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Vol.27 No.3, July 1995
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Vol.27 No.3, July 1995 |
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ACM Activities
ACM Electronic Community
Publishing Tomorrow
ACM's Fiftieth Anniversary
Introduction of Donna Baglio, Incoming Director of ACM Office of SIG Services
ACM Marketing Update
Membership Update
Electronic Publishing
interactions
SIGCHI Financial Update
1996 Budget
Exercise to Develop Our Vision of the Future (`Visioning')
Closing Remarks
Action Items
Joe DeBlasi, ACM Executive Director
Members of ACM's council and executive committee and ACM's board chairs recently met to create a process for examining the objectives of the organization. The endeavor was strongly supported by ACM's new president Stu Zweben. It was decided that the existing objectives need to be restated in international terms. Additionally, increased focus on applications with relevance to information technology, art and science is needed. "ACM, The First Society in Computing" will be used rather than the Association for Computing Machinery. The new name provides a better fit with today's computing lexicon.
The spirit of these changes will filter through ACM's way of doing business.
The meeting also addressed the barriers to easily doing business with ACM. It was stated that ACM policies and procedures should be minimized to fiduciary, legal, ethical and image issues. The policies should be implemented in a way that makes it easy for programs to develop.
ACM's constituents were identified as researchers, teachers, developers, service providers, users, learners and general observers. ACM asked what needs of each should be addressed and how should this be done.
Currently expenses are in line with revenues. In the coming year there will be a substantial increase in the cost of paper and postage. The increase in the price of paper will be between $200,000 and $300,000. The increase in the price of postage is not yet known.
The project is proceeding well. The Electronic Community Coordinating Committee (EC3) committee is being headed by Sara Bly.
The SIGs are invited to define the contributions they can make towards the development of the electronic community. We noted that the services offered will have implications for the future SIG structure.
One area of concern is to create an electronic interface between ACM and its members. This will be used for interactions such as membership renewal. Another area covers services such as publishing which would be available for a fee.
One question concerns the development of infrastructure; Should ACM develop this in house or contract out the development effort?
Members of the EEC noted the desirability of having a system that is open in all aspects; in the terms of the technology and, for example, the administration. We brought this up not only because of its inherent desirability but also for the purpose of having the ACM system serve as a model.
The anniversary of ACM occurs in 1997. Eniac's 50th anniversary occurs in February 1996. Therefore, ACM will celebrate the Year of Computing and its own anniversary throughout 1996. ACM would like SIGs to mark the event during their 1996 activities.
Donna was previously program director for SIGGRAPH and SIGPLAN. She has been with ACM for ten years. Her main focus was and remains publications. Donna will be looking to simplify the Technical Meeting Request process.
ACM is also looking at the availability of resources and the ways in which its professional staff can support the activities of the SIGs. For example, the tasks of conference registration and finances might in the future be taken on by ACM.
Sue Foley, ACM Marketing Manager
Next year the catalog of offerings will be expanded to offer more than just publications. For example, SIGs will be included.
A September mailing has so far brought in 279 new subscriptions to interactions. interactions is still ahead of its business plan.
We noted that we would like ACM to allow members to interact electronically with ACM when they choose.
Lillian Israel: Director, ACM Office of Membership
From a survey in which ten percent of our members participated we found about a third of our membership is engaged in the broadly defined category of software systems development. There is a concentration of people working in CSCW and/or Multi-Media. Those of us who work in Software Engineering tend to work on design, testing and evaluation.
The conferences are heavily attended by researchers and developers.
There are several opportunities to attract new members such as CHI and other relevant conferences and publications like interactions.
When lapsed members are approached they do tend to renew.
Bernie Rous: Deputy Director, ACM Office of Publications
ACM wishes to be a provider of technical information via electronic media.
Currently ACM is working out some complex issues of ownership. They are committed to preserving copyright while maximizing access and assessing appropriate fees. There is also a strong concern that this service be equally available to members both inside and outside the U.S.
It appears that ACM has the most thorough, integrated plan for electronic publishing among the professional societies in the U.S. In part ACM is being funded by the NSF/ARPA digital libraries initiative
Jim Maurer: Publisher, interactions.
Jim thanked several members of SIGCHI and the EEC for their support.
Advertising and subscriptions are both showing a small profit which is unusual for a publication still in its first year. Currently there are 5,000 subscribers.
New contributing authors are very welcome. This is interactions biggest current challenge; the magazine will go from quarterly to bimonthly publication in January 1996.
