Engaging the liberal arts and humanitiesChairman, IEEE SA WG on P1599 Chairman, IEEE CS TC on CGMDenis L. BaggiT & C Board Meeting Las Vegas, May 15, 2008

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008The Computer Society: historySubcommittee on Large-Scale Computing of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1946AIEE and IRE merge to become IEEE, 196350s: 19 chapters US, 8,874 members60s: 41 chapters, 16,862 members 70s: 100 chapters, 43,930 members80s: 33 TCs, 65,200 periodical editorial pages, > 50 conferences annually, 56 standards, 125 working groups, Brussels, Tokyo, ~80,000 members

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008The Computer Society today90,000 members, World's leading organization of computer professionals. largest of the 39 societies of the IEEEComputing has changed: personal workstations, portable computers used for text, hypertext, image, video, sound, music, and network communication Example: entertainment and music second in economic importance only to oil New roles for the CS as a continuation of its past pioneering activity

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008New Credibilityneeded, to attract contributing professionals not of engineering backgroundVision. The CS represents and supports all those who contribute to computing in some activity: computer scientists and professionals, psychologists, sociologists, physicians, lawyers, musicians, artists, ... Mission. The CS is open to new proposals and new kinds of members, to quality beyond engineering and technology, with flexible models for Technical Committees, publications, conferences, ...

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008CS already interdisciplinaryExplanation of next slide:TCs and TFs from the Web siteTechnical Councils in Bold and ItalicsTCs in regular fontTask Forces in Italicsplus: number > 0 and < 1 representing the degree of interdisciplinarity (subjective and arguable)

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Software Engineering (TCSE) 0.1Test Technology Technical C. (TTTC)0.1Autonomous and Autonomic Sys. (TCAAS) 0.3Bioinformatics (TCBI)0.6Complexity in Computing (TCCX) 0.2Computational Medicine (TCCM)0.6Computer Architecture (TCCA)0.1Computer Communications (TCCC)0.2Computer Elements (TCCE)0.4Computer Languages (TCCL)0.5Computer Generated Music (TCCGM)0.7Data Engineering (TCDE)0.1Design Automation (TCDA)0.1Digital Libraries (TCDL)0.6Distributed Processing (TCDP)0.1Electronic Commerce (TCEC)0.5Electronics and the Environment (TCEE)0.8Eng. of Computer Based Systems (TCECBS)0.4Fault-Tolerant Computing (TCFT)0.2Intelligent Informatics (TCCI)0.5Internet (TCI) 0.7Learning Technology (TFLT)0.6Mass Storage Systems (TCMS)0.1Mathematical Foundations of Computing (TCMF) 0.6Microprocessors and Microcomputers (TCMM) 0.1Microprogr. & Microarchitecture (TCuARCH) 0.1Multimedia Computing (TCMC) 0.9Multiple-Valued Logic (TCMVL) 0.3O S Applications and Environments (TCOS) 0.1Parallel Processing (TCPP) 0.1Pattern Analysis and Machine Int. (TCPAMI) 0.4Real-Time Systems (TCRTS) 0.3Scalable Computing (TCSC) 0.4Security and Privacy (TCSP) 0.6Services Computing (TCSVC) 0.6Simulation (TCSIM) 0.5Systems Packaging (TCCP) 0.2Visualization and Graphics (vgTC) 0.6VLSI (TCVLSI) 0.2Wearable Information Systems (TCWIS) 0.7Embedded System Codesign (TFESC) 0.4Game Technology (TFGAM) 0.7Haptics (TFHAP) 0.7Human Centered Computing (TFHCC) 0.7Information Assurance (TFIA) 0.4Nanoelectr., Nanoarch. & Nanocomp. (TFNANO) 0.3Results: 18.3, or 40%Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008Existing examples: engineers and other specialists working togetherTC on Computer Generated Music: between Signal Processing and Artistic Computer Music, including the extremesperhaps also true for the TCs on Bioinformatics, Multimedia, Electr. and Environment, Wearable Info. Systems, TF's on Game Technology, Haptics

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008Examples from outside the CS... what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world... (Steve Jobs, Triumph of the Nerds part 3, PBS)

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008Conclusions (1)Continue with quality of publications, conferences, ...Continue with traditional engineering TCs and activitiesbut extend activities to capture, credibly, professionals not of engineering background, and make its quality available to everybodyRecall: D.Baggi, Addressing the Evolving Profile of Computer Professionals, IEEE COMPUTER, October 1997, pp.84-85 (11 years ago!)

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Liberal Arts and HumanitiesLas Vegas, May 15, 2008Conclusions (2)CS grows several times and enjoys contributions to computing of new typesIEEE, and the technical part of the CS, become the supplier of technology and the technical reference for the whole CSRecall: D.Baggi, Addressing the Evolving Profile of Computer Professionals, IEEE COMPUTER, October 1997, pp.84-85 (11 years ago!)

Confidential - Executive Committee Meeting (J. Bumblis)Los Cabos, Mexico 10-11 January 2008

Today the concerns are different. The majority of computer users are not interested in hardware or software per se, but in all the interdisciplinary activities possible with computers, because computing is a pervasive discipline which runs across all human disciplines, and unlike physics and the classical sciences which strive for fundamental laws of nature, computers are NOT a science or an engineering discipline by themselves, but they are an enabling tool for multiple disciplines.Hence the CS is at the beginning of a new role, a new transition.*As it presents itself, the CS is not credible to computing professionals who are not engineers. Yet, many TCs have people who are not members of the CS. The CS must attract them so that they become members. The vision and mission quoted here is a proposal to attract such professionals in a credible way.*Even as of now, the CS already addresses the need of many people who are not engineers, as the following slide shows. The number indicates the degree of interdisciplinarity.*The list was taken from the Web site in February 2008, and is meant to indicate that the set of TCs goes beyond engineering since 40% of its contents is of non-engineering nature.This slide offers some examples of the collaboration between engineers and other specialists in some existing TCs.*This is at least one example outside of the CS which indicates the necessity for an extension of the present quality of the CS beyond engineering.*The extension of the CS to non-engineering practitioner does not mean to do away with its present quality in publications, conferences and other activities. On the contrary, many people are attracted to the CS because of its quality. It means to make this quality available to everybody interested in computing.*The CS would grow several times if such a policy were adopted. Which does not mean that the present typical engineering contents has to go away, but on the contrary that it will be valued because of the service it does to computing as a whole. This applies also of the IEEE, which then becomes the reference for activities related to computing.*