by Ms. Judy Hammond (AUS)* IFIP Is Now an "NGO in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO"
Following is the text of a letter sent in June by Mr. Federico Mayor, the Director-General of UNESCO, to Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH), president of IFIP:
It is my pleasure to inform you that the Executive Board, at its recent 151st session, decided to admit the International Federation for Information Processing into formal consultative relations with UNESCO ... The advantages and obligations pertaining to this new relationship ... constitute a formal commitment on the part of both parties.
I need hardly emphasize the significance of the formal bond which UNESCO is proposing to establish with your organization, and draw your attention to the philosophy underlying the new era of cooperation opening up between UNESCO and the non-governmental community, in which the role of your organization is of great importance.
... This relationship between UNESCO and the International Federation for Information Processing, which is established for a renewable period of six years, will become effective once the competent body of your organization has signified its acceptance of the obligations and advantages the relationship entails. Thereafter, the term "NGO in formal consultative relations with UNESCO" may be used to describe your organization's relations with UNESCO.
UNESCO looks forward to a new period of close and fruitful partnership in our converging endeavours in the service of international co-operation and development.
In September, the IFIP Executive Board accepted the arrangement and reported it to the General Assembly in Canela, Brazil. As a result, IFIP is now one of only 80 NGOs with formal consultative relations with UNESCO.
In order to be so admitted to UNESCO, organizations "must have given proof of their ability to supply UNESCO, at its request, with competent advice on questions coming within their purview and to contribute effectively by their activities to the implementation of UNESCO's programme." Such organizations are required to keep the Director-General informed of relevant activities, keep their members informed of relevant UNESCO activities, give advice on and provide assistance to UNESCO programs, upon the Director-General's request, contribute to the UNESCO program, invite UNESCO representatives to their meetings, report on activities, and provide other services. These organizations may also submit written statements to the Director-General, address plenary meetings of the UNESCO General Conference, be invited by the Director-General to send observers to meetings organized by UNESCO, and be entitled to other benefits.
This acceptance by UNESCO was the result of extensive contacts made by President Bauknecht and Mr. Plamen Nedkov, the IFIP-UNESCO Liaison Officer. We congratulate them on their accomplishment and look forward to closer contact with the organization that sponsored the 1959 World Computer Congress, from which IFIP was born.
by Ms. Judy Hammond (AUS)*
The IFIP Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction (TC13) held its sixth international conference, INTERACT '97, 16-18 July in Sydney, Australia. Hosted by the Australian Computer Society (ACS), INTERACT '97 signalled major changes, showing a marked increase in interest about HCI in countries that have not traditionally been active in the field, as well as the expansion of information technology (IT) into new areas of work and leisure by means of new, pervasive, powerful systems increasingly based on multimedia and the Internet. More than 300 participants, from 22 countries, attended. The proceedings, edited by Dr. Steve Howard (AUS), Ms. Judy Hammond (AUS), TC13 chair and INTERACT '97 Conference chair, and Dr. Gitte Lindgaard (AUS), were published by Chapman & Hall.
Mr. Tom Worthington, the ACS President, welcomed the delegates to Australia. In the opening session, the keynote speaker, Dr. Lucy Suchman (USA), reflected on the past ten years of developments in computing and HCI. She said that while interesting developments have unquestionably emerged during that time in terms of what people have characterised as nonhuman agency, critical issues remain. These issues have to do with the fundamental character of the problem of mutual intelligibility of action between people and machines, and the reliance of mutual intelligibility on participation in a social world not reducible to discrete abilities and skills. Her address focussed especially on the relation of everyday working practices to computer systems design and concluded that system design must include not only the design of innovative artifacts but also their artful integration with the rest of the social and material world.
Control of Devices by Brain Waves
Invited-speaker sessions offered unique perspectives highlighting cooperation between people and machines. For example, how many of us would like to be able to turn lights off or open garage doors by just thinking it? A team of researchers from the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney, led by Prof. Ashley Craig, revealed how detection of certain EEG signals in the brain has made it possible for people to switch electrical appliances off and on by merely blinking (which alters brain wave patterns). The second invited speaker addressed the social context of computer use. Dr. Bruce Wilson, Director of the Union Research Centre for Office Technology, Australia, described an applied participative approach that enabled worker expertise to be contributed effectively in large-scale organisational and technological change projects (such as business process reengineering).
The Programme
The Conference programme, consisting of four parallel sessions with presentations by experts from all continents except Antarctica, included papers, panel sessions, which aroused considerable debate, new-technology demonstrations, a forum on positioning usability in organisations, and industry overviews. Posters, videos, exhibits by major HCI developers and hands-on interactive experiences created with leading edge systems and approaches were displayed throughout the conference. A full programme of 14 tutorials and four workshops was attended by approximately 220 people. These one-day events addressed "hot" topics in HCI, often with a strong industry focus.
Nine HCI research post-graduate students were selected to participate in a one-day Doctoral Consortium prior to the Conference, in which students presented papers on their research and received critical advice and new insights from international HCI experts.
A novel competition challenged delegates to critique the Web site prototype of a fictitious company, searching for high-impact usability defects by observing users as they struggled with poorly designed Web pages (created especially for the competition). A portable usability laboratory was used, complete with computers, cameras, one-way window, and (of course) users.
INTERACT '97 Organisation
Most of the organisation work was conducted electronically. With members of the International Programme Committee living in many parts of the world, and the 28 volunteer Technical and Organising Committee members residing in one New Zealand city and four Australian cities, e-mail and listserver facilities were invaluable. Prof. Brian Shackel (GB), the previous TC13 chair, acted as Conference Advisor. INTERACT '97 received outstanding support from 14 industry sponsors and 8 Australian universities, as well as 20 cooperating professional societies in the world-wide HIC community.
