The IFIP General Assembly (GA) met in Budapest 5–8 September (including committee meetings and other related meetings) and took several major actions, including the decision to admit two societies from the US as Full Members, the renewal of the publication contract with Kluwer Academic Publishers, and the selection of the site of the Congress in 2002. In addition, other Congresses — past and future — were discussed; new officers were elected, as were Honorary Members; a new society was admitted as a Full Member, and a Member was replaced; and policy statements on cryptology and security were accepted. Of course, the usual reports on technical and administrative activities were received and acted upon.
Prof. Dezsö Sima, President of the John von Neumann Computer Society, welcomed the GA to Budapest. Also, Dr. Walter Grafendorfer, an IFIP vice-president, welcomed the delegates, in his role as general manager of the Austrian Computer Society, co-host of IFIP's 15th World Computer Congress, just concluded in Budapest. The representatives of 30 of the 38 voting Member societies of IFIP attended (the remaining 5 of the 43 Full Members have lost their vote because of failure to pay dues). Also, all the Technical Committee (TC) chairs were present.
At the time of the GA, 68 technical events were planned for 1998. This is a good number when one considers that several TCs devoted a substantial part of their efforts toward this year's Congress.
At the March Council meeting in Manchester, Mr. Plamen Nedkov (IFIP Executive Director), in his role as IFIP-UNESCO Liaison Officer, reported on a request by UNESCO that IFIP carry out a project to "Elaborate a complete modular framework for training in informatics, covering the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and courses to be provided…" The responsibility was assigned to the TC on Education (TC3), which appointed Dr. Tom van Weert (NL) as project leader. UNESCO is funding the activity with $18 000 (US), and additional funding is possible. The project might even assume an ongoing character. UNESCO representatives have also encouraged IFIP to involve other TCs in the activity. Mr. Brian Samways (GB), the TC3 chair, will act as the coordinator for such TC participation. Plans called for delivery of the first draft of the framework to UNESCO by the middle of November 1998.
The Technical Assembly established new Working Groups: WG1.6 on Term Rewriting and WG12.6 on Intelligent Information Management (see the September IFIP Newsletter). Final approval was also granted for the formation of WG13.5 on Human Error, Safety, and System Development.
The IFIP TC on Communication Systems (TC6) is starting a task group on Electronic Commerce, which will be concerned with communication protocols and information exchange mechanisms for electronic commerce. It will also study the impact of electronic interactions on human, social, and cultural aspects of trade and commerce.
The project on Harmonisation of Professional Standards continues, with an initial
document expected in October 1998.
The TC Forum (an unofficial [i.e., not specified in IFIP statutes or bylaws] working
meeting of TC chairs, which has become an integral part of GA and Council meetings)
recommended to the GA that an event-support activity be created in the Secretariat, for a
minimum of two years. Its purpose would be to help event organizers carry out their jobs
by providing knowledge of the event-organization process and the continuity that is so
helpful to people organizing IFIP events. In addition, it could help market these events.
One TC chair pointed out that the work entailed in organizing a formal event is perceived
to be so much more than that required for a workshop that organizers now decide to hold
workshops, even though larger events would be more appropriate. The TC Forum proposed that
an additional employee be hired for the Secretariat (bringing the staff to three) to
undertake this activity. Such an individual might also provide continuity for IFIP
Congresses and seek other events that could be sponsored by IFIP. The TC Forum and Mr.
Nedkov were requested to prepare a job charter for the new individual, to be
subsequently considered by the Executive Board.
The TC Forum also raised the issue of liability for injury or damage at IFIP events. The event organizers are responsible, according to IFIP policy. If insurance is necessary, they should provide for it in their budgets. Because insurance is very much a local or national matter, IFIP could not undertake to insure all events. It was also suggested that IFIP establish a contingency fund.
In addition, the Forum requested that some way be devised for sharing the income from IFIP Congresses with the TCs that organized the individual conferences of which the Congress was composed.
