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DOI: 10.1145/1897852.1897857
David Roman
time to change

The list of add-on features for Communications’ Web site began to take form shortly after the site was launched two years ago, and was a starting point for revisions now under way. Over the course of the last several months, suggestions to enhance the site were solicited and explored and are now spiriting the changes that will lead to a streamlined and improved site later this year.

Always a work in progress, Communications’ site has changed in some ways since launch, most visibly with the addition of author-generated videos on the homepage. Some backend changes have also taken place. The upcoming changes are intended to remove elements that some users find crowded or confusing.

Communications’ 2010 Readership Survey, conducted by Harvey Research Inc., points out some of the site’s favored features. Not surprisingly, the “Current The readership survey also shows there is work to be done, particularly to encourage more frequent and longer visits to the site.

Participants in the survey were asked for suggestions to improve the site. It is impossible to implement all suggestions, though

not for lack of time, interest, or resources, but for the wide variety of opinions expressed. For example, one 13-year veteran of ACM reads articles online only and asked ACM to “dispense with the print edition,” while a 17-year member said the opposite. “I sit at the computer all day for work. I don’t want to sit at it to read magazines.” To accommodate such diverse preferences, both print and online formats will continue for the foreseeable future ( http://cacm.acm.org/ magazines/2011/2/104384).

Guiding these site plans are Communications’ savvy Web Board, ACM volunteers, and HQ staffers, plus site testers and developers. All have a voice in the revised site. Plans are not finalized, but some upcoming changes will affect search functionality, social media features, and the addition of other ACM content. We look forward to announcing the next iteration of Communications’ Web site in coming months.

DaViD haReL eLecteD to isRaeL acaDeMy of sciences anD huManities

David harel, the William
Sussman Professor of
Computer Science and
applied Mathematics at the
Weizmann institute of Science,
was inducted last December
into the israel academy of
Sciences and humanities. he
is the first academy member
to be inducted as a computer
scientist. Several computer
scientists, including noga
alon, amir Pnueli, Michael
Rabin, and adi Shamir, had
been previously inducted
into the academy, but as
mathematicians. in the past
harel has worked in several
areas of theoretical computer
science, but in recent years his
research has focused on areas
such as software and systems
engineering, visual languages,
and the modeling and analysis
of biological systems, and taken
a more practical direction. at
the induction ceremony, harel
says, the academy’s head of
natural sciences made a point
of telling harel that he was
“happy to have me in because of
my practical work.”
in January, harel was
honored by the a.M.n.
Foundation for the
advancement of Science,
art, and Culture in israel,
which named him one of
seven recipients of the $1
million eMet Prize. harel was
recognized for his studies on a
“wide variety of topics within
computer science, for his
results that are at the forefront
of scientific research, and for
his achievements that have
become a standard and working
tools in many industries around
the world.”
harel suggests his
selection by the academy may
bring greater recognition to
computer science and “make
it easier to get people in on
this ticket.” But “far more
important to me,” harel says, is
that israel’s three a.M. turing
award winners—Pnueli, Rabin,
and Shamir—were previously
elected into the academy. “this
makes me extremely proud and
humbled by my own election.
great company indeed!”
—David Lindley