INTERACT '97 was judged to be an overwhelming success by its participants, some of whom are already making plans to attend the next IFIP international HCI conference, INTERACT '99, to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, 30 August - 3 September, 1999.
* TC13 chair and INTERACT '97 Conference Chair
The IFIP Technical Committee on System Modeling and Optimization (TC7) was founded in 1972 at the initiative of Prof. A.V. Balakrishnan (USA), its first chair, who has remained very active in the TC until quite recently. His successors were Prof. Josef Stoer (D, 1979-1985), Prof. Mario Lucertini (I, 1985-1988), Prof. Palle Thoft-Christensen (DK, 1988-1995), and the current chair, Prof. Peter Kall (CH).
The TC deals with the computational aspects of modeling (or simulation) and optimization in areas such as meteorology, manufacturing (scheduling, supply, distribution of products, etc.), economics, public services (transportation, environment, etc.), aerospace, communications, and, of course, computer networks and computer systems themselves. Generally speaking, the scope of TC7 is two-fold: to foster the theoretical foundation of problems within the TC's concern and, based thereupon, to develop or improve solution methods and their implementations. Although similar work is carried out in various mathematical organizations, TC7 stresses the implementation of algorithms. The broadening of the TC's scope, as reflected by the increase in the number of Working Groups, corresponds to both the progress in theoretical research and the growth in the need for practical solutions. We cite here just a couple of examples of progress in the field:
The TC holds a general Conference on System Modeling and Optimization every two years, the nineteenth of which will take place in Cambridge, U.K., in 1999. (The Organizing Committee chair is hoping to charge a low registration fee and thus attract more young people.) These conferences typically have approximately 250 participants; however, some have attracted over 400 people. The Working Groups (WGs) of TC7 organize some of the sessions at the general conferences as well as their own conferences.
The bulk of the TC7 work is carried out by its seven WGs, which are described below. The size and the level of activity of the WGs vary widely, and the topics they cover are very diverse. Furthermore, the expertise of the members ranges widely, from applied to theoretical, and their ages vary too. One area in which more diversity would be welcome is that of geography; in particular, greater activity in Asia would be welcome. Since 1990, the WGs have been involved in no fewer than 61 events -- working conferences, workshops, and seminars, most of which have published proceedings -- either as main sponsors or co-sponsors.
Some of these WGs enjoy a great deal of independence, adopting the position that they do not need the IFIP umbrella in order to pursue their activities. They occasionally publish their proceedings and other books with publishers other than the official IFIP publisher, and they are financially independent. However, IFIP considers them to be an asset to the Federation and encourages them to increase their ties with the other WGs in their own TC as well as with the other IFIP TCs.
WG7.1 on Modeling and Simulation (established in 1972) is concerned with the simulation of large and complex systems, and investigates topics such as modeling and identification (an area of statistics) methodology, simulation methodology, computer simulation languages, and interactive on-line computation. For complex environmental, biological, and societal systems, new techniques have been developed, based on pattern recognition methods, the finite elements approach, and new database organizations.
The activities of WG7.2 on Computational Techniques in Distributed Systems (established in 1973) range from computational techniques in mechanics to applications in economics, biomedical engineering, and material science. Some recent topics have also included identification and optimal control of systems governed by partial differential equations, problems in elasticity and plasticity, and "smart" materials methodologies, e.g., spectral methods and wavelets.
WG7.3 on Computer Systems Modeling (established in 1973) is directed toward improving the art of analyzing and optimizing performance and costs of data processing systems through the use of analytical models. Its aim is to promote research in the area of performance evaluation of computer and communication systems by means of both mathematical and empirical methods. All aspects of computer and networking performance evaluation are considered, including mathematical models, measurement, and simulation.
WG7.4 on Discrete Optimization (established in 1986) deals primarily with fundamental issues of discrete mathematics, such as graph theory, finite algebras, polyhedral combinatorics, and discrete probability, and the WG develops the corresponding methodology, such as topological network design, network optimization, scheduling and routing, game theory, and combinatorial solutions of graph problems.
WG7.5 on Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems (established in 1986) promotes optimization and reliability theory as applied to modern structural systems (e.g., bridges, dams, and oil platforms) and is concerned with, among other topics, the development of computational techniques for structural reliability and optimization problems, including techniques for optimal inspection and maintenance.
The scope of the activities of WG7.6 on Optimization-Based Computer-Aided Modeling and Design (established in 1989) encompasses computer-supported applications and implementations of sophisticated optimization techniques in such areas as engineering, management, industry, ecology, and medicine. In particular, modeling of complex information systems such as knowledge-based systems, decision-support systems, and expert systems, which include optimization or multi-criteria decision making, are within the focus of the WG.
WG7.7 on Stochastic Optimization (established in 1989) is primarily concerned with the solution of optimization problems involving, in an essential way, stochastic components (random variables or stochastic processes) as problem parameters. In order to have robust solutions with respect to random parameter variations, we must replace the original problem and its random data with an appropriate deterministic substitute problem. The main goal at present is to develop efficient numerical solution procedures, including the software. A second goal is the application of the resulting stochastic optimization techniques to concrete optimization problems from engineering and economics.