Several WGs reported difficulties in attracting people from industry to participate in their activities. In an effort to bridge the differences between theory and practice, TC2 on Software: Theory and Practice organized a recent conference so that each morning began with a talk by someone from industry. They turned out to be among the best talks at the conference.
WGs also reported significant declines in attendance at working conferences. This may reflect the large number of international conferences being held these days or a decreasing need for scientists to get together face to face.
The TC on Security and Protection in Information Processing Systems (TC11) presented policy statements on Information Security Assessment and Certification and on Cryptography, which were approved by the GA.
Some disagreement had previously been voiced with the IFIP policy of not restricting membership in WGs to members of IFIP Member societies, the argument being that appointment of members to WGs should be a privilege of Membership in IFIP. The general consensus of the GA was to leave that policy unchanged, allowing WGs to be composed of the best technical people to be found, regardless of nationality. A related topic was whether IFIP events should be restricted to nations that are Members of IFIP. There was a greater divergence of opinion on this issue, and no restriction was imposed.
It seemed to one observer that during this GA, less discussion than usual concerned new technical initiatives. Perhaps less time is available for discussion of these matters, or perhaps the TC chairs now choose to report only on administrative matters. It remains to be seen whether this is a long-term trend.
At the March meeting of the IFIP Council in Manchester, UK, it was announced that the IFIP publisher at that time (Thomson Science Publishers, printing under the Chapman & Hall [C&H] imprint) had been purchased by Wolters Kluwer, a large publisher, which already published approximately 400 conference proceedings annually and 650 journals. All members of the C&H staff who had worked with IFIP were discharged, and there was concern as to how Kluwer would fulfill its contract with IFIP. The concern was accentuated by the fact that the contract between IFIP and the publisher called for both parties to decide by the end of June 1998 whether to renew the present contract, which expires at the end of 1999. An IFIP committee quickly investigated alternative publishers and concluded that it would be best to renew the contract with Kluwer. The publisher also favored a renewal. The new contract, which has exactly the same terms as the current one, will expire at the end of 2004. Soon, Kluwer is expected to hire an editor to handle IFIP books full time.
Some of the TC chairs reported problems encountered with Kluwer. For example, unlike our previous publishers, Kluwer requires the editors of conference proceedings to provide completely camera-ready copy, including page numbers and headers. Also, the delay between the submission of the copy and the printing of the books (up to 15 weeks) has been unsatisfactory for some of the TCs. On the other hand, the publisher's representative, Mr. Scott Delman (USA), reported that some manuscripts have been delivered to Kluwer late and some have had many more pages than the numbers agreed upon. It is assumed that many of these difficulties will be ironed out shortly.
At present, Kluwer is not considering electronic publication of IFIP proceedings, although it will be publishing all 650 of its journals electronically by the end of the year.
As of August, 24 IFIP books had been published in 1998, and four more are scheduled for publication by the end of the year. Because of the transition between publishers, it has been difficult to get information about sales and royalty income from the publisher; however, there is no reason to believe that the results will be unsatisfactory.
Four Congresses were discussed at the GA. First, an agreement was reached between IFIP and the Australian Computer Society regarding the 100 000 Swiss francs (100K CHF) still owed to IFIP for Congress '96. The Society agreed to pay 50K Australian dollars (ca. 42K CHF) over a period of five years. The Society reported having lost 150K Australian dollars (ca. 125K CHF) in sponsoring the Congress.
Mrs. Toth, President Bauknecht, and Dr.
Grafendorfer with check.
