developerWorks: This is a developerWorks podcast. I'm Scott Laningham, here with Julian Stuhler, president of the International DB2 Users Group — or, IDUG, as we call it — and also, Solutions Delivery director with Triton Consulting. Welcome to the podcast, Julian.

Stuhler: Thanks, Scott. Nice to be here.

developerWorks: Now, where are you? You're joining us from the U.K. today?

Stuhler: I am, yes, I'm west of the U.K. in [Swinton] today.

developerWorks: Fantastic. It's always nice to know where we're talking with people, since we could be talking from anywhere using this over the Internet technology. It's great, isn't it?

Stuhler: Wonders of modern technology. I love it.

developerWorks: Now, tell us about IDUG. What is IDUG's mission vision?

Stuhler: OK. So IDUG — the International DB2 User Group — is an organization which is independent first and foremost. So we are, although we concentrate very much on DB2 and IBM's DB2-related technologies, we're not part of IBM®. We are formed of an independent series of volunteers who basically have a mission to try to further the knowledge and understanding of practice of DB2 worldwide. So we're a not-for-profit organization, we're run by the users for the users, and try to promote best practices for DB2 across all of the territories in which DB2 is used across the world.

developerWorks: That's great. Now, I know it sounds obvious, but talk a bit about why a strong DB2 community really matters so much.

Stuhler: Yes, absolutely. Well, as a member of that community, I've had to rely on that community several times throughout my career with DB2, which spans back, oh, over 20 years now. And it's I guess the same as with any other community: in your hour of need, if you're encountering a problem that you don't know about, haven't experienced before and need some help, it's great to know there's a bunch of like-minded folks out there who have the ability to be able to get you out of that tight spot, give you some expert assistance and advice.

Even if you've never been in that situation before chances are someone somewhere around the world has. And we've got a great community in IDUG of people willing to help out in these kind of situations. And of course, even if you're not in a tight spot, if you're just in need of some general advice and guidance, maybe you have got a tricky situation in terms of a database design or a particular piece of SQL which is causing you some problems, there's a huge wealth of information in terms of the presentations and technical content for the conferences we run all around the world. And chances are, somebody somewhere has produced a presentation or written a white paper or produced an article in one of our magazines which is going to address just exactly the topic that you're trying to get some information on.

developerWorks: Now, wonderful. I'd love to ask you about upcoming events for IDUG, but you all just sponsored the XML Challenge, which is now starting its second year. We just spent some time talking with some of the winners of that contest. Do you want to say something about that, IDUG's participation in that?

Stuhler: Yes. This is a great joint initiative between IBM and IDUG. We've done things like this before. We did the a Compression Challenge with IBM last year, very successful. And I have to say the XML Challenge has been even more successful.

This was a great collaboration where we could use the strength of IDUG's community and the content we have out there together with some really exciting new technology that IBM is delivering in the shape of pure XML to engender some excitement and get a community building specifically around those technologies.

It's been phenomenally successful, really great feedback from the people that were involved in that. IDUG provided some judges to help with judging some of the competitions. And we're really looking forward to being able to participate in similar collaborations with IBM in the future.

developerWorks: Great. Now, what about upcoming events that IDUG is sponsoring or participating in? Do you want to kind of give the pitch on those, including why practitioners should be coming, with how they'll benefit from these things?

Stuhler: Right, yes. So the most imminent upcoming event is actually our premier conference that's in North America which is happening in Denver in May. That's a fantastic location, very easy for many people in the states to get to. Of course in these tough times we find ourselves budget for travel and accommodation is tight; we appreciate that.

But we're confident that the huge amount of technical value that our attendees get from these conferences not just in terms of the presentations they attend but also in terms of networking with their colleagues and peers to share problems, share solutions in a more informal setting, we're confident that those kinds of benefits are really going to continue to drive people to our conference and continue to make it the success it's been for the last 20-plus years.