"In the future," says Prof. Kall, "we expect, on the one hand, a continuously ongoing activity of our Working Groups within the framework of their aims and scopes. At least in part, the discussion will turn to (very) large scale problems -- to find adequate methods as well as sufficiently efficient implementations. Supercomputers will be of some help, but, for instance, solving during our lifetime a stochastic program with recourse having between 10¸µ and 10æµ scenarios (as reported by the U.S. communication industry in 1994), or dealing with with portfolio selection problems modeled as multistage stochastic programs with as many scenarios goes beyond the possibilities of any machine; hence, we also need new mathematical ideas! On the other hand, we face the need to revise the TC7 mission, e.g., by incorporating subjects like discrete event systems and simulation, fractals and chaos, virtual reality and environments, and scientific visualization into the concern of our WGs."
 TC7 Chairman: Prof. Dr. Peter Kall |
 TC7 Vice-Chairperson: Prof. Irena Lasiecka |
| Working Group 7.1: Modeling and Simulation WG7.1 Chairman: Prof. Arunabha Bagchi |
Working Group 7.2: Computational Techniques in Distributed Systems WG7.2 Chairperson: Prof. Irena Lasiecka |
| Working Group 7.3: Computer System Modeling  WG7.3 Chairman: Prof. Richard R. Muntz |
Working Group 7.4: Discrete Optimization  WG7.4 Chairman: Prof. Dr. Uwe Zimmermann |
| Working Group 7.5: Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems  WG7.5 Chairman: Prof. Andrzej S. Nowak |
Working Group 7.6: Optimization-Based Computer-Aided Modeling and Design  WG7.6 Chairman: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Sebastian |
| Working Group 7.7: Stochastic Optimization  WG7.7 Chairman: Prof. Dr. Kurt Marti |
by Prof. Louise Yngstrom (S)*
In 1989, IFIP Working Group 9.2, which is concerned with Computers and Society, decided to establish the Namur Award, to be made biennially for an outstanding contribution to the creation of awareness of the social implications of information technology (IT). Its purpose is to draw attention to the need for a holistic approach to the use of IT, in which the social implications have been taken into account.
Nominations for the 1998 Award were invited by public announcement in the IFIP Newsletter and international specialist journals, as well as on the Internet. The Namur Award Committee, whose members were chosen by and from the members of WG9.2, scrutinised the nominees and recommended a single candidate. This nomination was accepted unanimously during the WG9.2 meeting in January 1997. As a result, the fourth Namur Award will be made to Prof. Gunilla Bradley, Professor of Technology and Social Change at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Former recipients of the Award are Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum (M.I.T., U.S.A.), Dr. Riccardo Petrella (head of the European FAST programme), and Mr. Carlos-Alberto Afonso (representative of the Alternex Community, Brazil). Details can be found on page 3 of the June 1996 IFIP Newsletter.
The Award, which consists of a commemorative plate and a certificate, will be presented at a ceremony in Namur, Belgium, in January 1998, in conjunction with the WG9.2 meeting.
Prof. Bradley is a pioneer of interdisciplinary research concerning IT and its impacts, and the interrelations between techniques, organisations, and humans. In her work, she has always refrained from fractionalising, in order to keep the holistic perspective, and she has never tired in her mission to put forward the human needs and possibilities in relation to IT structures.
Prof. Gunilla Bradley
Her internationally popular text book Computers and the Psychosocial Work Environment presents the essence of the research on the "psychosocial environment" that she originally outlined theoretically in her Ph.D. thesis in 1972 (Women and Career) and carried out nationally and internationally since then in enterprises and government organisations: sound psychosocial workplaces and environments produce viable and profitable services and products. Her work has influenced lawmakers to be aware of and to include in laws the psychological and social adaptation of work to human factors, and she has influenced scholars all over the world through lectures, conferences, and textbooks. Today, her work continues in a cross-disciplinary manner into comparing and analysing societal and psychosocial challenges in modern IT domains such as rural vs. suburban communities, and various interactive creative learning environments. She is dedicated to enlightening society to the needs for true human qualities in the IT era.
Since the early 1980s, she has held positions at Stockholm University, Stanford University (U.S.A.), the Royal Institute of Technology, the International Ergonomics Association, and the Swedish National Committee of Psychology. Lately, she has devoted much time to the Organisational Design and Management (ODAM) conferences, for which she was the general chair from 1992 to 1994.
Prof. Bradley also stands out as a role model for women in IT, encouraging researchers of many disciplines to follow their own directions, even though they may not be the fashions of the day. She has persistently stressed the needs and possibilities of all those women who historically, with batch systems, on-line systems with display terminals, and micro-computers, have made up the basic work force required for the development of today's and tomorrow's IT systems -- this way empowering humans on all levels with the knowledge of what is needed to carry out human-oriented, viable, but also economically feasible, developments.
In the opinion of WG9.2, the work of Prof. Gunilla Bradley firmly supports the work and spirit of WG9.2, now and in the future. By offering this award to Prof. Bradley, we honour a woman who symbolises the persistence it takes to create better awareness of the social implications of IT.
* member of TC9 and WG9.2
The ninth PROLAMAT conference will expand the traditional design and manufacturing issues of this conference series to include the concept of teams and virtual enterprises that come together in space and time to develop new products and bring them to global markets. Manufacturing issues and information models have long been part of concurrent engineering; they are increasingly important in new-product innovation and in the development of manufacturing plans and processes that span multiple companies and multiple time zones.
The PROLAMAT conferences are international events, well known for demonstrating and evaluating activities and progress in the field of discrete manufacturing. Traditionally held every three years, they cover the entire area of advanced software technology for design and discrete manufacturing. PROLAMAT '98 will be held in Trento, Italy, 9-11 September 1998. It will be sponsored by the IFIP Working Groups on Computer-Aided Design (WG5.2) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (WG5.3). Prof. Gianni Jacucci (I) is Conference chair, and Mr. M. Marchese (I) is chair of the Organizing Committee.