Dr. Walter Grafendorfer (A) and Mrs. Maria Toth (H), co-chairs of the 1998 Congress Organizing Committee, presented an oversized check for 90 000 CHF to President Bauknecht. Of that, 50K was repayment of a loan made to the organizers by IFIP, and 40K CHF was the minimum payment specified in the contract. IFIP had spent approximately 20K CHF to support Congress attendance by 27 participants from 15 developing countries. A grant from the European Union (52K CHF) was provided to support 63 participants from Eastern European countries and countries with emerging economies from the Mediterranean area. Unfortunately, UNESCO failed to provide any similar support. One concern about the Congress had to do with the proceedings, which were printed by the Austrian Computer Society as individual books for the seven conferences comprising the Congress. In addition, a CD-ROM containing all the papers printed in the individual proceedings was produced and distributed to the delegates. IFIP will not receive royalties from those proceedings; however, royalties will be received for any post-Congress sales. Also, there may be no archival value to the proceedings unless they are acquired by major libraries. An unanswered question, referred to the Publications Committee, is what can be done to enable future researchers to access papers from the Congress?
The GA also heard presentations from the organizers of Congress 2000, which will take place in Beijing. Little change had been made to the plans announced previously (see the June IFIP Newsletter). Prof. Reinhard Posch (A) and Prof. Yang Fuqing (PRC) were named as vice-chairs of the International Program Committee.
Finally, the GA awarded the contract to host Congress 2002 in Montreal to the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), the Canadian Member society of IFIP, and to the Fédération de l'Informatique du Québec. (The two societies will merge soon.) This bid won by one vote (the deciding vote was cast by President Bauknecht) over the invitation by the Information Processing Association of Israel to hold the Congress in Jerusalem. Mr. George Boynton, the CIPS representative to IFIP, was appointed as chair of the Congress Organizing Committee.
A substantial amount of time was devoted to the debate concerning the admission of two US societies, IEEE-CS and ACM, as Full Members.
The GA also admitted the Slovenian Society Informatica as a Full Member (an article about the Society is planned for a future Newsletter). It was noted that the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (admitted in 1995) has now fulfilled all entry requirements and is a Full Member. The Academy of Sciences of Belarus (admitted in 1994), not yet having fulfilled the requirements, will have the offer of Membership withdrawn at the end of 1998. Having voting rights suspended for failure to pay dues are Albania, Ireland, and Russia. Facing expulsion at the end of 1998 are Greece and Tunisia.
The French Member society (AFCET) was dissolved during the past year. An effort has been made by two French TC chairs (Dr. Jean-Claude Laprie and Prof. Guy Doumeingts) to identify a French IT society to take its place. The conclusion was reached that la Société des Electriciens et des Electroniciens (SEE) would be the appropriate society. The GA approved SEE as a Full Member.
Finally, the GA named Acad. Blagovest Sendov (BG) and Mr. Aage Melbye (DK) as Honorary Members, in recognition of their leadership of and service to IFIP. Prof. Sendov's participation in IFIP began in 1965, and he served as president from 1989 to 1992. Mr. Melbye's service to IFIP began in 1978, culminating in the position of treasurer from 1990 to 1996. Both gentlemen have also had other roles in IFIP over the years. Mr. Melbye's election as Honorary Member marks the first time that anyone other than a past president has been so chosen.
Dr. Jack Rosenfeld (USA) was elected to a second term as Individual Member, in recognition of his 15 years of service as editor of the IFIP Newsletter and his other IFIP activities.
As previously reported, 1997 was a good year financially, with a surplus of 243 CHF. A surplus of approximately 200K CHF is estimated for 1998. Although a substantial part of IFIP's funds have now been invested in financial instruments with respectable rates of return (Ë 9%), the net result has not been good, owing to stock market changes. Plans are under way to move IFIP funds from banks in the UK and Austria into the investment portfolio. Also, the basic IFIP currency may be changed from the Swiss franc to the Euro some time soon.
In his report to the GA, Executive Director Nedkov said that the Secretariat staff, which he refers to as "The Delivery Company," because of its function of delivering services, is "motivated and performance-driven, which is essential for an organization with worldwide operations and only two full-time employees." Everyone in IFIP recognizes the excellent job done by the Secretariat.
