Read All About It! The World of Chapter Newsletters

“One of the most valuable means of forging a chapter’s identity is its newsletter. Each one seems a reflection of the tone and creativity of not only the leadership or even the members but of the community in which they reside. Some are slick and professional looking. Others informal and folksy.”
—Robert Parker, The EDP Auditors Association: The First Twenty-Five Years, 1994

Whether an ISACA chapter consists of a few dozen or a few thousand members, the chapter newsletter has always been a tool for facilitating and encouraging the sharing of information. At its most basic, the newsletter informs members of upcoming meetings, the speakers they can expect to hear and a report on the previous meeting. Beyond that, the newsletter is a unique reflection of a chapter’s priorities and unique character.

Prior to the digital era, chapters around the world sent printed copies of local newsletters through ISACA’s headquarters in the Chicago area. This international newsletter collection began in the1990s and early 2000s, capturing hundreds of examples from around the globe. With the proliferation of digital communications, these physical copies are no longer shared, but the boxes of printed newsletters remain a treasured part of the organization’s heritage.

The old newsletter titles are fascinating. The Atlanta (US) chapter named its newsletter On-Line; Greenville (US), opted for Off-line. Other notable names include Bits and Bytes in Brisbane (Australia), I-Cont@ct in Malaysia, InfoControl in Kenya, and Disk Patch in Winnipeg (Canada).

Despite widely differing titles, formats, and styles—not to mention the multitude of languages—this collection of newsletters encapsulates the power of the ISACA motto: We Are One. Whether it’s a chapter in Asia, Europe, the Americas or beyond, the mission of ISACA members around the globe remains the same: share information, support each other professionally and grow the chapter to create the most impact.

Another slightly unexpected similarity between the newsletters is the significance of what might be best described as simply “ISACA humor.” Newsletters have long been a place for amusing technology-related caricatures and cartoons, as well as funny stories and quotes. “It’s Halloween time,” read an editorial from the Minnesota (US) Interface in 1992, “and I’ll bet all of you are busy digging out the ghosts and spirits lurking in your organization’s computers.”

Well-timed humor pertaining to current events is a specialty. In response to the new Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) in 2000, the London chapter’s Datawatch carried an image of the grim reaper with the headline: “When the Grim RIPA calls.” In another issue of the same newsletter, just months before the turn of the millennium, the prospect of Y2K challenges led to a piece of satire titled “The Y ‘Zero’ K Problem,” purportedly written in Rome by “Cassius” on January 18, 1BC:

“This change from BC to AD is giving us a lot of headaches and we haven’t much time left. I don’t know how people will cope with working the wrong way around. Having been working happily downwards forever, now we have to start thinking upwards. You would think that someone would have thought of it earlier and not left it to us to sort out at the last minute.”

As ISACA reaches its 50-year milestone, it is as important as ever to document and preserve the activities of its chapters. For that reason, we have begun to assemble a list of all chapter newsletter titles. We will continue to update this list throughout the anniversary. Please submit the title of your local newsletter—and a digital copy if possible—through the submission page on this website so we can include it as part of ISACA’s rich newsletter history.