The Conference will be based on three tracks, as follows.
Track 1 -- Sharing experience from telecommunication use in industry for agility and innovation: Globalization of product opportunities and manufacturing processes, along with advances in digital communications, are enabling and demanding agility and rapid enterprise innovation. A number of industries have been driven to exploit emerging telecommunication technologies as an important tool for meeting these demands. A major goal of PROLAMAT '98 is to complement the more traditional academic presentations with this separate track devoted to sharing industrial experience and determining the implications of emerging digital communications for discrete manufacturing in the 21st century.
Track 2 -- Human and machine communications, modeling, standard representations, reuse: People, not machines, design new products and make manufacturing systems work. Increasingly, groups of people are required to design new products and bring them to market. Requirements for agility and the suitability of specific manufacturing processes must be matched with the culture and knowledge base of the work force. World class processes have floundered when this was not done. Information and communication systems can either amplify or reduce the magnitude of differences across cultures or engineering disciplines. Researchers specializing in knowledge representation, modeling, communications, standardization, and reuse are invited to share their experiences and research perspectives.
Track 3 -- The impact of telecommunication and agility on software technology for discrete manufacturing: Even in today's post-industrial information society, machines -- not people -- ultimately make the products that humans have designed and will use. Digital telecommunication has become an enabling technology for agile organizations and an important tool driving some enterprise innovation. What are the implications of these profound changes in communication technology for discrete manufacturing? Which old assumptions must be rethought, and what totally new opportunities now exist? How have software tools for discrete manufacturing evolved during these past three years? The Conference as a whole, and this track in particular, will attempt to answer these far-reaching questions.
For further information, one may contact
Mara Gruber
Laboratorio di Ingegneria Informatica
via F. Zeni, 8
38068-Rovereto (TN), Italy
e-mail: prolamat@lii.unitn.it
tel: +39.464.443.134 or +39.464.443.140
fax: +39.464.443.141
http://www.lii.unitn.it/prolamat/
In September, the IFIP General Assembly (GA) voted to grant Outstanding Service Awards to six IFIP volunteers. The Awards are granted for services rendered to IFIP by Technical Committee (TC) and Working Group (WG) members, on recommendation of the TC chairman and approval by the Internal Awards Committee. Eligible for nomination are TC and WG members not normally eligible for the Silver Core Award. The following were so recognized:
TC 9: Ms. Diane Whitehouse (GB)
TC11: Prof. Reinhard Posch (A)
Dr. Willis Ware (USA)
Mr. John Beatson (NZ)
Mr. Willie List (GB)
Mr. Jan Carlsen (DK)
Changes to Congress Plans Are Announced
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Yunhe Pan will be a keynote speaker for the 15th World Computer Congress (IFIP Congress '98, to be held in Vienna and Budapest 31 August - 4 September 1998). The selection of the other three keynote speakers was reported in an article on page 1 of the September IFIP Newsletter.
Prof. Pan is the President of Zhejiang University and head of its Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Design Institutes. He is a member of the Science and Technology Commission and the State Education Commission and the director of the China Computer Association and the China Artificial Intelligence Association. He is on the editorial board of five journals.
He was born in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China, in 1946. He obtained the B.Sc. degree from Tongji University in 1970 and the M.Sc. degree from Zhejiang University in 1981. He has served as the head of the Automation Research Institute at Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, the vice-director of the Science Commission at Xiangfan, a vice-president of Zhejiang University, and a director of its Computer Science Department. From 1986 to 1988, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California in Los Angeles and Carnegie Mellon University.
Prof. Pan, the recipient of 10 state awards, has over 120 publications to his credit. He and his research group have completed approximately 15 national research projects.
Further Congress Information
During the September IFIP General Assembly, Dr. Walter Grafendorfer (A) and Mrs. Maria Toth (H), co-chairs of the Organizing Committee, reported the following news:
Further information about the Congress can be found on the WorldWide Web at
http://www.ocg.or.at/ifip98.html or http://www.njszt.iif.hu/ifip98.html
or from the two host societies:
Austrian Computer Society
Wollzeile 1-3
A-1010 Vienna, Austria
tel: + 43 1 5120235, fax: + 43 1 5120235 9
e-mail: ifip98@ocg.or.at
http://www.ocg.or.at
and
John v. Neumann Computer Society
Bathori u. 16
H-1054 Budapest, Hungary
tel: +36 1 3329 390 or +36 1 3329 349
fax: +36 1 3318 140
e-mail: ifip98@neumann.hu
http://www.njszt.iif.hu
Because of their generous financial support of the 1998 World Computer Congress, the following institutions are gratefully recognized as IFIP Supporters:
Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Transport
Hungarian Ministry for Culture and Education
City of Vienna
Oracle Corporation
Vienna Tourist Board
by Prof. Carl Smith (USA)*
An article in the June IFIP Newsletter (page 6) discussed IFIP awards, including the prizes given by the IFIP Working Group on Computational Learning Theory (WG1.4) to student authors from economically disadvantaged countries. The $500 (U.S.) awards are intended to assist the students in defraying travel costs to attend scientific conferences. This article gives further information about our experience.
The first award was made to Juris Smortrovs, from the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Latvia, for his paper "Closedness Properties in Team Learning of Recursive Functions" at the EuroCOLT meeting in Israel in March. The selection of the recipient was easy, as the paper by Smortrovs was ranked very highly by the program committee, and the paper had their unanimous support. The WG1.4 decision was also unanimous.
