4.6.3 AMB

Mr. Reis drew attention to the following sponsorship statistics:

Mrs. Hayden stressed that the number of scheduled main and fully sponsored IFIP events, compared to the same period last year, has again slightly increased. Serious efforts were dedicated to the event management process and event organizers, TC and WG Chairs agree that the services of the Secretariat have increased significantly. In order to continue the positive tendency everyone is requested to support the established event management process and procedures.

4.6.4 Publications

Mrs. Lambert drew attention to her report and informed GA that for the whole of 2001 Kluwer expects to publish 23 IFIP books. Sales of IFIP proceedings during the first half of 2001 were down by 6% in comparison to the same period of 2000 but it is expected that the revenues in the second half will compensate the slight decrease. Several promotional activities were initiated such as the 2001 edition of the "IFIP Bookshelf" catalogue and direct mail about recently published IFIP books.

[Report of the Publisher is posted at http://www.ifip.or.at/minutes/ga2001.htm ]

Mr. Brunnstein said that he had chaired the PC meetings in Natal on behalf of Mr. Ralston who had to cancel his travel due to personal matters. Mr. Ralston had submitted a report in which he drew attention the WCC 2002 publication contracts, the necessity of stronger Kluwer marketing within the IFIP community and the need of a new price structure for the bulk sale copies to conference organizers.

TC 8 had submitted a proposal requesting changes in the process of dissemination of TC 8 proceedings. In addition to the printed proceedings, TC 8 would like to have the possibility of electronic distribution from the IFIP web-site or other web-sites 12 months after publication and hopes this could happen by the end of 2001. While it would hardly be possible to implement such a proposal by the end of this year, EB, PC and the IFIP Contract Officer would consider the legal and organizational implications of this proposal and its implementation.

Mr. Brunnstein said Kluwer has agreed to prepare for consideration a new bulk price grid to allow options for differentiated prices and royalties, especially for bulk sales under 75 copies, which are not in the current grid.

4.6.4.1 Digital Library

Mr. Brunnstein presented his report on the IFIP Digital Library project [posted at http://www.ifip.or.at/minutes/ga2001.htm] and requested GA to approve the suggested procedure and recommendations.

General Assembly AGREED.

Mr. Lee informed GA about the NSF projects related to the National Science DL and of the proposal for a Computing and Information Technology Interactive Digital Library
[http://www.citidel.org]. It is expected that this project would be implemented in cooperation with professional associations and publishers such as ACM and IEEE CS.

Mr. Berleur felt that IFIP should be involved in the indexing of documents, creating lists of keywords and in issues related to cultural influences. Mr. Johnson said there is a need of a facility for downloading papers the DL Task Force will maintain contact with the TC Chairs about its progress.

4.7.1 Statutes and Bylaws

Mr. Johnson informed GA that EB continues working on a comprehensive update of the IFIP Standing Orders and Supplements.

4.7.2 Admissions

Mr. Reis drew attention to the previously circulated AC report and said that the Computer Society of Zimbabwe has applied for IFIP Full member status as from 1 January 2002. AC recommends that GA readmits the Computer Society of Zimbabwe as Full member.

General Assembly unanimously AGREED.

Mr. Reis informed GA that an application for Full membership was received from the Sultan Qaboos University of Oman and AC recommends this University to be accepted as IFIP Full member. Mr. Gottlieb felt that the University does not have the profile of a society specifically dealing with information processing and wondered whether this is not a problem. Messrs. Johnson and Nedkov clarified that IFIP’s membership is not uniform and it varies widely. If GA decides to accept the University then IFIP will have its first member from the Gulf region with the possibility to extend its activities in that region.

General Assembly ACCEPTED the Sultan Qaboos University of Oman as an IFIP Full member.

(In favor – 23, Against – 0, Abstentions – 9)

An application for Full membership was received shortly before GA 2001 from the Lithuanian Computer Society (LIKS) and AC recommends to GA to vote in support of this application.

General Assembly unanimously AGREED.

