Minutes of the December 23, 1999 SGB EC Conference Call
1) Review status of current action items -
The following actions were reported as closed:Action: Chesnais will encourage the SGB EC Operations Chair to place the sharing of SIG programs on the agenda at each of the meetings. (7/22/99)
Action: Ellis to bring the SIGGRAPH requests for waiver (A/V) contract to the ACM EC for approval (10/28/99).
Action: Baglio will send an announcement to the SIG Chairs that the next set of meetings will be held in Atlanta during the first weekend in February (10/28/99)
Action: Soffa will follow-up with the proposers of proposal #2 regarding ENIAC Programmers. She will determine if the conditions outlined in the October'99 SGBEC conference call minutes are acceptable to them prior to making a final decision on funding. (10/28/99)
Action: Baglio to distribute the recent SDF submittals (10/99) to the SGB. (10/28/99)
Action: Baer to contact Judy Brown and verify that the SIGGRAPH EC had supported requests for policy exceptions on the competitive bidding process for the annual conference's A/V, PR and conference management contract. (11/18/99)
Action: Notkin will inform Vitter that the SGB EC has been updated on his request and that it can be handled for FY'01. Notkin will offer to assist him with the approval process. (11/18/99)
2) Starting time of the SGB EC meeting for Friday 2/4/00.
Notkin requested that the SGB EC meeting on Friday, February 4th start in the evening rather than during the day. This will allow participants on the westcoast to fly in on the same day. He had received general agreement from each of the SGB EC members prior to the call. It was decided that the meeting will be held from 6:00 - 10:00 pm starting with a working dinner.
3) SDF Proposals -
Soffa followed up with the proposers of the ENIAC film with a number of questions including:
a) Who is to do the work?
b) Would the ACM SIGs be credited for their funding?
c) When would the project be finished?
d) Could the film be placed in the ACM DL?
e) What happens to the short film if the longer version is not funded?
The proposers indicated that all work would be outsourced, the ACM SIGs would be credited for their funding and the film would be completed by the ACM Awards Dinner where it is scheduled to be shown. If at all possible, the film will be made available in the ACM DL. The proposers have found that a watermark can be placed on the film that would make it difficult to download and broadcast elsewhere. They will do everything possible to make it available. There is no question in their minds that the longer film will be funded.
Based on the responses from the proposers and the rankings and ratings of the SGB, the SGB EC approved SDF funding for The ENIAC Programmers Project.
Action: Baglio to send letter indicating funding has been approved for The ENIAC Programmers Project.
The SGB EC then discussed the two outstanding SDF proposals.
Proposal #1:
Post production of the "Changing New Minds Documentary" Amount Requested: $4,700 Comments: Lewis Johnson, Past Chair of ACM SIGART indicated his support for the proposal via e-mail.Based on the positive ratings and rankings from the SGB, the SGB EC approved funding of this project at $4,700.
Action: Baglio to send letter indicating SDF funding has been approved for the post production of the Changing New Minds Documentary.
Proposal #2:
TheoryWeb: A Theory Repository on the Web Amount Requested: $58,000 Comments: Jeff Vitter, Chair of ACM SIGACT indicated support of the proposal via e-mail. The SGB EC reviewed the rankings and ratings from the SGB. There was agreement that the project overlapped the ACM Portal Project and that the project would be too costly to fund. Based on the rating and rankings from the SGB, the SGB EC did not approve funding of the project.
Action: Baglio to send letter indicating SDF funding was not approved for the TheoryWeb project.
4) Possible agenda items for the SGB meeting.
The SGB EC discussed possible items for the upcoming SGB agenda. There will be a number of program reviews; 3 will be difficult. They will build as much time into those as possible. The items for the agenda include a 15 minute slot for an Awards Report from MS Johnson, 5-10 minute election task force report from Baer, an SPF update from one of the SPF committee members, a conference software report from Cassel, a brief allocation discussion and a sharing session. The intent of the SGB EC is to do as much discussion in the SGB EC meetings as possible so that specific recommendations can be brought to the SGB.
