Message from the Chairman of the South African Online User Group

The South African Online User Group was founded in April 1979, with twenty members. In December that year the International Online Information Meeting was in its third year. From our geographically‐remote position at the southern tip of the African continent, attendance at the International On‐line Information Meeting in London has remained, for most members, a dream. As our membership has grown (now almost 400) and the scope and depth of the International Online Information Meeting has expanded, attendance — and even active participation — has become a desirable goal for an increasing number of our online professionals. Of the 59 papers delivered at the Fourteenth International Online Information Meeting in December 1990, five were presented by South African speakers, whilst a further nine delegates from South Africa attended the Meeting.