Finally, Mr. Reis said that some days prior to GA the President of the Chilean Computer Science Society (SCCC) wrote to confirm SCCC’s wish to join IFIP as a Full member. Mr. Nedkov said that there was no recommendation from AC due to time constraints and the fact that some materials about SCCC remain to be submitted. However, GA may choose to consider this application keeping in mind that SCCC is a member of CLEI, IFIP’s Regional Corresponding member in Latin America. Mr. Rosenfeld felt there was no urgency of breaking the rules while Mr. Johnson opined that SCCC has already expressed its wish to join IFIP and there was no reason to delay the GA decision.

The SCCC President, Mr. Solar said that his Society is well informed of IFIP and wishes to become a Full member. There are several matters related to the formal requirements that need to be fulfilled but Mr. Solar was confident that this will be done by December 2001 and with this clarification he requested GA to accept SCCC.

General Assembly AGREED to provisionally accept SCCC as Full member provided all membership requirements are satisfied by December 2001.

4.7.3 DCSC

The DCSC Chair said that together with the IFIP President he visited Lithuania in August to explore with Lithuanian colleagues the country’s active participation in IFIP activities and the possibility of organizing the 1^st "IFIP World Information Technology Forum" (WITFOR) in Lithuania.

Messrs. Bollerslev and Khakhar reported that WITFOR is planned as a biannual series of international conferences addressing IT issues in developing countries. A proposal was submitted to Council 2001 and following the discussions in Capri a more elaborate concept was developed. Plans are to hold the 1^st Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania in late August 2003 and to develop a program with major topics and issues covering multiple aspects of IT-Equity. The objectives are to promote IT in developing countries, to focus on issues relate to the Digital Divide and to assist development. IFIP will be the main sponsor and will hold its General Assembly immediately after the Conference. WITFOR will be supported and hosted by Lithuanian government. UNESCO co-sponsorship will be solicited and other international organizations will also be invited to join.

The conference will be planned as a 2.5 day event. It will develop a "Vilnius Declaration" advising governments on IT strategies in achieving global IT-Equity. The follow-up actions will be analyzed during a second WITFOR in 2005.

With this introduction, the President requested GA to endorse the organization of the First WITFOR Conference in Lithuania.

General Assembly AGREED.

4.7.4 IFIP-UNESCO Liaison

The President introduced Mr. Menezes, Regional Adviser of the Information Society Division in UNESCO-Montevideo. Mr. Menezes conveyed UNESCO's greetings to the IFIP General Assembly and said that he has maintained contacts with IFIP for a long time. He was pleased to attend the IFIP meetings in Natal and to deliver a paper on "Information Society in Latin America and UNESCO's Programmes"

[The paper is posted at http://www.ifip.or.at/minutes/ga2001/unesco_paper.pdf]

Mr. Nedkov said that IFIP continues to pursue a proactive UNESCO policy, which contributes to IFIP's high profile and participation in activities and projects of interest to the IFIP community.
A highlight of these efforts was the meeting with the UNESCO Director General on 31 January 2001. Another important initiative was the establishment of a group of NGOs, among them IFIP, to advise UNESCO and the UN on issues related to ICT.

IFIP was involved in the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and the Joint NGO/UNESCO Committee on Communications and new Technologies. The Liaison Committee is currently preparing the International Conference of NGOs scheduled for 12 to 15 December 2001 in Paris. The Project on "Elementary ICT Curriculum for Teacher Training" was recently completed in close cooperation with UNESCO's Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE). WCCE 2001 in Copenhagen was attended by key UNESCO Officers in the Education field such as the Deputy ADG Mrs. Aicha Bah Diallo and the IITE Director, Mr. Kinilev. A special conference session was devoted to IFIP-UNESCO activities.

The 31st session of UNESCO's General Conference is scheduled from 15 October to 3 November 2001 in Paris. It will adopt the next 2-year plan and budget of the organization and will also look ahead in the medium perspective. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will convene in Geneva in 2003 and possibilities for UNESCO and IFIP to contribute as partners to this Forum are explored. The IFIP WCC 2002 in Montreal could become an important steppingstone towards WSIS and the IPC and OC of WCC 2002 are kept aware of initiatives and possibilities as they emerge.

Mr. Boynton said that he was grateful for all the suggestions and information about contacts with UNESCO. While in Natal, he further explored various schemes and possibilities with Mr. Menezes who has offered to assist the OC.

The Secretary advised of the following nominations for the Silver Core Award and the OSA Award:

Mr. Johnson recommended GA to endorse the proposals.