Mr. Ashley Goldsworthy (AUS), a vice-president, reported that the president had written all Member societies to identify the three most important issues that IFIP should address. Seven Members responded, and Mr. Goldsworthy distilled their comments into a Strategic Planning Action Agenda:
Mr. Graham Morris (GB), the IFIP secretary, reported on the annual
reports of the Member societies. Perhaps the most striking item was the number of
societies sponsoring some sort of computer drivers license. (See the June 1996 IFIP Newsletter) Mr.
Dudley Dolan, the Irish representative to IFIP, gave a presentation about the
European Computer Driving License program during one session of the Congress.
Apparently this program can be very lucrative for the sponsoring organizations.
Some discussion at the GA concerned the failure of some committee chairs to perform their jobs satisfactorily. (One chair was heard to comment during his committee's meeting that all those present had their own jobs at home and couldn't be expected to do IFIP work too. He has since been replaced.) Secretary Morris drew attention to a working paper he had prepared, entitled "Effective Committee Work," which had been commissioned and discussed by the Executive Board. It reflected concern about the lack of activity by some committees between Council and GA meetings and stressed the vital role and responsibility of chairmen for this work. The first and most significant item is, "No one should stand for election as trustee or officer or accept the chairmanship of a committee unless prepared to accept and discharge the responsibilities of those offices and attend every GA and Council meeting." The remaining items are common-sense statements of the responsibilities of such officers. The president-elect gave newly appointed committee chairmen the responsibility to choose the members of their committees.
The following individuals were elected by the GA to three-year terms, unless otherwise indicated:
Vice-president:
Prof. Robert Aiken (USA)
Mr. José Granado (P)
Secretary-elect:
Dr. Roger Johnson (GB, one year)
Treasurer-elect:
Prof. Dipak Khakhar (S, one year)
Trustee:
Dr. Roger Johnson (GB)
Mr. Mohd Masduki (MAL)
Mr. Csaba Gergely (H, two-year term)
Dr. S. Ramani (IND, two-year term)
Mr. T. Miura (J)
Prof. Kiril Boyanov (BG, two years)
Before adjournment, new chairs of committees and other bodies were appointed by Dir. Peter Bollerslev (DK), president-elect, who assumed the presidency after the GA:
Technical Assembly: Prof. Kurt Bauknecht (CH)
Activity Management Board: Prof. Robert Aiken (USA)
Marketing Comm.: Dr. Walter Grafendorfer (A)
Publications Comm.: Dr. Roger Johnson (GB)
Statutes and Bylaws Comm.: Prof. Pierre Bobillier (CH)
Developing Countries Support Comm.: Prof. Dipak Khakhar (S)
Finance Comm.: Mr. Jose Granado (P)
Internal Awards Comm.: Mr. Graham Morris (GB)
Nominations Comm. for Officers: Mr. Morris
Nominations Comm. for Trustees: Dr. Johnson
All the appointees are officers, past officers, or officers-elect. Note that a past-president will chair the TA.
President Bauknecht called attention to the fact that Mr. Goldsworthy and Prof. Brauer were attending their last GAs and thanked both of them for their service to IFIP (an article about them will be printed in a future Newsletter).
Prof. Pertti Jaervinen (SF) is also retiring, after long service to IFIP, most recently as chair of the TC on Relationship between Computers and Society. We give him a big vote of thanks for a job well done.
President-elect Bollerslev then took the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of President Bauknecht: the financial situation is good, the administration has never been better, and IFIP is visible and has a good reputation. President Bauknecht was a hard worker for IFIP, he noted, always ready to meet with people, at any time of day or night; even physical injury couldn't stop him. Gifts of a digital camera and a mountain bike were presented.
President-elect Bollerslev promised to devote all his effort to his new responsibility and devote time to keep IFIP's profile high, hopefully for the benefit of the Member societies.
The GA was adjourned, with many thanks to the Hungarian hosts for excellent organization, kindness, and support.