Dr. Dale Spender
Last year, IFIP Working Group 6.5 on Upper Layer Protocols, Architectures,
and Applications was forced to cancel a conference, primarily
because of an insufficient number of high-quality papers. Nevertheless,
there were enough good manuscripts that deserved publication (10
or so) to cause WG6.5 and its parent Technical Committee (TC6
on Communication Systems) to deal with the question of how to
disseminate this worthwhile scientific information.
One option was a "virtual conference," by which the
papers would be made available for perusal and would be discussed
on the Internet. A much less ambitious alternative was simply
to "publish" the papers on the Internet. Finally, the
collection of papers could be published in an established paper
journal.
The plan for a virtual conference was put forward and stimulated
a great deal of discussion in WG6.5, TC6, and the IFIP Council,
which considered it at its March meeting in Johannesburg, South
Africa. The deliberations also involved Chapman & Hall, the
IFIP publisher.
The Virtual Conference Process
Mr. Einar Stefferud (USA), then chairman of WG6.5, proposed the
following process:
In support of such virtual conferences, Mr. Stefferud said the
following:
One of the reasons why it is important for IFIP to enable virtual
conferences as proposed is that the Internet has overtaken the
old way of doing things in Working Groups that hold physical meetings.
Now the main work is often started and completed on mailing lists,
ending with a publication on the Internet.
In our research and development environment, it is very difficult
to get ahead of and stay ahead of the development curve by means
of old IFIP physical-meeting arrangements, with expensive published
books that must either be submitted as manuscripts 6 months before
the conference or published 6 months after the conference. The
metabolism of modern, Internet-based research and development,
coupled with shortened commercial product life cycles, no longer
allows us the luxury of trips to distant lands in order to meet
authors face to face and spend 20 minutes discussing each of their
papers. Compare this with the ability to hold a lengthy discussion
in a global context, without a 20-minute limit. And consider that
the discussion can be captured and included in the record of the
virtual conference, for access by any interested person.
He also commented on the financial aspects, as follows:
I think we should find a way to charge nominal prices for the
papers, to defray the cost of organization, and to sift out frivolous
people who are unwilling to pay a nominal price to join the session.
My sense of a proper price for a set of virtual session papers
is for the net revenue from publication in this mode to yield
an amount roughly equal to the royalty that would have been paid
to IFIP plus an amount to approximate the IFIP sponsorship fee
of 5 or 10 Swiss francs per real conference attendee.
I estimate easily that the cost to virtual conference attendees
is going to be drastically lower than to participants in conventional
conferences, when one considers transportation, lodging, meals,
and travel time.
Difficulties and Advantages
Many difficulties were considered, including the following: the
lack of oral presentation, whether the virtual conference concept
is likely to succeed in this case (i.e., the WG6.5 conference
that was not held) and who owns the copyright to papers submitted
to a conference that never took place, how revenues should be
collected, what network server should be used, whether a significant
number of potential conference attendees might not be able to
access the virtual conference, whether papers appearing in a virtual
conference will be accorded the same respect as those appearing
in conventional printed proceedings, and how much is lost because
virtual conference participants are unable to interact with their
colleagues face to face.
On the other hand, this proposal affords the possibility of publishing
-- in a new medium -- the ten papers from the WG6.5 conference,
providing revenue to IFIP, and testing the future of virtual conferences
as a viable means of scientific discourse.
Related Issues
Many additional capabilities exist in the world of virtual conferences.
Participants can prepare reports of discussions on-line, from
multiple sites. Reviews and annotations can be dynamic. The papers
can contain all the features that on-line documents afford (e.g.,
links to other documents, animated illustrations, and audio).
These are a few of the many possibilities.
The concepts involved here are not new to IFIP. The IFIP Working
Group on Numerical Software publishes the proceedings of its workshops
on the World Wide Web. A proposal was put forward that IFIP Congress
2000 be a "virtual congress." In this case, the phrase
was intended to mean a conference held at more than one site simultaneously,
yet appearing to the participants, through electronic communications,
as if it took place at one location. The conference Teleteaching
'96, part of IFIP Congress '96, will be such a virtual conference,
perhaps involving over 100 sites. Also, Prof. Wilfried Brauer
(D) brought to the attention of Council participants the Electronic
Colloquium on Computational Complexity, which uses electronic
media for rapid and widespread scientific communication and discussions
in the computational complexity community.
We wait to learn the outcome of the TC6 deliberatins on this subject
(which were taking place when this IFIP Newsletter was going to
press) as well as the subsequent decisions of the September IFIP
General Assembly, which is due to consider the topic when it meets
in Canberra, Australia. This has the potential for revolutionizing
the way scientific meetings are held, and IFIP should be in the
forefront of such activity.
Specification, Verification, and Synthesis
In January, an IFIP project to bring a state-of-the-art seminar
to a developing country, begun in 1993, finally came to fruition.
As a result of the efforts of Prof. Carlos Delgados-Kloos (E),
vice-chairman of Technical Committee 10 (Computer Systems Technology)
and others, the seminar on Hardware Specification, Verification,
and Synthesis was held in Bangalore, India, 10-11 January 1996,
following the third Asia-Pacific Conference on Hardware Description
Languages, sponsored by IFIP Working Group 10.5 on Design and
Engineering of Electronic Systems. All the lecturers were members
of WG10.5. Bangalore was an appropriate locale for these IFIP
events, since it is becoming the high-tech capital of India, with
many new companies in the information processing area. The following
lectures were presented.
Prof. Luc Claesen (B) spoke on SFG-Tracing: A Practical Formal
Verification Method and its Application to Behavioral Synthesis
Verification. SFG-tracing is a practical formal methodology for
the verification of the observable input-output behavior of lower-level
implementations with respect to higher-level specifications. The
formal verification of a 43 000-transistor cryptographic chip
was illustrated.
Prof. Werner Damm (D) spoke on Formal Verification of VHDL-Based
Hardware Designs. Today's circuit-design tools can analyze hardware
designs with complexities exceeding 2**1000 states. This lecture
provided the mathematical foundation of a state-of-the-art design
tool for formally verifying VHDL-based (VHDL = logic hardware
description language) hardware designs. The presentation was complemented
by verification results on industrial integrated-circuit designs
carried out with the design tool.