General Assembly AGREED.

Mr. Grafendorfer said the Marketing Guidelines [posted at http://www.ifip.or.at/minutes/ga2001.htm] are intended for marketing IFIP and its activities within the IFIP network and the IT community. 50.000 copies of the new "This is IFIP" leaflet will be printed after GA and an updated electronic version would be uploaded on the web-site. A TC specific "This is IFIP" leaflet in A4 format with general information about IFIP on one side and TC specific information on the other side was developed on the basis of the TC 13 information. The other TCs are encouraged to refer to the TC 13 leaflet and to develop their own leaflets for downloading and including in their marketing material. Mr. Grafendorfer said the TC Chairs were pleased with such an approach.

The MC Chair noted that in Capri the TC chairs had expressed some dissatisfaction with the marketing of books. The situation has improved. New IFIP titles and publication details need to be communicated to the IFIP Secretariat. The marketing of IFIP should be further encouraged with the dissemination of information about concrete activities such as DCSC projects, publications etc.

Mr. Grafendorfer commended the IFIP Secretariat for its efforts in improving the flow of IFIP information via the excellent IFIP web-site, the IFIP Newsroom and Billboard, the Gateway project and regular direct email communications and information about IFIP activities.

During Council 2001 in Capri the visibility of the IFIP Awards was considered. The IAC in cooperation with the IFIP Secretariat and the TC Chairs were able to identify appropriate candidates for the 2001 Awards.

So as to promote the appeal and visibility of the SC and OSA Awards, MC proposes that recipients of both awards should receive a pin in an attractive container. Ideally, the awards should be presented at Congresses together with a voucher for a 50% reduction of the Congress fee. The names of newly approved Holders will continue to be published in the IFIP Bulletin and included in the lists on the IFIP web-site. Complete lists of Holders have to be considered for insertion in future IFIP Anniversary publications. IFIP ties and scarves, if available, would be given free of charge to all future Holders.

The President referred to the proposed 50% reduction of Congress registrations for Award holders and wondered how this could be arranged. Messrs. Boynton and Gottlieb opined that the difference of 50% has to be paid by IFIP to the Congress Organizers. Mr. Nedkov said that the IFIP Congress is a flagship event and this new element should be incorporated in the Congress Guidelines as something which future bidding organizations need to account for. Mr. Bollerslev concluded that there are financial and other implications, which need to be considered in detail.

Mr. Grafendorfer continued his report by stressing that members of the IFIP General Assembly and national TC representatives have an important obligation to promote IFIP activities by reporting back to their member societies on IFIP issues.

Finally, the MC Chair reported that activities related to young people are important and MC recommends the establishment of a Youth platform in IFIP. Messrs. Berleur and Johnson were not clear about the implications of such a recommendation. Youth activities should not be considered as a stand-alone issue and need to be carried out within the existing IFIP structures and activities. Mr. Bollerslev requested MC to prepare a more specific proposal for Council 2002.

4.7.6.1 IFIP Newsletter

Mr. Rosenfeld reported that for each issue of the Newsletter, approximately 3100 copies are mailed to individual subscribers, 900 copies to Member societies for distribution to their officers, and 150 to event organizers for inclusion in their registration packages. The Secretariat continues to place the Newsletter on the IFIP Web pages in PDF format, well before its mailing.

Some minor corrections to the September issue will be made and the amended version will be put on the IFIP Web site and sent to the printer in early September. Mr. Khakhar had suggested that TCs prepare TC pages for the NL on a regular basis in camera-ready form. If that happens the assistance would be appreciated.

4.7.7 Industry

Mr. Miura said that since Council 2001 there were five areas in which the Committee for Cooperation with Industry was involved:

Monitoring the percentage of members from industry in IFIP’s TCs and WGs: CCI intends to continue monitoring this data and Mr. Nedkov was requested to assist the organization of a survey at the end of this year.

Liaison between IFIP’s TCs and WGs and Member societies’ working bodies: The "IFIP Gateway" was initiated with the purpose of establishing closer links between IFIP and the bodies of IFIP member societies.

