Minutes of the September 12, 2000 SGB EC Conference Call

1) Review status of current action items -

The following action items were reported as completed:

Action: Chesnais to inform White that discussion regarding investments should be made with the 3-4 largest SIGs and then brought to the SGB. (3/3/00)

Action: Chesnais will send reminder to SGB requesting input of the allocation discussions. (3/3/00)

Action: Notkin will get in touch with those individuals that showed interest in SIGCUE and will let them know that they have until September 15th to come up with an effective mission statement and focus for the SIG as well as program plan to achieve them. The plan should identify the leaders in the field that will be participating. (8/8/00)

Action: Baglio to work with VC of Development with regard to proposal submitted on Embedded Computing SIG. (8/8/00)

Action: Baglio will forward SIGCHI Bylaw changes to SGB EC Secretary for comment and recommendation as soon as that individual is named. (8/8/00)

The following action items were reassigned:

Action: Hayne to coordinate conference software groups that develop as a result of interests conveyed via e-mail on conference software as presented during the October 2, 1999 SGB meeting. (10/2/99) Reassigned from Cassel.

Action: Klein to provide newsletter update to SGB EC by Sept. 15, 2000 (2/5/00) Reassigned from Notkin.

2) ACM EC Update -

Chesnais reported that the ACM EC meeting held on September 8th was very productive. Steve Bourne, ACM's newly elected President worked with the members of the EC to determine the direction the group will take for the next 2 years. Each member was asked to list their goals and what they wanted to accomplish during their tenure. The focus of all EC members was membership issues. Much concern was expressed as to where the SIGs were going in this area. There were suggestions that the SGB should review all SIG activities and allow SIGs to consider restructuring options such as conference SIGs. The EC intends to outline their goals and present them to Council during the November meetings.

3) Allocation Update - Chesnais to lead (10 minutes)

Chesnais reported that a meeting of the Allocation Task Force was held on August 30th. The group looked at various structures and has come up with a basis for a leveled model where you have digressive taxation rates at regular intervals. The model is based on expenses rather than income as in the past. The goal is to make the model fairer than the previous. If 1 SIG is paying more than 1/3 the total and 3x more than the next highest and the small SIGs are not paying their way, the model can be considered unfair. The task force has another meeting on September 19th and Chesnais' goal is to get the back-up information into the hands of SGB leaders 2 weeks prior to the meeting. The model will be presented on the evening before the SGB meeting in order to give a bit more time to the leaders to consider and think over so that the meeting on Saturday can be a productive discussion. There will be a pretty serious impact as cost is spread across the SIGs and the smaller SIGs will be asked to provide more support than in the past. The committee played with the model and was able to view the effects that changing the percentages would have on each of the SIGs. They agreed that the formula would need to be as easy as possible to implement.

It is quite possible that the recommended model could have a major impact on the small SIGs. The SGB needs to determine the right thing for the SIG structure as a whole.

4) Member-at-Large assignments -

Chesnais reported that Stephen Hayne was elected to fill the Member-at-Large position left vacant when he was elected to the SGB Chair position. The Member-at-Large assignments follow:

David Notkin
SGB EC Vice Chair for Operations. Preside over SGB and SGB EC Meetings, including SGB EC conference calls.

Stuart Feldman
SGB EC Vice Chair for SIG Development. Identify emerging technical areas, oversee transitional SIGs. The SGB Information Director, SGB committees, and SIG Liaisons to ACM Boards, other than those who are members of the SGB EC, will report through the VC Development.

Rick Furuta
SGB EC Secretary. Act as elections advisor, policy advisor, and financial and budgetary advisor.

Stephen Hayne
Conference Advisor. Oversee issues related to conferences as directed by the SGB.

Alan Berenbaum
Large SIG Advisor. Act as liaison for large SIG issues.

Bruce Klein
Small SIG Advisor. Act as liaison for small SIG issues.

5) SIG on Embedded Systems Proposal -

We have received comments from the leaders of SIGARCH, SIGSOFT and SIGOPS regarding the establishment of a new SIG on Embedded Systems. The leadership has voiced some concern about the overlap, focus and size of the community. It has been suggested that the proposers of the SIG be given the opportunity to plan an ACM sponsored conference with the co-sponsorship or cooperation of SIGARCH, SIGDA, SIGOPS and SIGSOFT and SIGPLAN. This would be an ideal way to allow the SIG to evolve if appropriate.

Action: Baglio to let Wayne Wolf know that SGB EC recommends he consider developing a conference on embedded systems with input from the appropriate SIGs including, SIGSOFT, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN, SIGARCH and SIGDA. The organizers should be made aware of the SIGPLAN Sponsored Workshop on Embedded Systems.

6) SIGCHI Bylaw Change Update -

Furuta reported that the bylaw changes submitted by the SIGCHI leadership requested a fair amount of changes not included in their summary of changes. The bylaws referred to SIGCHI as a society and the structure was distancing itself from the SGB. Furuta went back to Marilyn Tremaine and requested that she outline all changes being requested by providing a strikeout version of the bylaws with the changes included. In addition, he requested a more substantive cover letter outlining all changes for the SGB EC's review. In order to make a decision on endorsement of the changes the SGB EC needs to have the appropriate materials for analysis.

Action: Furuta to follow-up with SIGCHI Leaders on status of bylaw changes.

7) Publications Update -

Cohoon reported that the Pubs Board is working on bills of rights and responsibilities for various constituencies. He is managing the document. Producing this document is a current major focus of the pub board. He requested comments from SGB Leaders. The leadership of SIGCOMM has voiced some concern regarding the focus of the new Transaction on Internet Technology. A few of the outlined topics clearly overlap with TON. Cohoon has informed them that he will bring the concern to the pubs board.

8) Agenda Items for SGB Meeting -

The agenda will include discussions on the following: John White - ACM future directions, allocation, SGB Operating Rules Update, International Student Research contest, SIGCUE and SIGBIO, Program Reviews for KDD, MOBILE, CAPH, ecom, ART, MIS, MOD, OPS, SOUND and MM.

Chesnais is committed to leaving the meeting with a decision on allocation. Notkin will keep the SGB discussions focussed so that this can happen.

9) Other Items

Action: Baglio to place SIGCUE discussion on October'00 conference call agenda.

 

Participants:

  • Donna Baglio
  • Alan Berenbaum
  • Alain Chesnais
  • Jim Cohoon
  • Carla Ellis
  • Stuart Feldman
  • Rick Furuta
  • Mark Scott Johnson
  • Bruce Klein
  • David Notkin
  • Mary Lou Soffa