A SOCIETY FOR THE 70’SABSTRACT OF AN ADDRESS TO THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CANADIAN INFORMATION PROCESSING SOCIETY BY GEORGE FIERHELLER, PRESIDENT OF CIPS FOR 1970-71HOTEL VANCOUVER - JUNE 2, 1970The computer industry is in the middle of its third decade. As any person or organization over thirty is now considered part of the Establishment, our industry has little time left in which to impress the coming generations that we have a significant role to play in the latter part of the Twentieth Century. No one doubts that computer-related activities will form the world’s largest industry within the next 10 to 15 years. However, success in the next decades will not be judged on the basis of size or financial achievement alone, but rather, on the responsiveness of the industry to the problems facing mankind. Youth is unimpressed by the spectacular technological achievements such as those in space. Youth believes that people come first. Our organization represents the people in the Canadian computer industry. As such, we must be particularly aware of the long-range responsibilities of our industry. THE CHALLENGEComputers have their place in relieving the drudgery of repetitive and uninspiring work. It is in this area where computers have, to date, performed most of their work. For the decades to come, much of our activity will continue to be in helping business and industry solve the many problems in the commercial and scientific data processing world. However, the real challenge in the coming decades will be to solve the ‘people’ problems. We have often said that a computer is properly considered an extension of man’s mind. If this is so, the computer must be considered as an extension of all aspects of man’s mental capabilities, and this, in turn, implies that if man’s major efforts are to be directed toward improving the conditions of human life, the computer will find its major applications in these areas in the coming decades. The real challenge is to apply the computer to broad social problems such as: EDUCATIONThe computer can now provide access to the quantity of information necessary to make rational decisions in a complex society. Education will move away from the provision of facts and move toward a study of the means of retrieving the facts necessary to make decisions. This will involve an increasing interplay between the student and the computer. This educational process will continue throughout an individual’s life as our changing society will require that a man be prepared to change or modify his vocation two or three times within one life span HEALTHIn addition to the basic research being done in medicine, new opportunities will be opened through the ability of medical researchers to look for trends by extensive examination of medical records held on a computer. POPULATIONThe search for new sources of food supply must become one of the major preoccupations of the 70’s -and 80’s. The application of computers to develop the oceans as sources of food, to create new sources of protein and develop new forms of crops, will be a significant challenge. POLLUTION CONTROLThe use of the computer to help us save our environment by monitoring pollution is already becoming a major application. RESOURCE ANALYSISThe combination of computers with satellite technology will enable us to not only locate new resources, but to control our environment by such means as altering the flow of water through irrigation systems, anticipating weather changes, and will, in addition, assist in the development of new sources of low-pollution energy. TRANSPORTATIONThe population increase will shortly preclude our moving ourselves around merely to transport our minds where we would like them to be. The combination of visual communication systems with centralized databanks, accessible to parties in different cities, should allow us to work where we would like rather than being forced to come together physically in large urban areas. These human problems provide more than enough challenge. How can the Canadian Information Processing Society meet this challenge? THE PLACE OF THE SOCIETYWe are a young society in the world’s most exciting industry. Our biggest problem will be to retain the buoyant fresh approach as our field matures, that those in the field have demonstrated in the past. There is the danger that the very potential of this rapidly changing new field may in itself be a disadvantage if we allow ourselves to be mesmerized by the process of change. The field has shown some signs of lack of direction with everyone wanting to pursue his own course. This has led to a proliferation of approaches, education, and even companies. A major aim of CIPS is to provide a measure of stability without rigidity. We must aim at keeping a level of professionalism worthy of the field in which we have chosen to make our careers. The Society provides the only major Canadian vehicle for the continuing exchange of ideas between professionals while, at the same time, providing a means of continuing education to those in the field. But in addition to our responsibility for self development, we must be aware of our responsibility to meet the challenges noted above. We have a responsibility to create. If we keep in mind that the major challenge of our industry will be to solve the human problems, then we, as a society, will promote the active participation with various levels of government to ensure that our field is being developed to meet the long-range needs of Canada. However, to avoid the rigidity that could stifle a young industry, the Society must not allow our involvement with government to emasculate our industry by submitting to creeping regulation that could substitute administration for innovation. The problems facing Canada and the responses required by the computer industry are such that the Federal Government must be involved in the analysis of the needs, the provision