We had a very different experience with the second award, to be given at the COLT meeting in July. There were no student authors from disadvantaged countries who had papers accepted. We discussed giving the award to a nonstudent from a disadvantaged country or to a student from a nondisadvantaged country. In the end, we decided not to give an award.
There were student authors from disadvantaged countries of two papers accepted for the ALT meeting in Japan in October. The program committee took a vote on the two papers and advised the WG, which agreed without dissent and made the award to N.V. Vinodchandran of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences in India for his paper with V. Avind.
We hope to continue this program in the future.
* chairman of WG1.4
Nominations are sought from presidents of IFIP Member societies for the prestigious IFIP Isaac L. Auerbach Award, which is presented during the World Computer Congresses "to the individuals whose service in support of IFIP in its mission is deemed by their peers to be extraordinary." The deadline for submission of nominations for the 1998 Award is 31 January. For information about this award, please see the June 1997 IFIP Newsletter, page 6, and for information about the nomination process, contact the IFIP Secretariat.
Bollerslev Is President-Elect
The 1997 IFIP General Assembly (GA) and the related committee meetings took place in Canela, near the southernmost tip of Brazil, 1-4 September, preceded and followed by other IFIP activities in the same geographical region. Prof. Ricardo Reis, the Brazilian representative to IFIP and an IFIP trustee, had organized the following events in order to benefit from GA members being in Brazil: lectures by Prof. Wilfried Brauer (D), an IFIP vice-president, the WG10.5 VLSI '97 conference, and meetings of TC10 and WG10.5, before the GA, as well as lectures by Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH), the IFIP president, and Prof. Jean-Claude Laprie (F), the new TC10 chair, following the GA. (In addition to overseeing all these activities, Prof. Reis had to cope with concerns for his young son, who broke his leg during the week of the GA meetings. At last report, both father and son were doing fine.)
The GA was officially welcomed by Prof. Flavio Wagner, vice-president of the Brazilian Computer Society, and Prof. Tom Price, Director of the Computer Science Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Prof. Tom Price welcoming GA.
There were no momentous revelations during the GA. Probably, the most significant actions were the announcement that IFIP had been admitted into "formal consultative relations with UNESCO" , the report by the treasurer that IFIP assets had reached record levels and that the surplus for 1997 is expected to be between 100 and 150 thousand Swiss francs, and the election of new officers. No new Working Groups (WGs) were formed, although plans to dissolve several were discussed, and no major new technical initiatives were announced.
Financial Matters
The good financial news for 1996 -- a surplus of 300 000 Swiss francs (300K CHF) -- had been announced at the Council meeting in March. For 1997, a surplus of 100K-150K CHF is expected, although the 1997 budget anticipated a loss of 13K CHF. This discrepancy occurred fundamentally because royalties were higher than expected (primarily owing to the strength of the British pound, in which the royalties are paid) and expenses of the Secretariat were lower than anticipated. (Great satisfaction was expressed with the economical way in which the Secretariat is run.)
Along with this very good news, the IFIP treasurer, Prof. Dipak Khakhar (S), mentioned a couple of areas of concern. Proceeds of technical events sponsored by the IFIP Technical Committees (TCs) are below the expected amounts, primarily because IFIP does not have a mechanism for collecting the sums agreed upon from the organizers of the events. Also, the 100K CHF that the organizers of the 1996 World Computer Congress in Canberra agreed to pay IFIP when they made their bid to host the Congress have not been received. (The Congress did lose money.) It is hoped that they will eventually pay the amount due, a bit at a time. It was also reported that the recent return on IFIP assets (approximately 3.4%) is lower than reasonable. Part of the problem is that the assets are invested almost entirely in Swiss bonds that pay a low interest rate (and involve very low risk), and much more than is necessary is kept in cash rather than income-earning financial instruments. Mr. Jose Granado (P), chairman of the Finance Committee, announced that the investment portfolio would be changed so as to include one or more currencies in addition to the Swiss franc and that a cash-flow plan and projection would be instituted in order to enable IFIP to invest more of its cash in income-producing securities. A return of 4.5% seems possible.
The GA approved a budget for 1998 that calls for a surplus of approximately 50K CHF. The GA also endorsed a proposal to institute a supplementary pension plan for the Secretariat staff, retroactive to the time of their initial employment.
Prof. Flavio Wagner welcoming GA.
New Officers and Members
Dir. Peter Bollerslev (DK) was voted president-elect. For the list of new officers and committee chairs please click here.
Prof. Asbjoern Rolstadas (N), president of IFIP from 1992 to 1995, was unanimously elected Honorary Member by the GA. (Although he is no longer active in IFIP, Prof. Rolstadas is president of the Norwegian Computer Society once again.)
In addition, New Zealand was readmitted as a Member of IFIP. It had withdrawn from the Federation in 1991 because, at that time, it could not afford the expenses entailed.
The IFIP secretary, Mr. Graham Morris (GB), reported that Armenia and Belarus, admitted to Membership in 1995 and 1994, respectively, have yet to assume Membership by being represented at a GA and paying the designated dues. In addition, Ireland and Russia have lost voting rights, Albania, Greece, and Tunisia are suspended, and Nigeria will soon be expelled because they owe back dues.
Other Matters
As usual, the World Computer Congresses (WCCs) were the object of much discussion. In reporting on the 14th WCC, held in 1996 in Canberra, Prof. Ashley Goldsworthy (AUS), chair of the Organizing Committee, mentioned two lessons learned: that the International Program Committee should have more representation from the host society, since typically 2/3-3/4 of the participants are from the local area, and that IFIP should take some financial risk in its Congresses. Concern was raised about the 16th WCC, to be held in 2000 in Beijing, since the representatives of the Organizing Committee did not appear in Canela until late in the final session, because of visa problems, and both Dr. Bruce Shriver (USA), the designated chair of the International Program Committee for the Congress, and Mr. Howard Funk (USA), designated vice-chair of the Organizing Committee, have resigned. President-Elect Bollerslev will be responsible for supervising the Congress.