Baglio indicated that Judy Brown suggested a discussion on student membership. She would like students to be able to join the SIG without joining as ACM student members. Some members of the SGB EC believed this issue had already been discussed by the membership board and may have even gone to Council. There may have been a decision made by Council already. They requested that Baglio find out. The SGB EC would prefer to simply make a recommendation to the SGB for action from the membership board.
Action: Baglio will find out if Membership Board has discussed and made recommendations on students becoming SIG Student members without joining ACM as student members.
Action: Chesnais will set up web site to accept agenda items.
Action: Chesnais will set up web site to schedule January conference call.
The SGB EC suggested that all SIG leaders giving program reviews participate in the Friday and Sunday SGB EC meetings.
Action: Baglio will inform leaders that are preparing program reviews that they are requested to participate in the Friday and Sunday SGB EC meetings.
5) Publications Update -
Cohoon did not participate but had reported to Baglio that he was working with the SIGIR leadership regarding their newsletter.
6) SGB EC Member Reports -
Soffa reported that she had not heard from SIGGRAPH or SIGCHI with input on the Technical Standards committee. The committee has not been active and the SGB EC needs to decide what to do. At this time, ACM's dues to ANSI are due. The SGB EC discussed the benefit of being associated with a group like ANSI and decided to continue to pay the dues. Soffa will continue to gather information on the future of the TSC and make a recommendation to the SGB EC based on that information.
Motion: Move to support payment of ANSI dues.
Soffa, Cassel
unanimous
Baer reported that Judy Brown, SIGGRAPH Chair had made two requests on behalf of the SIGGRAPH EC regarding SIG finances:
a) That donations specifically for producing the SIGGRAPH Movie, "The Story of Computer Graphics," be exempt from the ACM allocation. The reason for this is that these funds were intended for and were spent on actual production costs. The funds were solicited from donors specifically for production costs and were applied directly to production. They didn't fund any organizational activities outside the direct production costs (crews, equipment, production facility rental) of the movie.
The SGB EC has discussed the grant and sponsorship issue on many occasions. Several SIGs have made requests for exemptions on this type of income and the exemptions have always been made. Based on history, it appears that the bottom line effect on the annual allocation will be less than $35,000. If the current allocation formula does not meet the allocation requirement the SARF will cover the short fall. The SGB EC would then be forced to amend the allocation formula for the future. The SGB EC has named Alain Chesnais as Chair of an allocation task force to look at the issue of allocation in general. As a result the SGB EC is comfortable in removing grant and sponsorship income from the allocation assessment and understand that it may require a change in the overall allocation in he future.
Action: Ellis to notify ACM EC and SGB of the decision to remove grant and sponsorship income from the allocation assessment.
b) That interest income on the SIGGRAPH Conference Reserve Fund be treated as conference income, rather than organization income, for the purpose of assigning the ACM allocation percentage.
A SIG's financial picture is viewed through a single fund balance, following standard accounting practices. There was concern about this request and the effect that a change such as this would have on ACM and all sub-units. If the funds were separate and the conference took a loss which entity would be responsible for covering the loss? A request such as this brings up many other issues and concerns. Perhaps the allocation task force will recommend there be no assessment on interest. Baer will inform Brown that the SGB EC will not make a recommendation on this item. Instead, she should pose this item to the allocation task force.
Notkin reported that Kathy Haramundanis, ACM SIGDOC Chair requested approval of an external relationship with INTECOM. This organization gathers participants form many sister organizations worldwide. SIGDOC believes that by becoming a participating member they will benefit current SIGDOC members and bring in new members. Notkin will talk to Haramundanis and find out what the responsibilities of member organizations are. The SGB EC supports the idea of joining in principle but in order to achieve approval for the ACM EC they'll need to know what the SIGs obligations are.
Action: Notkin will talk to Haramundanis regarding SIGDOC joining INTECOM. He will find out what the responsibilities and the obligations of the SIG are in order for the SGB EC to endorse and the ACM EC to approve this external relationship.
Participants:
- Jean-Loup Baer
- Donna Baglio
- Boots Cassel
- Alain Chesnais
- Carla Ellis
- Rick Furuta
- Mark Scott Johnson
- David Notkin
- Mary Lou Soffa
- Jim Cohoon
- Doris Lidtke
- Mary Whitton