Minutes of the February 1, 2001 SGB EC Conference Call

1) Review status of current action items -

The following action items were reported as completed:

Action: Baglio to gather best practices from SGB leaders for posting on SGB web-site. (10/2/99) (changed from Chesnais to Notkin 11/14/00 changed to Baglio 02/01/00)

Action: ACM HQ to arrange for printing and mailing of SIGBIO dissolution letter.(10/13/00)

Action: Klein will provide additional bulleted points of what's expected of the new SIGCUE leaders after discussions with other SGB EC members. (10/13/00)

Action: SIGCUE leaders, through conference calls and meetings are to develop a more detailed revitalization plan/technical program as outlined by the SGB EC. (10/13/00)

Action: Snodgrass will issue a list of missing proceedings and newsletters to the Portal Management Board. (10/14/00)

Action: Chesnais to follow-up request made by SGB to Dave Arnold for the MAB to consider a discounted three-year and lifetime membership choice. (10/14/00)

Action: Chesnais to put up conference call scheduler. (11/14/00)

Action: Klein to inform Neiderman that the SGB EC is discussing the minimum allocation and those SIGs that will require assistance in FY'02 and FY'03. (11/14/00)

Action: Baglio to make recommendation for SIGs on implementation of level pricing in economically developing countries. (11/14/00)

Action: Chesnais will invite appropriate SIG EC to ACM HQ for a meeting. (12/14/00) - reported not necessary.

Action: Furuta to inform Atwood that the request for an exception to the ACM election policy requiring 2 candidates for elected positions should be endorsed by the SIGCHI EC and then sent brought to the SGB EC for consideration.(12/14/00)

Action: Furuta will inform MAB that SIGGRAPH has made a request to issue affiliate membership cards. He will indicate that the SGB EC endorsed the concept and would like the MAB to recommend a general, manageable way to handle which will benefit all SIGs. (12/14/00)

Action: Baglio to include SIGGRAPH bylaw changes on January conference call agenda. (12/14/00)

Action: Chesnais will put up conference cal scheduler for the monthly SGB EC calls to be held January through June'01. (12/14/00)

2) Secretary Report and Update -

Furuta reported that SIGGRAPH leadership was seeking endorsement to move ahead with bylaw changes. Ryan and Ashenhurst reviewed the changes and had no problems with them.

Motion: Move to endorse the SIGGRAPH bylaw changes and allow them to be distributed to the membership.
Furuta, Feldman
unanimous

Furuta reported that the leadership of SIGPLAN has requested that the VC for conference position run unopposed in the upcoming elections. SIGPLAN is considering making this an appointed position rather than elected. The position takes a great deal of time and effort and it may be more appropriate to appoint an individual. The SGB EC agreed to allow the candidate to run unopposed and requested that Furuta encourage them to change their bylaws and make this an appointed position.

Motion: Move to allow SIGPLAN to run the VC for Conferences position unopposed for the upcoming election.
Furuta, Berenbaum
unanimous

Furuta reminded the SGB EC that they'd discussed the SIGCHI request to run their VC for Conferences unopposed. The SGB EC wanted the endorsement from the SIGCHI EC prior to permitting it. Furuta indicated that the SIGCHI EC did endorse. It was suggested that SIGCHI consider a change in their structure to make the position appointed.

Motion: Move to allow SIGCHI to run the VC for Conferences position unopposed for the upcoming election.

Action: Furuta to inform SIGGRAPH leadership that bylaw changes were approved.

Action: Furuta to inform SIGPLAN leadership that VC of Conference position can run opposed and encourage them to make this an appointed position.

Action: Furuta to inform SIGCHI leadership that VC of Conference position can run opposed and encourage them to make this an appointed position.

3) New SIG on Uncertainty and Artificial Intelligence -

Feldman reviewed the proposal. He is seeking assistance from others in the field that are willing to provide guidance on the subject matter. He requested that any SGB EC members that had an appropriate contact forward him e-mail.

4) SIG Election Process -

Knowing that the SIGs were interested in moving to an electronic election process, Pat Ryan put together information for SGB EC input. She reported that the 2000 ACM General Election offered electronic voting as an option. ACM used an outside firm to administer this process. They experienced problems initially and as each of those problems were addressed the process got smoother. The ACM election return did not increase at all -- there was a total return of 11.48%: 69.51% of the ballots returned were votes cast via paper and 30.49% were cast electronically. Paper ballots and candidates' bios/statements were mailed to all members.

With respect to those SIGs holding elections this year, we have email addresses for 92% of the SIG members eligible to vote. Ryan sought SGB EC guidance on the following issues:

  • Do we mail paper ballots to all members with a note of encouragement to vote electronically?
  • Do we use an outside firm or do we do it in-house?

Ryan pointed out that developing an online voting mechanism will require the IS staff support (there is a relatively small IS staff). She had some hesitancy about doing this in-house because there are some many things already going on in the IS area and there are serious issues related to security and auditing. She also reported that many ACM members are concerned about online voting (there's pros and cons nicely outlined in the January issue of CACM).

The SGB EC agreed that utilizing an outside firm was most appropriate. Ryan reported that the cost would be approximately $75K. Normally the election costs $25K excluding postage. The SGB EC suggested that 2-3 of the larger SIGs may want to do a trial run.

Motion: Move to support SIGs that wish to utilize outside firm to run electronic election.
Notkin, Cohoon
unanimous

Action: Ryan to find out timing from outside election firm to run electronic election.

Action: Baglio to place electronic election process on SGB March meeting agenda.

5) Publications Report -

Cohoon has contacted several of the SIG leaders whose newsletters are more than 2 issues behind. He is waiting for responses from them on how they plan to catch up. This is becoming a serious problem, several of the SIGs are not meeting their membership obligations. It was suggested that SIG that are more than 2 issues late be placed in transition.

6) Future conference calls -

Notkin reported that he would suggest a day and time for the pre and post SGB calls via email. He asked the SGB EC to fill out the conference scheduler for the call time and day for calls following those.

7) Other issues (as possible)

Feldman received a request to approve a SIGMETRICS award. The SGB EC advised him to notify the SGB EC and send a copy to the SGB for input. With their endorsement it can be forwarded to the ACM Awards Committee for approval.

 

Participants:

  • Donna Baglio
  • Alan Berenbaum
  • Alain Chesnais
  • Stuart Feldman
  • Rick Furuta
  • Mark Scott Johnson
  • David Notkin
  • Pat Ryan
  • Mary Lou Soffa
Absent
  • Jim Cohoon
  • Carla Ellis
  • Stephen Hayne
  • Bruce Klein