Posted April 13, 2014 © David Shmoys |
I would like to add a comment as the head of the “Technical committee on mathematical foundations of computing” of the IEEE Computer Society, the sponsoring organization of CCC. I have been silent on this discussion to date since I feel that my position is conflicted. However, several people have been urging me to comment in spite of these reservations so I will add a few brief comments.
I have been trying to work with IEEE to push for added flexibility, and while at some levels they are very sympathetic, I cannot say that they have been particularly responsive in terms of actions, as opposed to statements of intended action.
There are many other IEEE Computer Society TC’s that feel similarly, and I believe that in general, movement is in the right direction. I still believe that it is useful for the longterm viability of the conference to maintain professional society linkages, and that the association with IEEE is of lasting value. Furthermore, I believe that the in-depth analysis that Paul Beame provided on the range of issues is exactly on target. Personally, I do think that it makes sense to move towards a model of dual sponsorship with ACM for CCC.