Appendix A
SIG Technical Standards Committee Report
June 30, 1995
The overall performance of the Technical Standards Committee
(TSC) in its third year of operation was not quite as
productive as in the prior two years. This may be attributed
to the fact that several members went through career and
personal transitions during the year, and that the
Chairperson was seconded to a temporary work assignment.
Nevertheless, the list of accomplishments achieved by TSC
members shows that there is still a strong interest to
support the ACM in becoming more aware of the importance of
Information Technology (IT) standards.
1. Publications
The TSC continues to contribute regular columns on
standards-related issues to the Communications of the ACM.
Members Rada and Moore have lead this initiative and some of
the more recent columns have received worldwide commentary.
The series "Standards: Free or Sold" received favorable
commentary on various network newsgroup whilst the column on
"Language Independence" raised an issue that generated
lively exchanges among the members of the standards
community.
At the last TSC meeting, a plan for developing a series of
articles for the ACM Standard View journal was approved.
Members will be preparing several articles during FY'96 for
submission to the journal.
2. Special Projects
The one new project that has been undertaken by the TSC is
to establish a TSC Server on the WWW at acm.org. The intent
is for the TSC Server to become a resource for locating
servers where IT standards information is maintained rather
than to maintain IT standards information.
3. Conference/workshop
The TSC held its annual meeting for FY'95 at the CSC in
Nashville. The minutes for the meeting were distributed to
the SIG Board and a version prepared for publication in
Standard View. The major issue discussed at this meeting was
the recent acceptance by ISO JTC1 of a procedure that
permits accelerated consideration and adoption of
international standards based on "publicly available
specifications" (PAS).
The TSC continues to represent the ACM on the ANSI
Information Systems Standards Board (ISSB). All regular ISSB
meetings have been attended either by Gargaro or Klensin.
Klensin has been instrumental in helping to transition the
ISSB secretariat to use electronic media.
Gargaro attended the initial ANSI Information Infrastructure
Standards Panel (IISP) workshop in July. A report on the
workshop was submitted to the SIG Board. However, with the
levying of a substantial fee to become IISP members, the TSC
elected not to participate in subsequent IISP workshops.
The TSC has been authorized by the SIG Board to hold an
additional meeting during FY'96. It is expected that this
meeting will be scheduled for September in the DC area.
4. Awards Given Out
Member Rada was inducted as an ACM Fellow.
5. Educational Activities or Initiatives
No educational activities or initiatives were or are
currently planned.
6. International Activities
Members Carson, Emery, Gargaro, Moore, and Rada continue to
participate in various ISO working groups. The TSC retains
Brian Meek as a liaison to the BCS Standards Steering
Committee. Meek has contributed articles to Standard View
and SIGPLAN Notices and has initiated several technical
e-mail exchanges among TSC members.
7. Collaborative efforts with other SIGs or sister societies
The TSC has established an e-mail list with those SIGs that
have expressed an interest in IT standards. This list is
used to publicize important standards-related announcements.
The TSC assisted SIGAda in coordinating the ACM ballot on
the revised Ada Programming Language (ISO 8652:1995). In
addition, the TSC has actively solicited SIG participation
in commenting on the ISO CD for the C++ Programming
Language.
The TSC has continued its liaison with the IEEE New
Standards Committee and receives invitations to attend the
regularly scheduled NesCom meetings. Emery has on occasions
represented the TSC at these meetings.
8. Outstanding Volunteer Efforts
Rada efforts to maintain a regular TSC presence in various
standards publications and the CACM has been outstanding.
9. Membership Concerns
FY'96 marks the end of the second two-year term for all TSC
members. It is unlikely that all members will seek a third
term; therefore, the appointment of new members is a
priority action item for the next meeting.
10. SIG Program Plan
The additional TSC meeting in September is expected to draft
a revised plan for the TSC. The proliferation of proposed
new IT standards since the TSC was established requires that
the TSC reexamine the ACM's role regarding IT standards.
11. Listing of computer and other equipment purchases
None.
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