ACM is seeking a new publisher. There are several well qualified candidates.
John DeLorenzo: Associate Director, ACM SIG Financial Reporting; Darren Ramden and Bruce Worthman
SIGCHI has had about a ten percent decline in membership since 1993. This is in line with the overall decline in ACM membership for that period; however, the decrease followed on the introduction of the CHI Plus membership subscription.
Twenty-nine hundred members have a CHI Plus subscription.
Motion: To approve the minutes of the September, October and November EEC telephone conference calls.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
Motion: To approve the following motions passed in the September, October and November EEC telephone conference calls.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
Motion: To accept the Audio/Video policy with the proviso that it will be amended to state that the Vice Chair for Operations will administer and maintain the process.
Vote: 6 0 0
Motion: To accept the proceedings distribution policy with the proviso that it will be amended to state that the Vice Chair for Publications will administer and maintain the process.
Vote: 6 0 0
Motion: To distribute the proceedings of CSCW'94 to CHI Plus members.
Vote: 6 0 0
Motion: To nominate John Karat
Vote: Approved by acclamation
Motion: To approve the production plan for the CHI'95 CD ROM as distributed on September 19.
Vote: Passed by acclamation
Motion: To include a message from the EEC in Jim's letter.
Vote: By acclamation
The nominating committee is composed of Robin, Austin, Jim and Don. They are assembling a ballot and expect it to be completed within the next two weeks. We would like to have at least two candidates for each position, but will run as many people for each position as are interested and qualified.
An obituary written by Gerrit van der Veer will appear in the next SIGCHI Bulletin. Jim will write a letter on behalf of SIGCHI and the EEC to Ted's family. Steven is looking into having SIGCHI make a donation to an appropriate charity.
The Association for Computational Linguistics' Special Interest Group on Media is concerned with applying techniques in computational linguistics to HCI issues. They would like Bill Hefley to serve as a liaison between the two societies.
Motion: That the EEC approve Tom Carey and Simon Kaplan as CHI'96 Conference Doctoral Consortium Cochairs.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
Motion: To approve the SIGCHI Doctoral Consortium policy.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
Motion: To approve the SIGCHI Complimentary Registration, Conference Courtesies and Conference Support Policy for CHI Conferences.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
Motion: To approve the SIGCHI policy for compensation of CHI tutorial instructors.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
By acclamation we thank Gene and the other members of the CMC for their extensive and successful efforts with respect to the CHI conferences.
Motion: To approve the proposal for reviewing projects requesting support from the SIGCHI development fund.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
The proposal and an RFP will be disseminated shortly.
Motion: SIGCHI will go to an à la carte model for the purchasing of SIGCHI related products and ask ACM headquarters to give us an implementation proposal which includes a transition plan.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
We are currently developing an electronic version of the Bulletin.
We hope to decide in January whether we are ready to make a proposal to the ACM publications board concerning full electronic publication.
By acclamation we thank Steven for his excellent work.
Scooter is developing a proposal to make all conference materials available electronically through acm.org and will be seeking the approval of ACM's Publications Board.
We are working on the proposal for recommending nominees for public office.
Motion: To approve the proposal on Internet access to the CHI'95 proceedings.
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Jakob, Austin, Gene, Beth.
This proposal will be passed by Jakob to ACM's publications board.
Assumptions: The 1996 draft budget assumes that SIGCHI will fund CMC, EEC and SIG Chairs meetings, along with three SIGCHI sponsored conferences and $10k for the chair's discretionary fund.
The budget also assumes that by the end of fiscal '96 we will be just over the recommended $500k fund balance.
Our total revenue is about $2.7M our total expenses are about $2.53M, leaving $170k for programs and CMC activities.
We will be submitting a draft budget to ACM's SIG Board by December 15.
Motion: To allocate the following funds:
Local SIGs: $5k
Chair's Discretionary Fund: Increased by $20k to $30k
Additional Publicity and Membership activities: $10k
50th Celebration of the year of the computer: $5k
EEC Conference calls: $5k
ACM SIG Discretionary Fund: $5k
HCI Web Workshop: $15k
NII development workshop: $10k
The development of a SIGCHI identity: $10k
Vote: Yes: Mike, Clare Marie, Advisory Board, Austin, Gene, Beth.
We considered the following missions for ourselves:
To:
Have HCI affect public policy.
Articulate for dissemination the foundations of HCI (intellectual and practical).
