Fred Showker, user group advocate since 1985, MUG member at large and safe netting advocate.
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Fred Showker is a veteran of the graphic design industry, and a long time computer pundant. He is the founder of the Design & Publishing Center and DT&G Magazine as well as Editor in Chief of the User Group Network News service. Thousands of computer users all over the world know him from his column, 60-Second Windows, syndicated in newsletters throughout the user group community since 1989. Many know him best through is active participation in Apple's user group programs including the revitalization of the "Apple User Group Advisory Board" in the late 1990s.
Showker's involvement with Apple computer users and the user group community began much earlier however. He has been an active user group evangelist since 1984, involved in many activities for Apple and the User Group Community. He was an active participant with the original Apple User Group Department, contributing to such projects as "Just Add Water" (JAWS), and the original "QuickConnect" Mug newsletter. He acted as presenter and participant in Apple's first User Group University in 1987, with the Apple User Group Connection (UGC), as well as Apple's eWorld. Through the late '80s to the mid '90s, he was a board member of National Apple User Groups (NAUG), National Apple User Group Symposium & Workshops (NAUGSAW), and most recently in the rebirth of The User Group University (UGU).
As consultant and developer, he was invited to participate in the establishment of the first User Group Forum on AppleLink PE (ALPE) and later for Quantum Computers, who eventually changed their name to America Online (AOL). There, he was cofounder and Forum Leader for the first online User Group Forum (UGF). He served as contributing editor for the Mac User Group News Service (MNS, MUG News), and served on the boards of both The Computer Users for Social Responsibility (CUSR) and The National Home & School Mac User Group (NHSMac).
Beginning in 1995 he co-founded the User Group Academy which has given more than 100 awards to user group for excellence in the community -- from the first "Nice Ice" award given to Chuck Joiner in 1996, to the "MD Apple Corps 25" award presented in 2003. Through his activities in the User Group Academy, he founded the User Group Grants program which over three years awarded more than $50,000 in educational grants to user groups partnering with K-12 public schools. (Three examples of which may be seen at the now inactive UG Academy archive site.)
Today Showker is Editor and Publisher of the User Group Network, the continuation of the AOL User Group Forum where he is co-editor and publisher of the "Info Manager" weekly newsletter, "This Old Mouse" and numerous articles and reviews for the UGN News Service. He was cofounder and active contributor to The User Group Academy and The Association Of Apple Computer Users & Groups (AACUG) where he established the "Safe Netting" advocacy group. He continues as an active "Safe Netting" and anti-spam advocate and continues seminars and educational programs which fight crime on the internet.
In 2004, he partnered with his brother Joe Showker to provide nearly $200,000 in funding to provide Rockingham County and Harrisonburg City middle schools with Apple Mobile iBook labs.
In 2005 he and his wife, Carol, established the "Appleseeds Foundation" a private 501(c)(3) foundation where he will continue his work supporting and promoting quality education, technology and quality of life for children and the underprivileged. (Web site coming soon!)
In his professional career, Showker has owned and operated Showker Graphic Arts & Design (Showker, Inc.) since 1972, where his advertising graphic arts production facility in Harrisonburg, Virgina has produced nearly 7,000 successful projects for more than 500 clients. To his credit are three National Dynamic Graphics Awards, numerous PIVA and Printing Industries of America awards, and the 1987 Package of the Year award for consumer packaged goods. He won the coveted Desktop Publisher of the Year Award for Aldus (Pagemaker), and was cited as among the top four desktop publishers for Mac Guide Magazine.
He began publishing DT&G ezine in 1990, and established The Design & Publishing Center on eWorld in 1994. Since those days Showker has authored more than 1,700 articles and content items for an average 250,000 readers per month. DT&G Zine and The Design & Publishing Center have received more awards than should be published here, including C|Net's "Site of the Day", USA Today's "Hot Site", Publish Magazine's "Site to See", and the coveted APEX award for best electronic publication in 1998.
David Pogue, in Macworld Magazine said
"DT&G is a one man tour de force of advice, instruction and how-to's pertaining to all things graphic! . . . There are other ezines about design and art. But none approach the usefulness of this one."
Fred Showker has been a speaker, and seminar presenter for Macworld, Multicom Expos, In-House Graphics Magazine, New Media Expos and Dynamic Graphics DGEF teaching such topics as creative layout techniques, web design, presentations, multi-media design, brochure design, and typography "WOW" to employees of more than 500 organizations including Apple Computer, Microsoft, Phillips, Merck, Ford Motor Company, the State of Maryland, Chicago Newspapers, Wired Magazine, and numerous nonprofit organizations such as The United Way, National Library Association and the U.S. Armed Forces. His 1993-96 tour of "Newsletter Make-over Clinics" brought crituques and hands-on make-overs to hundreds of businesses such as Caterpillar, 3M, NRA, National Underwriters Labs, University of California, Maryland State, The United States Air Force and a myriad of ad agencies and DTP studios.
As an adjunct faculty member of James Madison University (JMU, Harrisonburg, VA) he's taught Publication Design and Introduction to Digital Graphics and Introduction to Typography. Today, he conducts seminars and workshops for user groups, civic groups, PTAs and schools on internet safety, spam and online crime.
Showker was a graduate of the Communication Arts & Design School of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU, Richmond, VA) and is active in local civic organizations. His firm is member of the Harrisonburg Rockingham Chamber of Commerce, the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association, and the Virginia Internet Services Providers Alliance (VISPA).
He was born on August 18th, 1950, has two children and resides in the backwoods of Virginia with wife Carol, and three dogs.
Fred Showker
15 Southgate
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
540-433-8402
I invite you to contact me, and share your comments and views with the computing community.
Fred Showker, Editor/Publisher UG Net News
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