MARCH/APRIL 2005 (Vol. 7, No. 2) pp. 3-4 1521-9615/05/$26.00 © 2005 IEEE Published by the IEEE Computer Society Staking New Ground
In the last issue, I outlined my development priorities for moving CiSE to the next level—community, content, and approach. In this message, I want to describe our first steps on the way forward along each of these paths. I base part of my community development initiatives upon retrospection. CiSE evolved from two separate publications—the IEEE Computer Society's IEEE Computational Science & Engineering and the American Institute of Physics' Computers in Physics. This blended publication must respond to the interests of both the computational science and engineering community and the applied science and engineering community. The former includes those people working to develop computing machines, software, and application methods with particular relevance to scientific and engineering work. The latter are those people working in science and engineering who are embedded in various scientific and engineering disciplines and for whom both physical science and computing are major or indispensable elements in their work. Within both groups are educators who instruct those within and those aspiring to work in these areas. Step One Our task is to build community within this blended constituency in two ways: In these ways, we endeavor to build new community by providing it a home. In fulfilling this task we will, in a sense, be helping define a new multidisciplinary and "multicultural" community whose languages and habits might differ, but whose common purpose is to investigate, understand, and predict complex phenomena. One editorial step in pursuit of our mission is to adopt a voice that balances scope, depth, and specificity with timeliness, vision, and implication. Finding manuscripts that embody these qualities is very difficult, as I can testify based on my experience over the past several years as a member of the CiSE editorial board. Therefore, an important step on our way forward is for me to properly explain and promote this editorial perspective in the ways in which CiSE presents itself to prospective contributors. Yet adopting voice is only one part—finding audience is another. Consequently, I have set about, in conjunction with the editorial board, to redraft our statement to contributing authors. I've also begun to visit professional conferences to meet with and talk to prospective contributors and to learn from the grass roots about the relevant topics and discourses in which CiSE should engage. Step Two A second important step on our way forward is to be willing to take risks. This is necessary because to improve, we must learn, and to learn, we must risk. By running ideas up the flagpole, we expose ourselves to shots as well as salutes. As a perfect example of such a reality, our most recent Technology Reviews department provoked some mixed responses. Here, excerpted on the following page, are three of the letters that arrived in my email inbox in response to last issue's Tech Review article (January/February, 2004, pp. 8  16). This article was intended to serve as an introduction to a series of comparative review articles (of three major productivity software packages) scheduled to follow in subsequent issues:
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There is some commentary on these notes in the Technology Reviews department in this issue; here, I wish only to point out that we launched this particular series as an experiment to improve the usability of our reviews—and by implication, the usability of our other departments' articles. Every experiment is risky, and we specifically asked for feedback. We received exactly what we asked for and intend to learn from it. From this, I conclude with an appeal: Keep those cards and letters coming!
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presenting timely content—useful developments in computing and their application to science and engineering—highlighting potential crossovers between the two groups, and