To ground our vision in implementation.
Gain name awareness for SIGCHI.
Increase membership retention by improving service. Become the heart of our members' professional network.
Be a vital professional organization providing service to members and opportunity for members to serve others.
Increase the non-US membership to 50%.
To educate the computer user of their rights.
Provide a forum for the discussion and the specification of public access to the NII.
Provide fora for the presentation and exchange of information on HCI research practice and products.
Increase tangible value to members.
Be a clearinghouse for jobs and qualified candidates.
Provide a catalyst for life-long learning in HCI by professionals and users.
Given these missions we would like to see the following projects funded, implemented and completed within the next two years:
A workshop to put together the HCI web, with the SIGCHI web at its core. (A $15k appropriation.)
Establish a NII development workshop/task force. (A $10k appropriation.)
Hold an Informal Interest Group at the next World Wide Web Conference in April 1995.
Identify the next non-US site for the CHI conference.
Have a `Users' Reports' software column in Consumer Reports.
By acclamation we thank Diane and Cynthia for their time and their energies.
Jim will write letters to the BCS and SIGGRAPH liaisons and societies thanking the volunteers for their participation and asking the societies to help us form a good cooperation.
At the January phone call, Steven will report on holding an Informal Interest Group at the next World Wide Web Conference in April 1995.
Diane will report the status of the à la carte purchasing model at the January telephone conference call. At the January phone call Steven will let us know whether we are ready to make a proposal to the ACM publications board concerning full electronic publication. Between now and then the members of the EEC should actively look at what Steven has done to date.
Jakob will pass the proposal on Internet access to the CHI'95 proceedings to ACM's publications board.
Discussion of a `Users' Reports' software column in Consumer Reports.
Austin and committee (Jim, Don, Robin) expect to meet on Friday, February 3, to complete work on the slate. It will take a few days for those nominated to be notified and then a few days for them to consider whether to accept the nomination. The next step is for those accepting to provide a statement for the ballot. In order to process the materials by various deadlines, the nomination process must be completed and sent to Pat Ryan at ACM Headquarters by Wednesday, February 15.
The report of the nominating committee is to be presented to the members by March 1. Any intentions of members to nominate by petition are due by March 15. Petitions supported by 1% of the members must be submitted to ACM Headquarters for verification by April 15.
The question of ACM SIGCHI specific relationships with the British Computing Society and ACM SIGGRAPH was discussed at the December meeting. Jim has not yet had time to address this.
Jim reminded us of the need to review the more general matter of getting in order our relationships with other relevant societies.
Vivienne volunteered to work with Diane on the general issue of practices carried out by other SIGs, how to think about benefits and responsibilities, what is involved, how the relationships are set up, and how mutual benefit is established. A list of Conference "Cooperating Societies" appears on page 1 of the CHI'95 Advance Program, but the list of societies having a SIGCHI relationship may be quite different. Because the CHI'96 Call for Participation is probably well advanced, any result from the study would not take effect with respect to the Conference until CHI'97.
Jim suggested that one or more people in the SIGCHI membership might be interested in working with Vivienne and Diane on this. Send suggestions for names to them. Vivienne expects to have a status report for the March phone call.
Steven has requested time for an "HCI on the Web" workshop at the conference at Darmstadt, April 11-14. He does not expect to use the $15,000 allocated for that event, but he may request travel support for Hans van de Graaf, who maintains an HCI location on the web. Diane will send membership brochures for distribution arranged by Steven to the about 1,000 people expected to attend the conference.
An HCI on the Web SIG is planned for CHI'95.
At the December meeting we agreed to hold the present dues structure constant for the moment.
At the December meeting we also discussed possible ways to modify the CHI Plus package to give members more flexibility on what to purchase. One possibility would be to convert CHI Plus to standing orders. Diane has considered this, and she is concerned about making any modification to CHI Plus at this time. The plan now has 2900 subscribers, and changes so soon after institution could be confusing to members. Members subscribe throughout the year. Administration of an à la carte plan at this time would place a great burden on the ACM Headquarters staff and data base.
She did suggest that it would be possible for SIGCHI members to make purchase-order reservations in advance for proceedings prior to printing at near-cost under a standing-order process that is in place at Headquarters. We might consider offering this at a reduced price.
Jim will work through possible scenarios of how we might have the stability of CHI Plus and offer additional purchasing flexibility to those members who wish to have the benefit of a reduced rate.