Prof. Nikil Dutt (USA) spoke on High-Level Synthesis. This lecture
summarized the basic concepts and results developed for high-level
synthesis using a hardware definition language as the input language.
It described a design methodology that can be used to integrate
high-level synthesis tools with existing design-automation methods
at the logic and layout levels. The lecture also discussed the
problems encountered when benchmarking different synthesis tools,
and a technique for normalizing such comparisons.
Dr. Masahiro Fujita (J) spoke on Practical Techniques of Formal
Verification. This lecture concentrated on two rather practical
formal verification techniques: Boolean comparison and model checking.
Sometimes, circuits of 10 000 gates or more can be verified by
Boolean comparison in a couple of minutes. Two actual cases of
model checking were reported, and several important points for
its effective use checking were discussed.
Dr. P.A. Subrahmanyam (USA) spoke on Hardware-Software (Co)-Design
of Embedded Systems. This lecture discussed the issues that are
involved in the design of embedded systems having both hardware
and software components. The steps involved in designing such
systems and the technologies that are needed were discussed.
Approximately 80 participants attended, the majority coming from
India. Mr. S.D. Sherlekar was the local organizer.
Additional Keynote Speaker Is Announced for Congress '96
As usual, the IFIP Congresses provided a major topic of discussion
in the recent Council meeting. In this case, four Congresses,
from 1996 to 2002, were mentioned.
IFIP Congress '96
IFIP Congress '96, the 14th World Computer Congress, is almost
upon us (2-6 September in Canberra, Australia). The inclusion
of one additional keynote speaker, Dr. Dale Spender (AUS), was
announced to the Council by Dr. Prem Gupta (IND) and Prof. Egon
Hoerbst (A), co-chairs of the International Program Committee
(IPC).
Dr. Dale Spender
Dr. Spender is a researcher, broadcaster, public speaker, teacher,
author, and editor of more than 30 books, the latest being "Natering
on the Net." Dr. Spender is an expert in the fields of language,
communication, writing, editing, publishing, and equity. She is
an international columnist and convenor of the Australian Society
of Authors Technology Subcommittee.
Approximately 50 outstanding professionals will deliver invited
papers, and an equal number of papers was selected from the more
than 200 papers submitted for the conferences on Advanced IT Tools
and Mobile Communications. Many of the submitted papers were from
Australia and Japan. In addition, delegates at 100 sites around
the world may participate in the third conference, Teleteaching
96, creating an exceptional "virtual conference."
An additional event of special note is the Pioneers' Day, which
will feature one speaker for each decade from the 1950s through
the 1980s. At the closing ceremony, the Auerbach Award, for service
in support of IFIP in its mission, will be presented. All during
the Congress, delegates will be able to visit a technical exhibition
of hardware and software products and services offered by Australian
and international organizations.
Satisfaction was expressed during the Council meeting for the
financial support provided by commercial organizations and the
Australian government. In addition, financial assistance for the
attendance of delegates from developing countries, Central and
Eastern Europe, and the U.S. is expected from UNESCO, the Commission
of the European Communities, and the National Science Foundation
of the U.S.
For further information, see the IFIP Newsletters of March 1996
(page 1), December 1995 (page 3), and June 1995 (page 1) or contact
14th World Congress, IFIP'96 GPO Box 2200 Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia tel: +61 6 257 3299, fax: +61 6 257 3256 e-mail: ifip96@acs.org.au WWW: http://www.acs.org.au/ifip96.html
Congress '98
More details about Congress '98, to be held 29 August - 6 September
(new dates) in Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary, were presented
by Prof. Hoerbst (A), also IPC chair of this Congress, and Prof.
Walter Grafendorfer (A), co-chair of the Organizing Committee
(OC). (The other co-chair is Mrs. Maria Toth (H).) This Congress,
like Congress '96, will comprise several individual conferences,
with some common events. Although the Congress will not be a collection
of TC conferences, greater participation by TC chairs in the planning
process is sought, and all of them were invited to join the IPC.
At present, the following six component conferences are planned:
Computer Security -- SEC'98
Teleteaching '98. This is a reprise of one of the conferences
that is part of Congress '96. Prof. Hoerbst believes that this
will be one of the "hottest" topics in information processing
for the next ten years.
Computers Helping People with Special Needs -- ICCHP'98. This
is another repeat; see the March Newsletter, page 9.
Intellectual Property Rights -- KnowRight '98. Another repeat;
see the March Newsletter, page 7.
Basic Research in Information Technology
Telecooperation
There will be a concerted effort to involve young participants,
from secondary schools and universities. Two days of tutorials
will precede the Congress as well as follow it. The calls for
papers will be issued in September 1997.
Congress 2000
IFIP Congress 2000, as announced previously, will be held in Beijing,
China. Chairs of the IPC and OC will be appointed soon. The Information
Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) had been the other contender
for the Congress site, and Mr. Masanori Ozeki (J) expressed disappointment
that the IPSJ proposal for a virtual two-site Congress, in which
electronic means of communication would have been used to give
the delegates in Tokyo and Beijing the impression that all events
were occurring at a single virtual site, had not been adopted.
He regretted that there had been insufficient time for negotiations
between Japan and China regarding this proposal.
Congress 2002
Bids to host IFIP Congress 2002 will be solicited in September
at the IFIP General Assembly.
The IFIP Council met in Johannesburg, South Africa, 6-7 March,
preceded by three days of meetings of the Executive Board, Technical
Assembly, and various committees. The meetings were most notable
for the favorable reports on finances, and the lack of controversy.
Finances
We begin this report with the good news about the state of IFIP's
finances. Mr. Aage Melbye (DK), our treasurer, reported that the
surplus of income over expenses for 1995 was 160 thousand Swiss
francs (160K CHF). Factors bringing about this positive result
included decreased expenses of the IFIP Secretariat, resulting
from the move to Laxenburg, Austria, from Geneva, Switzerland,
increased return on the IFIP investments, and increased proceeds
from activities. The 1995 surplus was a surprise when one considers
that the 1995 budget predicted a deficit of 100K CHF, and the
treasurer estimated a surplus of only 50-100K CHF last September.
