DOI: 10.1145/1364782.1364783

Moshe Y. Vardi

‘Where Do You come from?
and Where are You Going?’

The noted management consulting firm Booz Allen

Hamilton recently issued a report identifying the world’s

10 most enduring institutions of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

 

More interesting than their findings is

their list of chosen determinants: in-

novative capabilities; governance and

leadership; information flow; culture

and values; adaptive response; risk

structure; and legitimacy.

It is useful to keep these determi-

nants in mind when we consider that

Communications, having celebrated its

50th anniversary last January, is now

older than most of its readers. Keeping

a magazine in a leadership position for

over 50 years is a daunting challenge

indeed. As the Red Queen in Lewis

Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, pro-

claimed: “Now, here, you see, it takes all

the running you can do to keep in the

same place. If you want to get some-

where else, you must run at least twice

as fast as that!” In a fast-changing dis-

cipline such as ours, we need to run

incredibly fast if we want Communica-

tions to remain the foremost monthly

magazine for the leadership of the

computing field.

In the anniversary issue last Janu-

ary, I wrote an essay (“CACM: Past,

Present, and Future,” pg. 44) describ-

ing the process initiated in early 2005

by then ACM President David Pat-

terson to revitalize Communications.

Upon ACM Council’s approval of a new

editorial model in June 2007, a major

initiative was launched to achieve this

vision. This issue is the culmination

of that effort. To appreciate the magni-

tude of the task, consider the analogy

“replacing the engines of a jet plane

in mid-flight.” A monthly publication

cannot take a break. Communications

continued to appear every month while

behind the curtains major changes

were taking place. Over the next few

months, I will discuss these changes in

greater detail and, more importantly,

why these changes are necessary for

Communications to maintain its leader-

ship position.

An important component in this

revitalization is the fortification of the

professional staff producing it. A key

addition to the fold is Scott Delman as

Group Publisher. For Communications

to continue to maintain its leadership

position, it must excel not only edi-

torially, but also as a business. Flag-

ship publications of professional so-

cieties consume nontrivial fractions of

their societies’ budgets, and continual

business innovation is critical to their

success. Scott brings extensive experi-

ence in the scholarly publication mar-

ketplace; we are fortunate to have him

join the team.

Another change is the establishment

of a new editorial board (see masthead,

pg. 4 or http://www.acm.org/publica-

tions/cacm/?pageIndex=5). This out-

standing board brings together many

of the leaders of the computing field,

representing its diversity along many

dimensions. The board is organized by

teams, roughly corresponding to the

different sections within the magazine.

Unlike some distinguished editorial

boards, this board is a working board.

Producing a monthly publication re-

quires an ongoing effort to “procure”

high-quality material, which is the task

of this editorial board. The quality of

a publication such as Communications

is critically tied to the quality of its edi-

torial board. ACM is lucky to have so

many dedicated volunteers.

Let me close by mentioning one

new feature of the new content model

with ties to the old days when Commu-

nications was a venue for top research

papers. The new Research Highlights

section provides readers with a collec-

tion of outstanding research articles,

selected from the broad spectrum of

computing research conferences. This

section provides a broad overview of

the most significant developments in

computing research. Articles appear-

ing in this section are first nominated

by Editorial Board members or Ap-

proved Nominating Organizations,

and are then subject to final selection

by the Editorial Board. Prior to publica-

tion, authors are requested to rewrite

and expand the scope of their articles,

as appropriate for Communications’

broad-based readership. Each selected

Research Highlights article is preceded

by a one-page Technical Perspective

providing readers with an overview of

the underlying motivation of the re-

search, the important ideas to emerge

from the work, and its scientific and

practical significance. These Techni-

cal Perspectives are written by noted

experts in the field addressed in the

research article.

 

Moshe Y. Vardi, Editor-in-ChiEf