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 20th and 21st 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