This surplus resulted in total IFIP funds of 1462K CHF, a new
record. Of this, 22% is reserved for Technical Committee (TC)
funds, amounts set aside for TCs to use more or less at their
discretion. The TCs with the largest funds are TC6 (100K CHF),
TC10 (97K), and TC8 (49K).
A major factor affecting the expenses of the Secretariat was the
decrease in mailing costs. Many of those in contact with the Secretariat
have noticed the dramatically increased reliance on e-mail and
the World Wide Web for communicating with the IFIP community.
As a result of this and other economies, the Secretariat expenses
decreased from 392K CHF in 1994 to 292K in 1995, despite the additional
expenses necessitated by the move to Laxenburg. Consequently,
the Secretariat budget for 1996 was reduced (reflecting the penalty
one occasionally pays for increased efficiency). A compensatory
increase in the President's reserve was made, to handle emergencies.
Notable Technical Activities
Two TCs reported plans for forming new Working Groups (WGs): one
in TC3 (Education), on Information Technology in Educational Management,
and three in TC6 (Communication Systems), on Intelligent Networks,
on Wireless Communications, and on Communication Systems for Developing
Countries. The dissolution of WG6.5 on Upper-Layer Protocols,
Architectures, and Applications, which was to be effective in
April, was also announced, as well as the temporary disbanding
of WG10.6 on Neural Computer Systems. A new name, High Speed Networking,
was given to WG6.4 (formerly Local and Metropolitan Communication
Systems).
The report of TC8 (Information Systems) outlined a modification
of their annual meeting structure: The executive group (officers,
WG chairs, and a member at large) meets for half a day prior to
the full TC8 meeting, to discuss past activity. Later, this is
reported to the full meeting. As a result, a half day has been
available for strategic planning. The 1995 and 1996 meetings included
a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).
Prof. Bernard Glasson (AUS), chair of TC8, offered the following
observation in his report:
Mr. Simon Reynolds,
president of the Computer Society of South Africa, welcomes Council
I believe that the field of Information Systems (IS) is at an
interesting stage of its development. As a scientific discipline,
it has reached a point where it will either grow or fragment.
IS has drawn from many reference disciplines. There is sufficient
critical mass for it to blossom into a substantial discipline
within the domain of informatics in its own right. But the same
critical mass has led to a proliferation of organisations intent
on "serving" the IS research and development community,
which could lead to fragmentation. <He listed several IS organizations
and conferences. -- Editor> As the senior servant of the IS
research and development community, TC8 has to re-assess its role....What
we hope will emerge is a strategy to take TC8 beyond the year
2000.
Prof. Luigia Carlucci-Aiello (I), the new chair of TC12 (Artificial
Intelligence), presented her two main goals: to strengthen the
relationship between TC12 and other organizations in the AI area,
perhaps by cooperating with them to organize events, and to work
with other IFIP groups, e.g., to plan joint workshops and summer
schools. At this time, she does not foresee organizing large conferences.
Prof. Egon Hoerbst (A), chair of TC10 (Computer Systems Technology),
announced that all WG chairs have been replaced.
Mrs. Patricia Glenn (CDN), chair of the task force on Harmonization
and Acceptance of International Standards for Information Technology
Professionals, announced plans for a workshop on this topic during
IFIP Congress '96 this September. This will be a working session,
not for education. Invited are all General Assembly (GA) representatives,
TC chairs who are interested in the topic, and other guests with
a knowledge of trade agreements in this field. Mrs. Glenn anticipates
a total attendance of over 50. A written report will be prepared.
Other noteworthy activity included the following:
Some concern was expressed over the number of IFIP events. In
the IFIP database, the number of events for which IFIP was the
full sponsor or the main co-sponsor decreased from 65 in 1994
to 48 in 1995. At present, only 27 such events are listed for
1996. We still do not know whether this reflects a trend, whether
it is a temporary aberration, or whether it is the result of failures
in the event-reporting process and has no significance at all.
More events may yet be entered into the database for 1996.
Publications
Dr. Roger Johnson (GB), chair of the Publications Committee (PC),
reported much better relations with C&H. As a result of his
monthly meetings with Mr. Mark Hammond, representative of C&H,
and regular consultation with PC members by e-mail, communication
is vastly improved. Progress is being made in terms of the publisher
marketing IFIP books, and the sales lifetime of books is better
than expected. For 1995, 38 books and one CD-ROM were produced,
and 30-35 are planned for 1996. The book (and CD-ROM version)
producing the largest income was the proceedings of the World
Conference on Computers and Education, edited by Tinsley and van
Weert, and the second most successful book was "Integrated
Network Management," by Sethi et al. The royalties from books
published in 1995 exceeded the amount guaranteed by C&H, which
expects revenues to increase by 20% in 1996.
A remaining problem, however, is that some TCs are unhappy when
C&H exercises the prerogative, specified in our contract,
not to publish books that C&H deems unlikely to be profitable.
One possible solution is for TCs to subsidize the publication
of low-volume proceedings of their conferences. No new proposals
regarding this issue, raised at the September 1995 GA in Calgary,
Canada, were put forward in the Council. Dr. Johnson also reminded
the Council that members of IFIP Member societies receive a 30%
discount on all IFIP books published by C&H as well as a 25%
reduction on all books in the information processing area published
by International Thomson Publishing, the parent company of C&H.
Very few individuals have taken advantage of this offer. Another
issue raised by Dr. Johnson was a study conducted by Mr. Howard
Funk (USA), an IFIP vice-president, that revealed a disappointingly
small number of citations of IFIP publications found in the information
processing literature. The cause is suspected to be poor distribution
of IFIP books. The PC expects to study this problem further.
A plan to donate copies of new IFIP books to IFIP Member societies
in developing countries was announced. The IFIP Secretariat will
advise the societies what books are available. They will be distributed
on a first-come first-served basis.
The first issue of the new journal "Education and Information
Technologies," produced by TC3, was in production and scheduled
to be distributed in April. The future of "Computers in Industry,"
the journal of TC5 (Computer Applications in Technology), is still
undecided. Discussions are continuing with both Elsevier, the
previous publisher, and C&H.