Dr. Walter Grafendorfer (A), then chair of the Activity Management Board (AMB), reported that 74 IFIP technical events were scheduled for 1997 (as of 1 August), of which IFIP is the full or main sponsor of 2/3. This is a significant increase over the previous two years. He also announced that various documents related to event organization have been revised and are now available on the IFIP WorldWide Web site. He reminded the GA that events can be approved by TC chairs if there is no IFIP financial involvement; otherwise, AMB approval is required.
The TC Chairs Forum, comprising the TC chairs and the Technical Assembly (TA) chair (by invitation only), met for the second time. This informal body is designed to permit the TC chairs to discuss matters of mutual interest in an isolated environment. At this meeting, the Forum prepared lists of items to be discussed by each of the committees with which the TC chairs met. Everyone involved felt that the Forum, created at the March Council meeting in Bratislava, is a valuable mechanism. It is gratifying to observe that such an activity could be created without the need to modify the Statutes and Bylaws.
Other matters considered by the GA included the following:
President Bauknecht adjourned the GA with many thanks to the Brazilian hosts. The facilities were ideal, the supporting staff was very helpful and cordial, and the hospitality was lavish. (Although the hospitality far exceeded the IFIP guidelines, nobody was heard to complain!)
The following new officers were elected by the September IFIP General Assembly in Canela, Brazil:
President-Elect: Dir. Peter Bollerslev (DK) Vice-Presidents: Mr. Christopher Guy (ZA, 3-year term) Dr. Walter Grafendorfer (A, 2 years) Trustees (3-year terms): Mr. Jose Granado (P) Prof. Robert Aiken (USA) Dr. Mohan Goyal (IND) Dr. Takeo Miura (J, 1 year)
The following individuals were appointed by Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH), president of IFIP, to chair IFIP bodies:
Technical Assembly: Prof. Wilfried Brauer (D)
Activity Management Board: Prof. Robert Aiken (USA)
Admissions Committee: Prof. Xiaolang Yan (PRC)
Congress Committee: Mr. Christopher Guy (ZA)
Developing Countries Support Comm.: Dr. Mohan Goyal (IND)
Finance Committee: Mr. Jose Granado (P)
Internal Awards Committee: Mr. Graham Morris (GB)
Marketing Committee: Mr. Moshe Gottlieb (IL)
Nominations for Officers: Mr. Graham Morris (GB)
Nominations for Trustees: Prof. Ricardo Reis (BR)
Publications Committee: Dr. Roger Johnson (GB)
Statutes and Bylaws Committee: Prof. Pierre Bobillier (CH)
As usual, IFIP publications were a main topic of discussion at the September General Assembly (GA) in Canela, Brazil. Dr. Roger Johnson (GB), chair of the Publications Committee (PC), reported that ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) can now be provided by the IFIP Secretariat for publications not being handled by Chapman & Hall (C&H, the IFIP publisher) or other publishers. This is the first step toward implementing the plan for publishing conference proceedings that are deemed by C&H to have sales insufficient to cover the cost of marketing (see the article on page 11 of the December 1996 IFIP Newsletter). The Secretariat can provide further information concerning the process to be used in requesting ISBNs. No decision has been reached with regard to the name to be given the series of books published under this plan.
Mr. Mark Hammond reported for C&H that 36 IFIP books will be published this year. Sales for current books are better than the plan calls for; however, sales for older books are half of what was expected, which will probably result in a failure to reach a level of profitability the publisher finds acceptable. (Nevertheless, the royalty income that IFIP receives compares well with what has been received in the past.) The best-selling IFIP book in 1996 was Distributed Platforms, edited by Prof. Alexander Schill (D). So far, the 1997 leader is Integrated Network Management, edited by Aurel Lazar (USA) and Roberto Saracco (I). Mr. Hammond reminded the GA of the increase of the discount on IFIP publications that C&H offers to all members of IFIP Member societies to 35%. Negotiations are now under way for the renewal of the contract between IFIP and C&H.
Some TC chairs expressed their unhappiness with the publisher's policy of not refunding the cost of unused conference proceedings that the conference organizers wish to return. Mr. Hammond pointed out that because C&H is generally able to deliver, at short notice, copies of the proceedings ordered after the initial orders have been placed, it is to the advantage of the organizers to be conservative in their initial orders and subsequently to request additional copies once they have better estimates of the number of participants attending the conferences. A suggestion was made that C&H establish a pricing scheme that would provide financial incentives to those organizers willing to agree to a no-returns policy but allow others to return unused books for a refund.
Once more, electronic publication (EP) was discussed. Despite the importance of EP to IFIP <see the articles in the December 1996 IFIP Newsletter (page 11) and the September 1997 issue (page 6)>, no plans have been formulated by IFIP Instead, the PC is encouraging C&H to take the initiative in behalf of IFIP. One IFIP book is now available on the WorldWide Web (see page 5 of the September Newsletter), and C&H plans to put additional books on-line and to monitor the impact of this on the sales of the books.