Steven will prepare a draft request for possible submission to the ACM Publications Board concerning an electronic publication experiment. He expects to have something to consider in a week or so.
The status of this proposal to the ACM Publication Board is postponed until Jakob is present.
One of the items mentioned at the December meeting was a possible offer to assist Consumer's Reports to understand HCI in general and be aware of sound procedures for testing software in particular. Robin and Jim will consider ways for SIGCHI members to be of service in this regard. No date set.
We plan to continue the practice of meeting Friday evening to begin preliminary work over dinner followed by an all day meeting on Saturday.
Jim will look into connections for people to return home on Saturday evening (allowing time to get to the new Denver airport). SIGCHI will pay hotel expenses for those EEC members not already covered by another sponsor for the Thursday and Friday stay beyond the close of the Conference. This coverage would also extend to the Saturday hotel expense for those who need to wait until Sunday to fly to the east coast.
Austin to send us the nominating committee report on or before February 16.
Vivienne to have a status report on relationships with other societies by March 8.
Jim will report March 8 on possible scenarios for giving additional flexibility to members who wish to pre-order publications at reduced rates.
Steven will report about March 10 on a possible submission to the ACM Publications Board concerning putting the SIGCHI Bulletin on line as an electronic publication experiment.
The annual SIGCHI Business Meeting will begin on Tuesday, May 9 at 6 P.M. in Denver, CO at the CHI'95 conference. Agenda items include our plans for an electronic version of the SIGCHI Bulletin and a discussion of the electronic version of the conference proceedings.
The next EEC Meeting will be held beginning after dinner on Friday, May 13. The meeting will end at 3 P.M. on Saturday, May 14. The meeting will be held in Denver after the CHI'95 Conference.
The date and location of the summer EC meeting is still to be decided.
The next elections for members of the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC) will be held this spring.
Robin, Don, Austin and Jim served on the nominating committee. No one stepped forward to oppose Gene Lynch for Vice Chair for Conference Management or Clare-Marie Karat for Vice Chair for Finances. SIGCHI has applied to ACM for an exception which would allow these two candidates to run unopposed.
Motion: To approve the following slate:
Chair and Executive Vice Chair (run as teams)
Gary Perlman, Ohio State University
Gilbert Cockton, Glasgow Interactive Systems Centre, Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Barbee Teasley, Ameritech
Vote: Yes: Vivienne, Beth, John, Austin, Jakob
No: None
Abstain: Mike
Nominees have been asked for biographies and position statements. Members will be notified of their right to petition ACM to place additional candidates on the ballot.
Jakob has sent to ACM's publications board a proposal to place the proceedings of CHI'95 on the web.
Andrew Monk is the new British HCI Society liaison to SIGCHI.
Vivienne will provide us with a proposal for a new policy at next month's phone call.
Steven is organizing a workshop, HCI on the Web, to be held at the April WWW conference in Darmstadt, Germany. Additionally, he is planning a follow up SIG for CHI'95.
Jim and Robin have looked at Consumer's Reports evaluations with an eye towards a possible SIGCHI collaboration. Diane offered the support services of ACM in contacting CR and other publications to be specified by Jim and Robin.
Jim reported that one of the issues discussed included electronic publication. ACM is planning to have all of its publications available electronically. Once this happens authors will be asked to have readers access these documents through the ACM site.
A bulletin editors and Electronic Community Coordinating Committee (EC3) meeting were held concurrently with the Chairs' meeting. Steven said that HCI issues received a significant amount of attention. Jim remarked that acm.org now has a T1 link, so net accesses should be much better now.
The SIG Chairs elected four of their members to the SIG Board: Lillian Cassel, George M. Kasper, Stuart Shapiro, Mary Whitton. Previously, the SIG Board was made up of the SIG Board chair (elected by the SIG Chairs), the past chair of the SIG Board, a liaison to the Pubs Board, and 5 Area Directors, appointed by the SIG Board chair. This has now been changed, four SIG Chairs have been added to the SIG Board; these chairs are elected by the SIG Chairs, two per year (although this year all four were elected, to get the process started).
Because the SIG Board decides on the viability of SIGs, this change gives an appropriate voice to those concerned.
Austin will ask Pat Ryan if members can be notified via email of their right to petition ACM to add election candidates to the ballot.
Jakob will send Diane the proposal to place the proceedings of CHI'95 on the web.
Vivienne will provide us with a proposal for a new policy at next month's phone call.
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Vol.27 No.3, July 1995 |
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