No new plans concerning electronic publication were presented
at the Council meeting, despite the interest expressed by the
1995 GA; however, a closely related issue, virtual conferences,
is being deliberated by TC6 An article on this can be found on
page _.
Technical Assembly Discussions
At the Technical Assembly (TA), a change in procedure resulted
in less discussion than usual among the TC and SG (Specialist
Group) chairs concerning mutual problems. Instead, time was devoted
to a number of topics of interest to all TCs and SGs: the process
for TC reviews, the geographical aspect of TC activities, the
role of Cognizant Officers, the appropriate number of TCs; maintaining
the quality of IFIP products (primarily conferences and publications);
and the proper role for the TA.
The IFIP document describing the TC review process was amended
by the TA. Suggestions for improving the process included returning
to the practice of including an external expert in the Review
Committee (at present, the committee consists of the Cognizant
Officer and the new TC chair) and assigning responsibility for
studying the review report to a member of the GA.
With respect to geographical concerns, it was generally agreed
that IFIP is best known and most active in Europe. Knowledge of
IFIP and representation in Southeast Asia is improving, as it
is in Africa. North American visibility of IFIP is poor, and it
has been difficult to keep South American Members. Some TCs address
the geographical issues by assigning different vice-presidents
to different regions. The matter of permitting more than one Member
society from any nation (consequently, more than one national
representative on a TC) was raised as a solution to the geographical
concerns. This will be discussed at the GA in September.
After a lengthy discussion, the TA decided that the position of
Cognizant Officer (CO) is useless. Since TC chairs are now members
of the GA and attend Council meetings, there is no longer a need
for trustees to be assigned the role of representing TCs at these
meetings. Furthermore, virtually no COs have been able to attend
the meetings of their TCs. The Council recommended that abolition
of the position of CO be considered by the September GA.
The TA also addressed the question of whether IFIP has too many
(or too few) TCs. Problems associated with a large number of TCs
include a) the large total travel expense for the chairs to attend
TC, Council, and GA meetings, b) the total expense for Member
societies to support national representatives on the TCs (a suggestion
was made that the position of national representative be abolished
and that TCs be allowed to determine their own membership), and
c) the time required for the TA, GA, and Council to consider all
TC reports. A means of alleviating some of these problems would
be to group the TCs according to major disciplines and have the
chairs of these TC groups represent the TCs in Council and GA.
The opposite point of view was to permit a limitless number of
(successful) TCs. A task force was created to propose how IFIP
might manage 25 or more TCs.
The discussion of maintaining the quality of IFIP events was a
continuation of one begun at the September 1995 TA. The proposals
made in Johannesburg were primarily related to assessing the quality
of IFIP products after the fact (e.g., examining the sales of
conference proceedings and studying questionnaires completed by
conference attendees). It was recognized that, at present, the
primary responsibility for the quality of IFIP products rests
with the chairs of the TCs and International Program Committees.
The problem of WGs organizing events without approval of their
TC chairs or IFIP was discussed. Such a practice is forbidden
and can lead to events of low quality. It was recognized, however,
that under special circumstances, WGs or other IFIP bodies should
be assisted in quickly organizing events. Although no plans exist
for the further discussion of this topic in the TA, some feel
that a process for improving the quality of IFIP products is essential
for the future of IFIP.
Other Activities
Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH), president of IFIP, opened the Council
meeting with the following observations:
IFIP is growing into an interactive system. It is gradually becoming
open and responsive to external developments and influences. We
are overcoming old patterns that IFIP and its bodies should perform
technical work in an atmosphere of a private club of IT professionals....We
have come a long way in providing better services to our Members
by establishing new communication and information channels via
the Internet and WorldWide Web. Many new list servers and home
pages were created, giving greater access to the IFIP products
and influencing the IFIP decision-making process in a positive
way....In outlining the challenges that are ahead of us, I should
like to stress the following:
Mr. Graham Morris, secretary of IFIP, reported that the Brazilian
Computer Society, admitted to IFIP by the 1994 GA, has now satisfied
the criteria for admission; however, the other two societies admitted
at that time have not. On behalf of the Statutes and Bylaws Committee,
he reported the two following proposed changes: a) the designation
of secretary-elect and treasurer-elect by the GA one year before
the terms of office of the secretary and treasurer are due to
expire, in order to prepare for the transition (and to provide
backup in case the secretary or treasurer is unable to complete
the term); and b) the authorization to conduct voting by e-mail,
in unusual cases. The proposals were approved by the Council and
will be taken up by the GA in September. Mr. Morris also mentioned
possible changes to the criteria for the Silver Core Award, which
may be brought to the GA in Canberra. Certain inequities have
been noted (e.g., both TC chairs and GA representatives must serve
for 6 years). Finally, he discussed a proposal to reduce the size
of the printed Information Bulletin and rely more upon the on-line
version to convey data about IFIP to its workers and the outside
world.
Other significant matters that were raised in the Council include
the following:
This Council meeting was unique in that it was organized by one
man, Mr. Christopher Guy, the South African representative to
IFIP, and that the financial support was given by the IBM Corporon,
whichwas financed by IBM and IFIP's TC11. All in attendance were
grateful for the efforts of Mr. Guy.
IBASE, AND CARLOS AFONSO
Brazilian Activities Commended
by Prof. Jacques Berleur (B)*
The 1995 IFIP Namur Award, presented by the Working Group on Computers
and Society (WG9.2), was granted to AlterNex, IBASE, and Mr. Carlos
Afonso (BR) in Namur, Belgium, in January. The Award, which consists
of a commemorative plate and a certificate, is made biannually
for an outstanding contribution to the creation of awareness of
the social implications of information technology. Its purpose
is to draw attention to the need for a holistic approach to the
use of information technology, in which the social implications
have been taken into account. Prior recipients were Prof. Joseph
Wiezenbaum (USA) in 1991 and Dr. Riccardo Petrella (Commission
of the European Communities) in 1993.
