Reports from Societies, Institutions and Organisations

Citation

(2002), "Reports from Societies, Institutions and Organisations", Kybernetes, Vol. 31 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2002.06731eab.002

Reports from Societies, Institutions and Organisations

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

ACM Annual Report

Introduction

The ACM Annual Report (FY01) was published in the organisations Communications of the ACM Vol. 45 no. l, 2002. The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer John White introduced it by writing:

It is an extraordinary time to be part of the information technology field. Advances in wireless and embedded technologies are making more of our work invisible while Wall Street's roller-coastering, amazing returns in worldwide e-commerce and government debates over technology policy keep IT firmly in the spotlight.

Readers will know that this year (2001) ACM held its landmark conference - ACM1: Beyond Cyberspace ... A Journey of Many Directions. This celebrated the future of computing by inviting renowned leaders in the field to share their observations and predictions and by inviting dozens of leading-edge companies, institutions, and R&D laboratories to showcase technologies of tomorrow.

The ACM Report also advises us that the organisation has spent a good deal of its time in the current year finalising the ACMs answer to the future direction of scientific publishing. We are told that it is a work in progress that clearly defines progress made in the digital distribution of vital scientific and computing information.

An ACM Career Resource Centre will benefit from an unique Web-based environment offering job-matching services, real-world career advice, leadership chats, interactive forums and valuable articles and columns about careers in IT.

The report ends by pointing out that it is a challenging time and that the ACM is able to make a real difference in the future of computing and thereby, help shape the future for generations to come.

It should be pointed out to the many cyberneticians and systemists who are not familiar with the work of the ACM that the Association for Computing Machinery is an international scientific and educational organisation dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology.

Activity Highlights

A number of the highlights of the report year were listed they included:

Public Policy: The US Public Policy Committee of the ACM (USACM) continues to serve as a focal point for the organisation's interactions with the US Government, the computing community, and the public at large. Amongst other interactions it showed its concern about the proposed Council of Europe Convention on Cyber-Crime.

It also issued statements about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The ACM's Committee on Computers and Public Policy (CCPP) aids the ACM with a variety of issues relating to computers and public policy and helps to broaden the ACM's international scope. Its most visible project is a digital institution in its own right

The Committee on Professional Ethics reports ACM's Code of Ethics has enjoyed, we are told, major recognition and distribution.

The organisation has also through its Education Board's Curriculum Committee, working with the IEEE-CS , completed a major undertaking with the release of a draft report on Computing Curriculum 2001. Details were also included about student activities, local activities, international activities and the ACM's publications.

ACM Conferences

The ACM1: Beyond Cyberspace ... A Journey of Many Directions was a major event in 2001. The conference was billed as a celebration of the future of computing and it drew over 1000 attendees to its plenary sessions and over 21,000 to its free exhibition which showcased technologies from dozens of leading-edge companies , institution and R&D laboratories.

Over 80 leading-edge conferences and symposia were sponsored by the ACM this year. For example: The SIGGRAPH 2000, held in New Orleans, USA, was a technical, creative and financial success, attracting 26,000 attendees with a technical attendance of over 8,500. The first ACM-Mills Conference on Pioneering Women in Computing featured five industry forerunners who shared their memories, observations, and advice to others in the field.

Further information about the ACM from: ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York 10036-5701 USA (212) 869-7440 Fax: (212) 869-0481.