Ashenhurst), the essence of CACM did not change that much under my editorship. It was still predominantly a refereed research publication—a tradition that was significant to the research community who strongly resisted any change to widen the appeal of CACM.

The growing and broader membership of ACM was, however, not happy. They did not see why they should receive each month for their dues a publication that many could barely understand if at all. The Publications Board (by then I had taken over as Chair; while Bob Ashenhurst ably took over as CACM EIC) felt that a more strategic approach was needed to set the future direction for ACM’s publications.

We formed a committee, the refuge of all desperate chairs— the Publications Planning Committee (PPC) with representation from many different constituen-cies. ¹ The PPC took a top-down approach. First step: obtain broad agreement on the strategic purposes of ACM’s publications. Second step: fill in the details. Covers were not the issue!

After months of tortuous deliberation, the PPC produced the Long-Range Conceptual Framework for ACM Publications (quite a mouthful!), or LRCF, as a broad policy document. Fundamental to the policy

(A)

(B)

(A) JANUARY 1971 (BEFORE); (B) FEBRUARY 1971 (AFTER)

¹I served as Chair of the committee, which included Bob Ashenhurst, Dick Canning, Ray Miller, Christine Montgomery, Joel Moses, Tom Murray, Jean Sammet, and Evelyn Swan.