AlterNex
AlterNex is an international electronic information exchange system
created in Rio de Janeiro by the Brazilian Institute of Social
and Economic Analyses (IBASE). Today, AlterNex has nearly 6000
direct accounts, linking users from nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) in Brazil and dozens
of other countries, mostly in Latin America. In 1995, AlterNex
was the first organization to provide all basic on-line and off-line
Internet services to the general public in Brazil.
AlterNex is especially oriented to individuals and the community.
Environmental groups, human rights organizations, research and
consultancy centers, foundations, agencies, other special interest
groups, and individuals can use, via AlterNex, the resources of
small BBSs in several countries, any available Internet system,
and many commercial systems for an effective dialogue with partners
in Brazil and abroad.
Created in 1988 as an experimental system, AlterNex started full
24-hour operation in 1989, with little more than 40 users. A major
upgrade was carried out in 1992, after which the number of regular
users stabilized at around 800. During 1994, the number of regular
users doubled. Growth in 1995 was staggering for a small-scale
Internet service -- from 1700 users in January to nearly 6000
in December. Most of the new users are individuals (many of them
youngsters and senior citizens). The current user distribution
is 67% individuals, 20% NGOs, and the remainder from government
and private companies.
IBASE
IBASE is an independent, nonprofit consultancy and research NGO
founded in 1981 by a group of Brazilian expatriates -- social
scientists, computer experts, and others. Its central goal is
the promotion of democracy and the struggle against social exclusion.
IBASE aims to serve the community with a strategy of democratizing
information and facilitating access to it. IBASE is autonomous,
independent of political parties or religious faiths.
Its mission includes promotion of issue-oriented networks (such
as those related to the environment, labor unions, women's issues,
human rights, and the Campaign Against Hunger), developing new
information-dissemination mechanisms, and facilitating access
to network infobases.
IBASE was crucial in the national Campaign Against Hunger, providing
infrastructural support and information exchange services, producing
and distributing a newspaper with national circulation (100 000
copies), disseminating regular bulletins via its national fax
service, using its Internet expertise to disseminate information
(which has helped to mobilize many Brazilians abroad), producing
and disseminating video programs, and maintaining a team of facilitators
and journalists.
In 1990, IBASE joined institutions in other countries with similar
objectives to create the Association for Progressive Communications
(APC). AlterNex makes available, in collaboration with other APC
systems, more than 900 international electronic conferences on
hundreds of themes, open to all AlterNex users, in which some
of the most important international organizations participate.
These conferences are a large repository of information and are
updated, in some cases, almost every minute. It is mainly through
this exclusive conferencing system that APC is today the main
permanent international space for information exchange and debate
among NGOs.
The most significant undertaking of IBASE to contribute towards
effectively confronting the challenge of poverty and hunger in
Brazil has been its leading participation in the launching of
the Citizen's Action Against Misery and for Life, involving the
formation of thousands of local voluntary campaign committees,
in which all sectors of society participate in a creative search
for local solutions to the problems of hunger, poverty, unemployment,
and social injustice.
Choosing the Recipients
As a result of public announcement, the Namur Award Committee
received five nominations. The Committee, whose members were chosen
from and by WG9.2, studied the list and recommended a single candidate
to WG9.2, which granted the Namur Award to Mr. Carlos-Alberto
Afonso, the IBASE Director, as the representative of the community
of people and the group of persons forming AlterNex. The WG9.2
choice was spelled out as follows in its public report:
Since 1989, AlterNex, IBASE, and Afonso have been a beacon to
networking efforts in other developing countries, and an inspiration
to all. They have maintained an unrelenting commitment to social
justice, sustainable social and economic development, and the
principle of participatory democracy. Across Latin America, around
the world, within the NGO networking movement, and in all efforts
to build up sustained capacity at the grass roots level, the advice
and competence of the AlterNex community is widely sought and
respected....
* Chairman of Working Group 9.2 (The material describing AlterNex
and IBASE was taken from the third Namur Award Lecture by Mr.
Afonso.)
by Prof. Dr. Alexander Schill (D)*
From February 27 to March 1, 1996, the IFIP/IEEE (Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International Conference
on Distributed Platforms (ICDP '96) was held in Dresden, Germany.
The major topic of the Conference was software solutions for advanced
client/server applications in open computer networks. The Conference
attendance was quite good, with almost 350 participants from more
than 15 countries. Several participants came from Eastern Europe,
permitting a real international dialogue on advanced client/server
technology. (In addition, there were students and others not paying
the full registration fee.) Industry representation was strong,
with more than 50% of the participants coming from industry.
During the first day, tutorials were given by well-known international
experts on workflow management, open distributed processing, mobile
computing, OSF (Open Software Foundation) DCE security (distributed
computing environment), OMG (Object Management Group) CORBA (common
object request broker architecture), and reengineering legacy
systems.
The conference itself was opened by the prime minister of the
German state of Saxony, Prof. Dr. Kurt Biedenkopf, who emphasized
the importance and the opportunities of information and communication
technology for the region and for the world. He also asked industry
to support the younger generation to explore the emerging technologies,
in order to establish a broad awareness in society.
Dr. Richard Soley (USA), vice-president and technical director
of the OMG, delivered the keynote speech. In his talk on creating
consensus for distributed computing, he emphasized the importance
of standards, interoperability, and pragmatic, industry-driven
solutions for open client/server systems. Other invited speakers
were Dr. Chris Horn (IRL) and Dr. Nigel Davies (GB), who added
other relevant topics such as examples of real-world applications
and new trends and developments in the mobile computing area.
The main part of the Conference consisted of 45 presentations
from research and industry. Current applications of DCE and CORBA
were discussed, illustrating the current status of research and
development in this field. New interoperability solutions among
these platforms were also outlined, and various performance studies
were presented. Of specific interest were talks on computer-supported
cooperative work in distributed systems. Moreover, a look to the
future made clear that much research must still be done in order
to enable a seamless implementation of distributed multimedia
systems using client/server standards.
The conference included two panel discussions, which touched on
electronic commerce, security, mobile applications, and new application
domains. Augmenting the conference was an industry presentation
with about 10 different demonstrations and companies.
The primary organisers of ICDP '96 were the IFIP Working Group
on Architecture and Protocols for Computer Networks (WG6.1), IEEE
Communications Society, and Dresden University of Technology.