Other publication matters discussed in Canela included the following:
Little action was taken at the September General Assembly (GA) in Canela regarding the strategic planning process initiated by the 1996 GA, which commissioned a Strategic Planning Committee, headed by Prof. Ashley Goldsworthy (AUS), an IFIP vice-president, to make recommendations on issues concerning the future strategic directions of IFIP. In order to move the strategic planning process forward in Canberra, the entire GA devoted an afternoon to a "brainstorming" session that resulted in a list of "visions" for the future of IFIP. Prof. Goldsworthy's committee was to take these visions into account during its future deliberations. In the March 1997 Council meeting in Bratislava, the following three objectives were agreed upon:
A working group reported back to the Bratislava Council with a proposal that included formation of a group to initiate new conferences. The Council approved their plan; however, no action has been taken on this proposal so far. Other working groups were to make proposals a month later with regard to the other issues.
At the 1997 GA, Prof. Goldsworthy presented a progress report in which he said that few constructive suggestions had been received as part of Member societies' annual reports to IFIP.
IFIP Services
A working group concerned with establishing IFIP as a source of services made the following suggestion.
We propose:
We believe these and other similar simple schemes would provide real "worldwide added value" by IFIP to its Member societies.
Monetary issues were also addressed. No action was taken by the GA on this proposal. Another working group presented a report with few specifics.
Prof. Goldsworthy closed his written report with the following: "we really need to progress these matters with some expedition. We must convert the Action Plan into some action if we hope to achieve the Vision we have set ourselves." Unfortunately, no action was taken.
by Dr. Bruce Shriver (USA)*
The nature of IFIP and its mission as well as those of numerous professional societies have changed since their creation. Some professional societies have remained national in scope; others have become regional in scope; while others have become truly international in scope. IFIP cannot, nor should it, compete with these organizations, but it should complement their missions in service to the world-wide computing community.
I propose that the IFIP General Assembly (GA) consider the creation of a new category of membership: the International Professional Society (IPS) Member, the qualifications for which should be determined by the GA. IPSs should be full IFIP members, with seats on the GA, paying full dues, appointing Technical Committee (TC) representatives, and so on. IPS membership should be advertised internationally, and societies should be invited to apply through IFIP's Admissions Committee.
At present, IFIP Full Members are individual professional societies, national academies of science, or federations of diverse specialty professional societies (in some cases having been formed solely for the purpose of maintaining Membership in IFIP). What I believe is needed now is a new organizational form that recognizes the existence of truly international, individual-member professional societies: the IPS.
What Is an IPS?
An International Professional Society has the following characteristics:
One example of an organization that might qualify as an IPS is the U.S. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Computer Society, which has 100,000 members, 40% of which are non-U.S. members, in 147 countries. It holds 122 conferences annually, of which 31 are non-U.S. Another example is the U.S. ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), with 83,000 members, of which 30% are non-U.S., in 121 countries. It holds 142 conferences annually, of which 44 are non-U.S. The British Computer Society and some Japanese societies might also be considered IPSs.
Alternatives
An alternative to full Membership in IFIP might be Affiliate Membership, with no seat on the GA and no other voice in governance, which would be inappropriate for organizations that represent so many of the world's computer professionals. Another possibility would be related to a previous proposal for multiple Memberships from one country. This too would be inappropriate for IPSs, which are international -- not national -- societies, even though they have their headquarters in one country.
Consequently, I request that the GA consider establishing this new category of IPS Member.
<The preceding is the text of a presentation made to the September GA in Canela, following which the president, Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH), appointed a committee to consider the proposal and report back to the March 1998 Council in Manchester, England, and the September GA in Budapest, Hungary. Among the questions that this committee will surely consider are the following:
These questions are related to the ones raised with regard to the proposal concerning multiple Members from one country, considered at the 1996 GA in Canberra (see the article on page 5 of the December 1996 IFIP Newsletter). Prof. Bauknecht wrote all Members to solicit their views about multiple membership, in preparation for a discussion at the 1997 GA. The responses were roughly evenly divided between those favoring single and those favoring multiple memberships. The issue of multiple memberships was not raised at the 1997 GA. -- Editor>
* former chair of the U.S. Member society in IFIP and vice-chair of the International Program Committee for IFIP Congress '98
A nine-slide PowerPoint* presentation about IFIP is now available on the Internet. This presentation, which displays facts about IFIP's organization and activities, can be downloaded from the IFIP Web home page at <http://www.ifip.or.at/> or directly from ftp at: <ftp://ftp.ifip.or.at/pub/presentation/pres.html>
One can easily tailor the presentation so as to retain the basic information on IFIP and its activities yet include new slides for IFIP Member societies, Technical Committees, Working Groups, or whatever else one wishes to include. The result can serve as a useful marketing tool during technical events and exhibits. IFIP volunteers are encouraged to download, improve, and enhance it as appropriate.
* PowerPoint is a Microsoft PC program that displays "slides" on the PC monitor.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND COUNCIL (and related meetings)
Council 1-5 Mar 98 (Sun.-Thurs.) Manchester, U.K. GA 5-8 Sep 98 (Sat.-Tues.) Budapest,Hungary Council 28 Feb - 4 Mar 99 (Sun.-Thurs.) New Delhi, India (tentative) GA 5-9 Sep 99 (Sun.-Thurs.) Kuala Lumpur (Cyberjaya), Malaysia Council Mar 2000 Rome, Italy (tentative) GA contiguous to IFIP Congress 2000 Beijing, China
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE AND WORKING GROUP MEETINGS
TC1 29 Mar 98 Lisbon, Portugal WG1.1 autumn 98 Berkeley, CA, U.S.A. WG1.3 4 Apr 98 Lisbon, Portugal
TC2 12-13 Jun 98 Shelter Island, NY, U.S.A.
WG2.1 5-9 Jan 98 Oxford, U.K.
Sep 98 Beijing, China
WG2.2 Jun 98 Shelter Island, NY, U.S.A.
