6 August 2001
Leon Strous
GA member for The Netherlands (NGI)
PART I. Review of activities
Major activities
The activities of the NGI mainly take place in the special interest groups (15) and the regions (6). More than one hundred activities are organized annually. They vary from presentations in an evening session to full day conferences, covering the whole spectrum of IT.
The NGI also cooperates with a number of other organizations in several events (e.g. with the ITSMF (IT Service Management Forum) in a two-day conference that attracted more than 300 participants).
We actively participate in CEPIS.
Website: http://www.ngi.nl
Initiatives
An initiative to form a federation of a number of groups / societies that are active in several areas of the IT spectrum failed.
Projects
Currently a number of projects are defined in order to revitalize the society (see information in part II).
IFIP representation
The NGI is not represented in all TC's yet. Despite an initial effort last year, for the reasons described in Part II, priorities have been such that there has not been enough time available to follow up on this. As of 31-12-2000 the following persons represented the NGI in a TC:
TC-1 Foundations of Computer Science prof.dr. J. van Leeuwen
TC-2 Software: Theory and Practice prof.dr.ir. J. van Katwijk
TC-3 Education mrs. drs. A. Hacquebard
TC-5 Computer applications in technology vacancy
TC-6 Communication systems vacancy
TC-7 System modelling and optimization prof.ir. A.J.M. Beulens
TC-8 Information systems prof.dr.ir. J.L.G. Dietz
TC-9 Relationship between computers and society mrs. dr. C.M.T. Metselaar
TC-10 Computer systems technology prof.dr.ir. H.J. Sips
TC-11 Security and protection in information …… L.A.M. Strous RE CISA
TC-12 Artificial intelligence vacancy
TC-13 Human-Computer interaction dr. G.C. van der Veer
The forthcoming year will be used to get an active representative in all TC's. These representatives will have the task to promote the activities of "their" TC and to stimulate people to participate in working groups.
PART II. Input to IFIP
The last few years have been very difficult for the NGI. Membership dropped drastically and a lot of effort was put into investigating the causes and into restructuring and revitalising the society. Very fundamental discussions have been conducted about the aims and scope, the "target" members, cooperation with other organizations and so on. Even the discontinuance of the society has been considered. The low membership and the professional help that was hired, had a big impact on the financial position. Because of that, new initiatives had to be postponed or downsized.
The, somewhat surprising, result of all questionnaires, interviews and task forces was the conclusion that there should be no drastic change in aim, scope, activities and 'target' members. Instead, visibility was a keyword. In other words, let the world know what you are doing and what you have to offer. I think that is something that applies to IFIP as well.
Fortunately, the decrease in membership has been stopped and we are slowly on our way back. The "hardcore" of active members takes care of an enormous number of activities. This is highly appreciated and proves that as long as you keep a certain number of people motivated, there is life in a society. Because of all these internal worries, IFIP has not been on the top of our priorities. It is my intention to change that in the near future and make an effort to promote IFIP in the Netherlands in a way that it also affects the NGI in a positive way.