The conference proceedings, entitled "Distributed Platforms"
and edited by Prof. Alexander Schill, Dr. Christian Mittasch,
Prof. Otto Spaniol, and Dr. Claudia Popien (all from Germany),
have been published by Chapman & Hall.
*a chair of ICDP '96
by Dr. Jaroslav Dolezal (CZ)*
<Although this report is no longer "news," we print
it to illustrate the kinds of problems that can beset event organizers.
-- Editor>
The 17th IFIP Conference on System Modelling and Optimization
took place in Prague, Czech Republic, July 10-14, 1995, organised
by the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The Czech Society for Cybernetics
and Informatics, the new representative of the Czech Republic
in IFIP, was a co-sponsor. As usual, the IFIP Technical Committee
on System Modelling and Optimization (TC7) was the main sponsor.
TC7 promotes theoretical and applied research in areas of system
modelling and optimization. There were 185 registered participants
from 37 countries.
These biannual general conferences bring together TC7 Working
Groups and a wide scientific and engineering community. The topics
included but were not limited to optimization theory, optimal
control, mathematical programming, discrete systems, stochastic
optimization, and applied modelling and optimization.
At the very last moment, Prague was selected to replace the original
venue in the United States. Since the Czech Academy of Sciences
is primarily an organisation representing fundamental research
institutions and lacks facilities suitable for the efficient organisation
of large conferences, such facilities had to be rented. Consequently,
the organisers, without any other source of funding, were forced
to charge a higher conference fee than at previous conferences.
There was also very little possibility to subsidize participation
from economically poor areas; however, Honeywell Technology Center
of the United States provided funds to cover the participation
of a few prominent scientists from the former Soviet Union.
In spite of the effort to avoid "no-show" authors, by
requiring advanced payment of the registration fee for participants
with a contribution, a nonnegligible number of authors, mainly
Russian, cancelled their confirmed participation at the very last
moment or simply did not arrive. Such behaviour caused additional
expenses to the organisers. Also several "nonpaying"
participants (not only from soft-currency areas) attended, which
did not contribute to a balanced budget.
The proceedings, "System Modelling and Optimization,"
edited by J. Dolezal and J. Fidler and published early in 1996,
contain invited papers and contributions selected during the second
review phase, which took place during the conference. Originally
over 400 submissions were received. Since TC7's traditional publisher,
Springer-Verlag, is no longer interested in publishing conference
proceedings, the new IFIP publisher, Chapman & Hall, was contacted
and showed enough flexibility to handle this case. Such a change
necessitated some modifications in the usual publication process,
mainly with respect to the shorter deadline for the final manuscript
submission and an overall page limit. The final competition was
a keen one; only one third of the presented papers could be included.
Finally, cordial thanks should be expressed to all active members
of the International Program Committee, chaired by Prof. Palle
Thoft-Christensen (DK), for the difficult task of soliciting the
best contributions for this volume and to members of the local
Organising Committee.
* chair of the Conference Organizing Committee, representative
of the Czech Republic in the IFIP General Assembly and TC7, and
vice-chair of WG7.6
ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION
In September 1995, the IFIP Technical Assembly, meeting in Calgary,
approved the formation of a new Working Group on Architectures
for Enterprise Integration (WG5.12). Following are the Aims and
Scope of this new WG.
AIMS
SCOPE
The multi-disciplinary perspective of WG5.12 is expressed in the
strategy of developing liaisons and co-sponsoring activities with
other relevant Working Groups and Technical Committees of IFIP
and other organizations that are conducting research and development
in enterprise-integration technology.
CONSTITUENTS
Prior to the March IFIP Council meeting in Johannesburg, Mrs.
Pat Glenn (CDN), the new chair of the Marketing Committee (MC),
sent a document to members of the IFIP community in which she
outlined IFIP and its products and services and solicited suggestions
for the upcoming MC meeting.
During that meeting, the IFIP constituency was identified:
- Member societies (actual and prospective) - members of Member societies - Technical Committees, Specialist Groups, and Working Groups - industry - governments - universities - international organizations (e.g., UNESCO) - developing countries - IFIP conference attendees (actual and prospective) - purchasers of IFIP publications (actual and prospective purchasers) - the research and development community - IFIP Supporters
The essential task of IFIP is to serve this constituency in the
best way possible.
Next, the MC mission was identified: to reposition IFIP as THE
international information technology organization dealing with
IT matters globally and locally. Finally, a plan evolved for engaging
a consultant to assist in clarifying the actions to be taken in
achieving that mission. The steps in the consultant's activity
identified by the MC were as follows:
1. Preparation of the schedule for the project.
3. Gathering of information:
types of information:
what IFIP now does for its constituents what IFIP might do for them calls for papers, calls for participation, publication lists, TC reviews
sources of information:
TCs, SGs, and WGs IFIP Secretariat other bodies (e.g., Congress committees) Member societies
3. Preparation by consultant of matrix stating how each IFIP body serves each of the IFIP constituents.
4. Transmission of this matrix, for validation, to TC chairs, committees, and General Assembly (GA) representatives.
5. Preparation by consultant of listing of what IFIP does or can do for each constituent and what IFIP wants from each constituent. (This step can be done in parallel with some of the preceding steps.)
6. Transmission of all these analyses to GA, TCs, etc. for verification.
7. "Interviews" held by consultant with appropriate people, to determine what they would like to see from IFIP.
8. Preparation by consultant of marketing strategy/plan proposal in time for the 1996 GA.
9. Review by Marketing Committee of proposal and interaction with consultant.
10. Approval by 1996 GA of proposal in September (consultant should
be at the presentation).
The division of labor between the consultant and IFIP volunteers
is still undecided. Volunteers familiar with IFIP can perform
some of the tasks more effectively than an outside consultant;
however, an outsider can often make more objective observations.