of direction, and the financing of work in these fields. Our Society must ensure that we work with the government to accomplish these aims, but must also ensure that the government utilizes, not sterilizes, this young industry by imposing any form of early rigidity. Our Society also has responsibilities as the Canadian representative to the international computing community. Satellite technology is already providing a worldwide network for voice and video communication and there is no doubt that this will be expanded to include international exchanges of digital information. CIPS is already heavily involved in this area and these activities will be expanded. THE NEXT STEPI am often asked where our field is going. The answer is it will go anywhere we want it to. This places a great responsibility in the hands of those in the computer field. We must keep our objectives clear and our standards high. Back to Section B Index or just read on COMMUNICATIONS AND DATA PROCESSINGDECEMBER, 1970The first instance of long distance transmission of digital data is unrecorded as probably it was a message sent on a tom-tom. In more modern times, it is interesting to note that digital transmission preceded voice transmission by about thirty years. This, of course, was by means of the telegraph. Communications between data processing machines also has a longer history than many of us would realize. The earliest instance I know of was at the Wright Patterson Airforce Base in the early 1940’s. This was a simple process of converting punch card information to paper tape, transmitting the latter and then reconverting into cards. However, the intensive use of data communication involving computers is really a product of the 1960’s and this discussion will be about what is available now and where the field could be going. A DEFINITIONA definition of data communications is useful to help divide the whole communications area into categories. Mr. V.W. Wolontis, Executive Director of the Data Systems Engineering Division at Bell Labs (Bell Laboratories Record, August 197 0) noted that data communications is really anything that is not either voice transmission or video transmission. This is an important distinction because obviously any of these three categories could be either digital or analogue and the important distinction is the end use, i.e., it is not the primary purpose of transmitting either voice or video to alter the content of the information other than perhaps photo enhancement in the latter case. Essentially then, I will be talking about data communications although I will later try to draw all three categories together into a meaningful pattern. BACKGROUND FOR DATA COMMUNICATIONMost of us have had some exposure to data communication through the use of a time sharing terminal or similar device. We have all had experience with a telephone and will realize that the latter is essentially an analogue device. We know then that in order to transmit data over a phone line through the switched network we must have a device called a modem which changes the pulses coming from the computer into tones that are then sent over the network to another modem which reconverts these tones into discrete impulses which the computer can utilize. As this process takes place over exactly the same switching network as is used for voice communication, the common carriers are understandably concerned about network pollution, i.e., some device not manufactured by the common carriers suppliers which might inject tones that would cause the switching network to malfunction. We should remember that the tones are of the same type as those created by dialing the telephone. You can hear these clearly when you place a call on a Touch-Tone phone. This is the background to the controversy over the use of foreign attachments such as acoustic couplers. The industry argues that such devices should be allowed as long as they meet the necessary specifications for the network. This battle has more or less been won by the computer industry as a result of the now famous Carterphone case. It is worth, for a moment, considering what happens on a switched network as this is rather fundamental to understanding some of the problems that can arise. The earliest form of switching data was the torn tape method. In this method, if you wanted to send information between two points on a selective basis, you would send data from your terminal to a central location which would be the only termination point for your line. The information would be caught on paper tape which would then be torn off the machine and put on a rack in the centre of the room. The front end of the tape was interpretated with the destination and an operator would manually read this and then go to the terminal connected with the desired destination and feed the paper tape into this. In this system, all transmission links in the network are terminated in a central location. It is easy to see that the next step would be to substitute for the torn tape system a direct line switching mechanism whereby a mechanical relay operation would read the destination at the front of a message and make the connection between the originating terminal and the desired terminal automatically. This is exactly what happens when you dial a telephone for a voice transmission and the majority of the switching centres in North America still operate on the mechanical relay basis. Needless to say, if you dial another terminal which is already in operation, you get a busy signal in the same way you do with a telephone. This and many other problems led to the development of stored program machines as a substitute for the relay systems. Once a line terminates in a computer, the computer can temporarily store the message until the other terminal is ready to accept it. Logically enough, this process is known as a Store and Forward System. At this point then, systems for data communication start to