproachable, and Dorothy questioned her qualifications and convictions. Again her supportive compatriots, who were pivotal during her journey to the Emerald City, continued to urge her forward, even though the outward image of the Wizard was so daunting. Luckily, she found that the Wizard wasn't really scary and that he'd also help her toward her goal.

I'd like to encourage all of you to start your own journey toward Oz! One way to get going is to write an article for ;login:. If you've got a neat tool, interesting solution, or great idea to share with the SAGE community, we'd love to hear from you. Just in case the unknown twists of the yellow brick road are what's keeping you from getting started, let me share some answers to the most FAQs I get from first-time ;login: contributors.

Format: Since we do the formatting, all we need are ASCII submissions.

Length: Theoretically, there's no minimum or maximum length for an article. Something chapter-length might be a little long, but we can always work with you to split it across more than one issue. (Hey, these are good problems to have!)

Deadlines: Our publishing deadline rolls around every other month, usually during the first week (check the back cover of a recent issue), but you can submit something at any time. If you don't know if your topic would be suitable, you can run it past us ahead of time and we'll let you know up front, before you've sunk a lot of effort into polishing your prose.

Help: Most important, if you've got the topic, but share the common, self-perceived, "I can't write" syndrome (which I've certainly ascribed to myself), we'll help you with that. We have bona fide wizards of editing on staff for just that reason. And you should know that everything in ;login: gets edited to some degree, so you really, really are not going to stand out, or have any reason to be embarrassed, if your article needs some editorial assistance. In fact, consider any editing that is done as free training on how to improve your writing style. I can state from experience that the editing process has been the single most effective tool in bettering my own writing skills.

Topics: Finally, if you like to write but are in search of a topic, we brainstormed on some of the neat topics and additional items we'd like to feature in ;login: in the upcoming year. They include:

• Webmastering
• security
• NT integration
• 64-bit programming
• open source
• production (email) servers
• most interesting Web sites
• most useful tools
• USENIX community news

If you are working on any of these or are interested in writing about them, please get in touch with us.

So, if you're inclined, get started on contributing to ;login:. I can promise you'll get mentoring and encouragement, and you'll enjoy the wizards you meet in the process!