The MC plans to complete the task by September. It eagerly solicits
suggestions from the IFIP community. Please communicate such suggestions
to
Mrs. Patricia Glenn c/o CIPS 430 King St. West, Suite 106 Toronto, Ontario M5V 1L5, Canada tel: +1 (416) 593-4040, fax: +1 (416) 593-5184
Prof. Dr. Otto Spaniol, the chairman of the IFIP Technical Committee
on Communication Systems (TC6), was born in 1945 in the very small
village of Otzanhausen, Germany, some 50 km from Luxemburg. He
studied mathematics and physics at the University of Saarbruecken
from 1964 to 1968, after which he engaged in research and teaching,
as an Assistant professor in the Computer Science Department of
the University until 1976. Moving to Bonn, he served as Associate
Professor at the University until 1981, specializing in the area
of operating systems. For 3 years, he was a full Professor at
the University of Frankfurt, also in operating systems, after
which he moved to the Aachen University of Technology, specializing
in communication systems.
Prof. Spaniol has a particular interest in interdisciplinary activities, encouraging intensive cooperation among the departments of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Philosophy. His main areas of interest in research and engineering are distributed systems, modeling and evaluation of computer systems, and network management. Almost all activities are related to communication systems
-- in particular, high-speed networks and mobile communication.
A newly developed interest is in distance learning.
He has engaged in a variety of consulting activities in Germany
for ministries, industry, and other organizations, in particular
the European Union in Brussels.
He is also the author of books, research articles, and encyclopedia
articles, as well as the coeditor of computer science journals.
He has been a Governor of ICCC (International Council for Computer
Communication) since 1992.
Within the German Computer Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik),
he is a member of many committees of different interest groups.
He served as chairman of the computer networks group for 6 years.
For 8 years, the maximum possible time, he served as chairman
of the computer science section of the German Research Council
(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), and it is this position of
which he is most proud, since this is conferred by an anonymous
vote of all German computer science professors.
His affiliation with IFIP began in 1983, when he was named German
member of TC6. He was chosen as TC6 chair in 1992. In that year,
he also received the IFIP Silver Core Award.
In his spare time, Prof. Spaniol enjoys bicycling, especially
with members of his department, which has won more than 50 trophies
(not for speed, but for number of participants or perhaps for
weight). Another source of relaxation is shortwave radio listening.
Last, but not least, he is an enthusiast of satirical reviews,
which he emulates with his own contributions, such as humorous
lectures and a regular satirical column in a scientific(!) German-language
journal, written under the pseudonym-anagram "Alois Potton."
He and his wife Renate have a son Marc.
Ms. Dorothy Hayden
Participants in the March IFIP Council meeting in Johannesburg were pleased to meet Ms. Dorothy Hayden, the Administrative Assistant of the IFIP Secretariat in Laxenburg, Austria. Many had communicated with her by e-mail, snail-mail, facsimile, or telephone, but few had met her face to face. She joined the Secretariat last September, after employment with Avis, Bank Austria, and Brother. Ms. Hayden, who lives in Baden, near Vienna, enjoys hiking, biking, and tennis.
Welcome to IFIP, Dorothy!
Dr. William C.
Carter
We regret to announce the recent death of Dr. William C. Carter
(USA), one of the founders of the Working Group on Dependable
Computing and Fault Tolerance (WG10.4). He was a totally committed
member of WG10.4 and had the highest respect of all his colleagues.
by Mr. Dudley Dolan (IRL)*
In 1988, a report prepared by the Finnish Information Technology
Advisory Committee concluded that "it would be beneficial
for citizens to possess such facility for applying Information
Technology (IT) that everyone could participate in their workplaces
to the required degree..., form opinions about the use of IT in
society, and benefit from the opportunities it creates."
Research was initiated into the requirements for basic computer
literacy and the potential student body. As a result, the idea
of a Computer Driving Licence was first mooted in 1992, and the
first such Licences were issued in 1994. To date, some 11 000
Licences have been issued in Finland. Courses are given by adult
education centres, summer schools, vocational colleges, training
companies, and other institutions. Permission to organize examinations
and award Licenses has been granted to over 200 such schools.
The aim of the examination is to direct the study of IT-users,
taking the needs of working life and the private citizen into
account. Those passing the examinations show that they have the
basic skills in IT widely required in today's information society
and are ready for multifunctional work using IT. The Licence certifies
that the holder can perform basic tasks competently using a computer.
The examination requires that the student passes seven elements,
six of which are "hands on." The one theoretical module
verifies that the student has an overall picture of IT and its
significance, an understanding of the basic Information Systems
in operation in the student's society, and the significance of
these systems for the individual, business activity, and society.
The other six modules are a "six-pack" of generally
useful functions that can be performed using a computer. They
consist of equipment use and data management, word processing,
spreadsheets, databases, presentation and drawing, and the use
of telecommunications networks (for access to e-mail, World Wide
Web pages, etc.).
It is anticipated that the introduction of a European Computer
Driving Licence (ECDL) will lead to increased employment opportunities
for many groups of people, including the following:
The ECDL will be administered in each country by the CEPIS Member
Society. (CEPIS, The Council of European Professional Informatics
Societies, an Affiliate Member of IFIP, has 20 members in 17 European
countries.) Training and accreditation centres will be approved,
and the whole process will be automated to as high a degree as
possible. It should be possible for a person to access the Internet
and pass a test for renewal of the License without any human intervention.
A goal is to establish procedures to ensure that the administrative
load of running the scheme will be as light as possible.
One social aspect which the ECDL addresses from a European point
of view is that it helps reduce the risk of a two-tier society
of haves and have-nots, in which only a part of the population
has access to the new technology, is comfortable using it, and
can fully enjoy its benefits.
Finland, with a population of five million persons, has a target
of issuing one million Licences. Currently, another nine countries
in addition to Finland are working in a task force organized by
CEPIS and exploring the possibilities of introducing the ECDL
to a wider audience. The other countries involved in the task
force are Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, The
Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Assistance for the start-up of the project is being provided by
the European Commission.
CEPIS hopes that the introduction of the ECDL will play a key
role in raising awareness about the use of IT and thus raise the
profile of CEPIS and its Member Societies.