Futurology: The rapid IT developments have a great impact on our society. An important IFIP mission element could be to monitor and forecast future developments in its fields of expertise. [Please refer to item 4.6.1. "Technical Assembly"]

Session related to Industry at WCC 2002: Dr. S. Sakata from IPSJ was designated as a member of the Congress IPC with the task to assist activities that will attract representatives from Industry. A Japanese Keynote speaker is considered.

Entertainment Computing Task Force(ECTF): Dr. Kamae was appointed to chair the ECTF. A panel discussion on Entertainment Computing was organized during the INTERACT 2001 Conference in Tokyo. ECTF plans to hold an International Workshop on Entertainment Computing (IWEC) in 2002.

The President thanked Mr. Miura for his report and for all his efforts in promoting Industry in IFIP. After this GA meeting there will be a new Japanese GA representative and Mr. J. Lee has agreed to Chair CCI.

Mr. Ishida was pleased to report on behalf of the ECTF Chair. He said a proposal would be developed and presented at GA 2002 for an organized technical activity in the field to include aims and scope, a report on the IWEC experience, organizational structure and links with TCs and WGs and a recommendation with regard to officers.

The current TF membership consists of Mr. T. Kamae, (chair), Mr. R. Nakatsu (vice-chair), Mr. M. Moshell and Mr. J. Karat.

Mr. Aiken felt that wider international participation should be solicited if this is to develop as an IFIP activity. He hoped that other TCs would nominate representatives. Mr. Domolki opined that all member societies should be able to nominate representatives. Mr. Berleur informed GA that Mr. Miura had assured the TC Chairs that the project will maintain close contact with TCs and WGs.

A meeting of the TF is planned for 15 May 2002 in conjunction with IWEC.

After Council 2001, the scope of the TF was further specified and includes computer games, home/arcade video games and interactive movies, entertainment robots and physical systems, music informatics, sociology and psychology of entertainment. Mr. Morel felt that the scope of music informatics was very narrow.

IWEC 2002 is expected to provide perspectives and to justify Entertainment Computing as a new technical subject area within IFIP. Web-sites were set as follows:

ECTF activities: http://www.ipsj.or.jp/katsudou/kokusai/ectf.htm
IWEC: http://www.ipsj.or.jp/katsudou/kokusai/ectf.htm

A small budget of 1,500 CHF is requested for 2002, mainly to support the May meeting of the TF.

Mr. Casaca said he supported the initiative and feels it is justified if people are attracted from "outside" IFIP and not only from existing TCs and WGs. This way, more professionals will be involved in IFIP.

4.8 Member Society Issues and Reports

The President advised that during the Members’ Forum prior to GA the sharing of experience was appreciated by many. The Secretary reminded GA that the Member Society reports are available electronically from the IFIP web-site [http://www.ifip.or.at/minutes/ga2001.htm].

As incoming President, Mr. Aiken announced the following appointments:

IFIP UNESCO LIAISON OFFICER AND CONTRACTS OFFICER

P. NEDKOV

Mr. Aiken said that Mr. Straus has offered to assist with regard to optimizing the schedule of future GA/C meetings and Mr. von Solms will help with the coordination of TA activities

4.10 Future Meetings

The Secretary presented the following schedule of future meetings:

Council 2002 4 - 7 March Bled, Slovenia
GA 2002 1 - 4 Sep 2002 Montreal, Canada
Council 2003 1st week of March Bilbao, Spain
GA 2003 1st week of Sep Lithuania
Council 2004 1st week of March Portugal
GA 2004 1st week of Sep Toulouse, France

4.11 Other Business

As outgoing President, Mr. Bollerslev wished to thank everyone for the support he received during his term. In particular, he wished to thank outgoing GA members and TC chairs such as Messrs. Miura and his assistant Yoshizawa, Doumeingts, Kall, Glasson and Mrs. Hammond. He was pleased to pass over the presidency to Mr. Aiken who provides leadership to many activities and will guarantee stability and continuation. Mr. Aiken was grateful for the kind words and said he will do his best to see IFIP prosper and become more visible in future. Mr. Boynton was pleased to extend a free Congress 2002 registration to Mr. Bollerslev who had also chosen a parabola and a grill for his summer home as a memento from IFIP.

4.12 Closing of Meeting

The President thanked once again the hosts for their hospitality and efficient support and declared the Natal GA meeting closed.