WG2.3 Jun 98 Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
WG2.4 Feb 98 Berlin, Germany
WG2.5 May or Sep 98 Patras, Greece
WG2.6 May 98 L' Aquila, Italy
15-18 Dec 98 New Zealand
WG2.7/WG13.4 14-19 Apr 98 Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
WG2.9 Sep 98 Vienna, Austria,
or Budapest, Hungary
Jan 99 Dublin, Ireland
TC3 29-30 Aug 98 Vienna, Austria
99 Copenhagen, Denmark
WG5.10 Jun 98 Hannover, Germany
TC6 3-4 Apr 98 Ladenburg, Germany
24-25 Oct 98 Tunisia
Apr 99 Copenhagen, Denmark
3-4 Sep 99 Budapest, Hungary
TC7 21 Apr 98 Chemnitz, Germany
12-16 Jul 99 Cambridge, U.K.
WG7.2 20-24 Apr 98 Chemnitz, Germany
28 Apr - 1 May 98 Daytona Beach, FL, U.S.A.
19-22 Jun 98 Hanghzhou, China
17-21 Aug 98 Montreal, Canada
31 Aug - 6 Sep 98 Moscow, Russia
WG7.5 11-13 May 98 Krakow, Poland
WG7.7 24-27 Mar 98 Neubiberg, Germany
23-28 Aug 98 Prague, Czech Republic
TC8 29-30 Aug 98 Vienna, Austria
99 Israel
WG8.1 15-17 Jul 98 Beijing, China
WG8.2 14 Dec 97 (with ICIS) Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
10-12 Dec 98 Helsinki, Finland
22-26 May 99 St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
May/Jun 2000 Aalborg, Denmark
WG8.3 12-15 Jul 98 Bled, Slovenia
WG8.6 10-12 Dec 98 Helsinki, Finland
WG8.7 13 Dec 97 Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Jan 98 (with HICSS) Hawaii, U.S.A.
TC9 29-30 Aug 98 Geneva, Switzerland
WG9.2 10-11 Jan 98 Namur, Belgium
6-7 Jun 98 Farnborough, U.K.
SIG9.2.2 11-12 Jan 98 Namur, Belgium
WG9.4 18-20 Feb 98 Bangkok, Thailand
WG9.5 26-28 Aug 98 (with HCC-5) Geneva, Switzerland
TC10 5 Sep 98 Budapest, Hungary
30-31 Aug 99 Toulouse, France
WG10.4 Jun 98 Munich, Germany
Jun 99 Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Jun 2000 New York, NY, U.S.A.
TC11 Sept 98 Vienna, Austria,
or Budapest, Hungary
TC12 Sept 98 Vienna, Austria,
or Budapest, Hungary
WG13.4/WG2.7 14-19 Apr 98 Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Seventh IFIP/ICCC Conf. on Information Networks and Data
Communications -- INDC'98
15-17 Jun 98, Aveiro, Portugal
papers due: 9 Jan 98
contact: Prof. Dr. Jose Ruela
INESC
Pr. da Republica, 93
4000, Porto, Portugal
tel: +351 2 209 42 36
e-mail: jruela@inescn.pt
15th World Computer Congress (IFIP Congress '98)
31 Aug - 4 Sep 98, Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary
papers due: 16 Jan 98
(for all component conferences)
contact: (see the article on the Congress)
Twelfth IFIP WG11.3 Work. Conf. on Database Security
15-17 Jul 98, Chalkidiki, Greece
papers due: 10 Mar 1998
contact: Prof. Sushil Jajodia
Mail Stop 4A4
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, U.S.A.
tel: +1 703-993-1653, fax: +1 703-993-1638
e-mail: jajodia@gmu.edu
http://www.isse.gmu.edu/~csis/faculty/jajodia.html
Will event organizers please send calls for papers to both the IFIP Secretariat and the Newsletter editor. Note that calls cannot be listed in this column until the events have been approved by IFIP.
Executive Board
K. Bauknecht President CH 95-98 P. Bollerslev Pres.-Elect DK 97-98 A.W. Goldsworthy Vice-Pres. AUS 95-98 W. Brauer Vice-Pres. D 95-98 C. Guy Vice-Pres. ZA 97-2000 W. Grafendorfer Vice-Pres. A 97-99 G.J. Morris Secretary GB 96-99 D. Khakhar Treasurer S 96-99
Trustees
M. Gottlieb IL 95-98 R. Johnson GB 95-98 R. Reis BR 96-99 X. Yan PRC 96-99 J. Granado P 97-2000 R. Aiken USA 97-2000 M. Goyal IND 97-2000 T. Miura J 97-98
TC1: G. Ausiello I 97-99 TC2: R. Kurki-Suonio FIN 97-2000 TC3: B. Samways GB 97-99 TC5: G. Doumeingts F 96-99 TC6: O. Spaniol D 92-97 TC7: P. Kall CH 95-98 TC8: B. Glasson AUS 96-98 TC9: P. Jaervinen FIN 96-98 TC10: J.-C. Laprie F 96-99 TC11: B. von Solms ZA 94-98 TC12: B. Neumann D 97-2000 TC13: J. Hammond AUS 95-98
A Austria GB or UK PL Poland
United Kingdom
AUS Australia GR Greece PRC China
B Belgium H Hungary RUS Russia
BR Brazil I Italy S Sweden
CDN Canada IL Israel SF or FIN Finland
CH Switzerland IND India SLO Slovenia
CZ The Czech J Japan THA Thailand
Republic
D Germany N Norway USA U.S.A.
DK Denmark NZ New Zealand ZA South Africa
F France P Portugal