* IFIP trustee, vice-chairman of the CEPIS ECDL task force
Fifth IFIP/IEEE Intl. Symp. on Integrated Network Management -- ISINM '97 12-16 May 97, San Diego, CA, U.S.A. papers due: 1 Jul 96 contact: http://www.ctr.columbia.edu/isinm97/submit.html or (Americas, Australia) Aurel A. Lazar Department of Electrical Engineering Columbia University New York, NY 10027-6699, U.S.A. e-mail: aurel@ctr.columbia.edu or (Europe, Asia, Africa) Roberto Saracco CSELT Via Reiss Romoli 274 10148 Torino, Italy e-mail: roberto.saracco@cselt.stet.it Second IFIP TC6 Workshop on Personal Wireless Communications 10-12 Dec 96, Frankfurt am Main, Germany papers due: 16 Aug 96 contact: Prof. Dr. Oswald Drobnik Fachbereich Informatik (Telematik) Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität D-60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany tel: +49 69 798 28362, fax: +49 69 798 23340 e-Mail: pwc96@tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de WWW homepage: http://www.tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/pwc96/ Intl. Conf. on Open Distributed Processing -- ICODP 97 26-30 May 97, Toronto, On., Canada papers due: 27 Sep 96 contact: ICODP'97 Jacob Slonim IBM Centre for Advanced Studies 844 Don Mills Road North York, Ontario, Canada M3C 1V7 tel:+1 (416) 448-2245, fax:+1 (416) 448-2859 e-mail: icodp97@vnet.ibm.com Thirteenth IFIP WG10.5 Conf. on Computer Hardware Description Languages and Their Applications -- CHDL '97 20-26 Apr 97, Toledo, Spain papers due: 1 Oct 96 contact: Eduard Cerny Université de Montreal, Dept. IRO C.P, 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville Montreal (Quebec), Canada H3C.3J7 tel: +1 (514) 343-7472, fax: +1 (514) 343-5834 e-mail: cerny@iro.umontreal.ca Ninth IFIP TC10 Intl. Conf. VLSI'97 26-29 Aug 97, Gramado, Brazil papers due: 20 Feb 97 contact: Luc Claesen/VLSI'97 IMEC/Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Kapeldreef 79 B-3001 Leuven, Belgium tel: +32-16-281203, fax: +32-16-281501 e-mail: Claesen@imec.be
Will event organizers please note that calls for papers cannot
be listed in this column until the events have been approved by
IFIP.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND COUNCIL (and related meetings)
GA 6-10 Sep 96 (Fri.-Tues.) Canberra, Australia Council 3-6 Mar 97 Bratislava, Slovakia GA (contiguous to IFIP Congress '98) Vienna, Austria, or Budapest, Hungary GA (contiguous to IFIP Congress 2000) Beijing, China
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE AND WORKING GROUP MEETINGS
TC2 13-14 Jul 96 Oxford, U.K. WG2.1 10-14 Jun 96 Rancho Santa Fe, CA, U.S.A. 17-22 Feb 97 Bischenberg, Alsace, France WG2.2 Sep/Oct 96 Macao 97 Graz, Austria WG2.3 Jan 97 California, U.S.A. WG2.4 3-7 Jun 96 Ameland, The Netherlands Jun 97 Berlin, Germany 98 Colorado, U.S.A. WG2.5 8-12 Jul 96 Oxford, U.K. WG2.6 24-26 Jun 96 Antwerp, Belgium WG2.8 23-27 Sep 97 New Paltz, NY, USA WG2.9 Jun 96 Northwestern USA TC3 1-2 Sep 96 Wollongong, Australia 97 Ghent, Belgium, or The Netherlands Sep 98 Vienna, Austria 99 Copenhagen, Denmark WG5.7 6 Nov 96 Kyoto, Japan TC6 Oct 96 Harare, Zimbabwe Apr 97 Cambridge, UK Sep/Oct 97 Beijing, China, or Tunisia Apr/May 98 Bulgaria or Denmark 98 South Africa ? TC7 17-20 Jun 96 Munich, Germany Jul 97 Detroit, MI, USA Jul 99 Cambridge, UK WG7.4 Sep 96 Braunschweig, Germany WG7.7 Jun 96 ? WG8.2 Dec 96 (with ICIS) Cleveland, OH, U.S.A. Dec 97 (with ICIS) Atlanta, GA, U.S.A. WG9.5 7 Jul 96 Brighton, U.K. 97 Brazil TC10 Sep 96 Canberra, Australia WG10.4 27 Jun - 2 Jul 96 Marioka, Japan WG11.3 22-24 Jul 96 Como, Italy WG11.4 Jul 96 U.S.A. WG12.2 3-6 Jul 96 (with ICML96) Bari, Italy WG14.3 Sep 96 Manchester, U.K.
Executive Board
K. Bauknecht President CH 95-98 A. Rolstadas Past-Pres. N 95-96 H.L. Funk Vice-Pres. USA 94-97 A.W. Goldsworthy Vice-Pres. AUS 95-98 W. Brauer Vice-Pres. D 95-98 G.R. Fairall Vice-Pres. ZW 95-96 G.J. Morris Secretary GB 93-96 A. Melbye Treasurer DK 93-96
Trustees
M. Ozeki J 93-96 D. Dolan IRL 94-97 D. Khakhar S 93-96 W. Grafendorfer A 95-98 P. Glenn CDN 94-97 M. Gottlieb IL 95-98 R. Johnson GB 95-98 C. Guy ZA 95-97
TC2: R. Kurki-Suonio SF 95-97 TC3: P. Bollerslev DK 91-96 TC5: T. Mikami J 93-96 TC6: O. Spaniol D 92-97 TC7: P. Kall CH 95-98 TC8: B. Glasson AUS 96-98 TC9: P. Jaervinen SF 96-98 TC10: E. Hoerbst A 93-96 TC11: B. von Solms ZA 94-98 TC12: L. Carlucci-Aiello I 96-98 TC13: J. Hammond AUS 95-98 SG14: J. Gruska SK 89-95
A Austria AUS Australia B Belgium BR Brazil CDN Canada CH Switzerland CZ The Czech Republic D Germany DK Denmark E Spain GB United Kingdom H Hungary I Italy IL Israel IND India IRL Ireland J Japan N Norway S Sweden SF Finland USA USA ZA South Africa ZW Zimbabwe