So beyond that, we also have an event happening in Rome in October of this year. That's our main European conference. And of course we have a large number of other events happening throughout the year in regional events with the affiliated regional user groups that are happening all over the world: 200 different countries that have regional use of groups associated with IDUG as well. And finally, as a year-round resource, we have a wealth of podcasts and other information, technical articles, presentations recorded from our conferences which are available via our Web site at idug.org which gives a year-round resource for our members to come back to as well.

developerWorks: Julian, I think you're speaking about, or you've at least touched upon, the IDUG RUGs — or, Regional User Groups, as they're called. Could you talk a bit more about how many of those you have and how often they meet, how they benefit practitioners? Because you've already spoken about how many countries are involved, so this is obviously very international. But, what part do they play?

Stuhler: Absolutely. So the Regional User Groups — RUGS as I refer to them — are really partner organizations to IDUG. They're not formally part of IDUG; they're independent groups which are typically self organized around volunteers that operate in a particular geography.

But what IDUG does is to provide a series of support services for those Regional User Groups. We help them to find speakers — IBM speakers and independent speakers — that can present the user meetings. We can provide Web site services to them to allow them to have a presence on the Web. We provide them discounts to our events and to things like the IBM Press books.

And a whole host of information and previous experience that can help struggling groups to build their membership or new groups to establish themselves. We have starter kits and a lot of advice and expertise about people who are very experienced at running these groups that can really help to build an existing group or to start a new group in geographies that haven't yet had a Regional User Group well established.

developerWorks: Talk a bit about, Julian, about how you'd help people differentiate IDUG from all of the other online communities that are available for database administrators and developers, because there's some competition out there. How do you have IDUG ... how does IDUG stand out?

Stuhler: Yes, there's surely a lot of competition out there. I think if I had to sum up the difference, it would really be the user aspect and the practical advice and guidance that's available throughout that community. So IDUG is run by users for users. It's run by a team of incredibly passionate and dedicated volunteers who live and breathe DB2 and its related products every day of their working lives. They really understand what makes that product tick. They understand the issues and challenges that can come along with certain implementations of that project.

And as a result of that, there's a wealth of expertise and guidance there which some of the other sites may have consultants, may have IBM themselves providing their expertise, but it's really that hard-won real user experience which differentiates the kind of help and assistance that IDUG can provide from some of the other opportunities that are there out.

developerWorks: Well, and it just mirrors the drive towards, you know, more community building and social networking on the Web anyway, doesn't it? I mean, IDUG is already in that space obviously.

Stuhler: That's right. We're in that space, and we're seeking to expand that space. Traditionally we were known for our conferences, and those are still a vitally important part of what we do.

But the online Web presence and the community building efforts that we're currently undertaking are really all about driving that year-round value and making sure that as well as the excellent information and informal networking opportunities you get by attending a conference, you're going to get access to that year-round technical expertise, that community, that sense of belonging the year round through those online community building efforts.

developerWorks: Great. Now, where do they going online to join and talk about membership? What takes place there, is there a free and a paid level? And what's the deal there?

Stuhler: Absolutely. So everything hangs off on our Web site which is www.idug.org, and on there there's a whole host of information and value there which is available for free, just for casual browsing.

If you want to get out some more detailed content, there is a free membership, so you actually have to click on the sign-up link and provide us with a few details, and that will allow you a free basic membership. And that will give you access to some of the forums and some of the less recent technical information from some of our conferences. And then the paid option, which we call premium membership and the new membership schema which we're currently rolling out is very, very reasonable. That's just $25 for an entire year's membership.

And that gives you access to a whole host of additional information: online presentations, recordings of conference presentations which are synchronized to the PowerPoint presentations which are really almost as good as sitting in the room at one of these conferences, and a whole host of additional facilities all from that one Web site at www.idug.org.

developerWorks: Great information for DB2 users worldwide. Julian Stuart, President of the International DB2 Users Group — or, IDUG — and Solutions Delivery Director with Triton Consulting in the U.K. Thanks so much, Julian.

Stuhler: It's been my pleasure, Scott. Nice speaking with you.

developerWorks: Find out more about DB2 in the Information Management zone on ibm.com/developerWorks, IBM's premier technical resource for software developers with tools, code and education, on IBM products and open standards technology. I'm Scott Laningham. Talk to you next time.

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About the author

Scott Laningham, host of developerWorks podcasts, was previously editor of developerWorks newsletters. Prior to IBM, he was an award-winning reporter and director for news programming featured on Public Radio International, a freelance writer for the American Communications Foundation and CBS Radio, and a songwriter/musician.

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