The year 2007 will be a time for major decision-making by the Computer Society.
First, let me wish all members of the Computer Society a very happy new year. Even if you happen to live in an area of the world that does not celebrate the first day of the Gregorian calendar, I am sure you understand my wish for you and your family.
Speaking of the Gregorian calendar, Ugo Buncompagni, a professor of law at the University of Bologna, was elected as Pope Gregory XIII in 1572. By that time, it was obvious that the old Julian calendar, created by Julius Caesar, had fallen out of synchronization with the earth's rotation around the sun. The new Pope called together some of the greatest computer scientists of the day to study the situation and propose a new system.
I use the term computer scientists advisedly because that is exactly what many of them were—experts in computing. One of the greatest was Christoph Clavius, who published many books on arithmetic and calendrical computations.
Figure 1 shows his
Astrolabium, a large volume (759 pages) describing the supercomputers of the day (astrolabes and the method of prosthaphaeresis—a precursor to logarithms).
Figure 1. This 1593 work by Clavius deals with the construction and use of the Astrolabe, spherical geometry, and mathematical methods for simplifying arithmetic. Even though Gregory's new calendar, shown in
Figure 2 , went into use in many parts of Europe in 1582, other areas resisted its adoption. The British (and their American colonies) didn't accept it until 1752, and many other countries held out until the 20th century.
Figure 2. This publication from 1582, the year the Gregorian calendar went into effect, contains the Papal edicts, an explanation of the new calendar, and all the tables needed to calculate important dates. A Parallel Transformation
The reason I mention calendar reform here is that the Computer Society is in the middle of a transformation that, in many ways, parallels that of the Gregorian calendar.
Then-president Carl Chang began our own reform about four years ago. Like all such endeavors, setting up plans, predicting consequences, and convincing people that the old ways are not always the best has required a lot of work. All such transformations create disruptions, cause concern for favorite projects, and their implementation requires many slow and deliberate steps. The year 2007, in which I have the honor—or perhaps the challenge—of being president, will be a year of major decision-making for the Computer Society in this process.
In addition to the strategic decisions that are the responsibility of our volunteer Board of Governors, these transformation decisions also involve the staff and the various volunteer program boards that oversee our products and activities.
Like Pope Gregory, we have sought out the best minds to help us move forward. We have established very high-level groups to examine every aspect of our Society, from the way we deal with both members and non-members who use our products, to the Society's governance and how many, and what kind, of volunteer boards we need to move forward in our model of what a professional society should be in the 21st century. As with the Gregorian calendar, we expect that some will embrace these changes readily and others will be skeptical and take time to give their whole-hearted commitment to them.
Because of the complexity of the transformation process, we can not possibly foresee, let alone implement, all the changes at once. We must approve the major directions, at least in principle, before some of the implications can be dealt with or perhaps even become known.
While this process will cause anxiety, it was approached with the same due diligence as Ugo Buncompagni used with his calendar reform. We used the best minds that the Society could provide—both academic and practitioner. When we found that we did not have a particular expertise at hand, we did not hesitate to seek advice from specialists in organizational structure and those who know the details about the provision and marketing of products to scientific and engineering professionals.
The time has now come to begin implementing some of the major changes that this transformation demands. As the title of this message suggests, 2007 is truly "a year of decision." To express this in a commonly used phrase, it's time to either fish or cut bait.
The 2007 team
I am pleased to report that we have assembled a very talented team of volunteers to lead us into this year of transformation. Headed by the three presidents (president-elect, president, and past-president), the 21-member elected Board of Governors, and the various volunteer members who have been appointed to head individual boards or projects, these leaders span the geographic range from Britain and Portugal, through North America, to Japan and represent diversity in all its aspects.
Of course, Deborah Cooper will ably occupy the past-president position, Rangachar Kasturi is the president-elect, Susan K. (Kathy) Land is the first vice-president, and Sorel Reisman is the second vice-president. Chris Schober becomes secretary, Michel Israel takes over as treasurer, and Alan Clements will be the ombudsman.
Heading up the major boards are Antonio Doria, Chapters Activities; Kathy Land, Conferences and Tutorials; Steve Seidman, Educational Activities; Sorel Reisman, Electronic Products and Services; Jon Rokne, Publications; John Walz, Standards Activities; and Stephanie White, Technical Activities.
There are too many different committees and representatives to other organizations to list individually, but I am very pleased to say that Jim Moore will continue to chair the Professional Practices Committee, which is responsible for many of our certification activities. While it would be polite to indicate the work affiliation of each of our senior leaders, I will just ask you to Google them—that will provide you not only with information on their senior positions in industry and academia but also give you a better feeling as to how well-qualified they are to lead this wonderful organization.
As I have already mentioned, there are 21 elected members of the Board of Governors, seven of whom are replaced each year. I welcome the newly elected members: Robert Dupis, Van Eden, Frank Ferrante, Roger Fujii, Ann Gates, Juan Gilbert, and Don Shafer. Of course, this means that seven members of the Board of Governors are stepping down for a well-earned rest. I extend my appreciation for their work and the many different contributions they made: Mark Christensen, Alan Clements, Bob Colwell, Annie Combelles, Rohit Kapur, and Bill Schilit. Ann Gates was reelected to a second term.
I urge you to go to our Web site (www.computer.org), where you will find the full complement of our board members and also learn about our job site, the winners of our international student contests, new books we have available, webcasts, Linux and Java tutorials, and a host of other goodies. Don't miss the highly amusing "Future of the Computer" talk by Yale Patt and the Silver Bullet Security Podcast series with Gary McGraw. You should also check out Ready-Notes, a series of inexpensive publications that directly target the solutions to technical problems faced by our members and others.
Staff contributions
The Computer Society has a large staff—currently 117 people by my count—to run our many activities. Without them, very little could be accomplished. I want to extend my warmest thanks to the staff for being so hard working, innovative, and cooperative with all the volunteers. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to thank them individually for their contributions.
With such a large staff there is always turnover. I would like to say how much we have appreciated the contributions of Bob Care, director of information technology and service; Peter Turner, director of business and product development; and David Hennage, executive director, all of whom have left our employ to further their careers in other ways. We will, of course, particularly miss David Hennage who, now that he has reached the magic age of 65, wants to spend part of his retirement using his many talents in volunteer positions in Third World countries. We wish them all well.
The Society is currently undertaking a search for a new executive director. In the interim, two of our finest employees will assume the duties of this position: Anne Marie Kelly, the associate executive director, and Angela Burgess, the publisher. I hope that the search for a new permanent executive director will be over quickly and that I can welcome the successful candidate in a forthcoming issue of Computer.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your 2007 president. I hope that, at the end of this year, we can look back and not only conclude that I did my best but that it was to the benefit of our Society and the IEEE as a whole.
Please feel free to contact me (president@computer.org) to let me know what you think the Computer Society does well or what we should do differently. Also, let me know what you can contribute to the process. I can't promise to immediately implement all your suggestions, but I can say that I will listen to what you have to say and attempt to bring it to the attention of those responsible for its further consideration.
Michael R. Williams, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Calgary, is a historian specializing in the history of computing technology. Contact him at president@computer.org.
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