diverge somewhat from the straight voice communication. While it is possible for an Electronic Switching System (ESS) to register the fact that a normal telephone call was unable to get the line desired and then ring that line as soon as it is free and establish the connection, a computer cannot readily store the voice message to be relayed when the connection can be made. It should be noted this is far from impossible but is not planned for the immediate future. This ability to store and forward is one of the advantages of a digital network compared to one that was designed primarily for vocal transmission. However, we should be aware that if the transmission is essentially from computer to computer, this same storage of data can be handled at the intelligent computer terminal rather than at the central switching system. I might add that there are many other reasons for wanting a pure digital system as opposed to one that is designed for voice. One reason is the elimination of the need for an expensive modem. The error rate is another consideration. To quote Mr. Wolontis "typically for the great majority of switching offices, Data-Phone service gives you less than one error in 100,000 bits on about 90% of the connections dialed". If 100K bits equals approximately 12,500 bytes and the average print line is 120 characters, this would mean that one could expect an error for about every 100 lines printed. Naturally, this does not happen as the one error in 100,000 bits is an average over many dial-up calls and clearly a bad connection can generate hundreds of wrong bits thus biasing the average. Also, the use of data compression and other standard techniques would really allow you to print many more than 100 lines before expecting an error. However, it is true to say that this rate is far too high for satisfactory data transmission. One cause of errors when using the present network is that on direct distance dialing, you have no idea how your call will be routed and the longer the routing, usually the higher the potential for error. Another reason that direct distance dialing may be unacceptable for some computer applications is that the normal delay in making a connection may be as long as 10 to 15 seconds. This would not be adequate for such things as airline reservations systems. This leads us then to a consideration of the second method for data transmission which is the private or leased line. These lines may be standard 2400 baud circuits which are the equivalent to your telephone line, or they may have higher rates of transmission. These lines can be ‘conditioned’ to improve their data transmission capabilities. Because these lines are essentially hard-wired, one can better control the quality of the transmission. If one were to transmit between Halifax and Montreal, this would likely take place over a private line to the common carrier centre in Halifax. The message would then be relayed over the microwave network to Montreal where once again a line would be available for your exclusive use from the termination point of the microwave network to the receiving terminal. Switched networks are available for up to 48 00 baud or the equivalent of two voice grade lines. The recently announced Multicom service, available from the Trans-Canada Telephone System, could provide high-speed switched capability up to 50,00 0 baud. THE RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMPUTERAt this point it is worth trying to relate the capability of the communications network to the capability of the computer. As the terms ‘low-speed’ and ‘high-speed’ data transmission are not well defined, let me suggest that we call low-speed transmission that which is essentially oriented toward the speed of a human operator. This would be the type of service that would be used with Telex or TWX or with the time sharing systems in the classical sense of the word. These speeds range up to about 200 bits per second. I said time sharing in the classical sense because there is always some confusion about just what is meant by this phrase. I will use the term time sharing in the sense of Time Slicing, i.e., where each of many low-speed terminals are given an essentially fixed slice of the time available on the main computer and I will contrast this with Remote Batch Entry where there is usually little interaction between the human operator and the computer and jobs will normally take as much time in the computer as is required to run them asynchronously. This distinction is important when we consider what one wants to do with the line capabilities available. For example, it is clear that when someone is working at a key driven terminal developing a FORTRAN program, he uses very little of the capacity of either the line or the machine. Regrettably, except for Telex and TWX, there are no low-speed switched facilities available. This means that many users of a key driven terminal are forced to use a standard 2400 baud voice grade line when, in fact, only about a tenth or less of this capacity is required. This has led to many attempts to concentrate many users on one voice grade line. For example, it might be possible for a time sharing service company to have a device in Halifax which could accept ten or more low-speed terminals and use one voice grade line for relaying this information to Toronto. This increases the costs for equipment but does decrease the line costs. In the United States AT&T does offer Datrex which is a concentrator service not yet available in Canada. Needless to say, there are many who believe that the expense of providing this type of service should be borne by the common carriers and not directly through purchase by the users. For remote batch processing, the normal terminal is one that can read a deck of cards and print at speeds ranging up to 300 lines a minute. A 2400 baud line can just sustain such speeds under optimum circumstances. Consider that a 2400 baud voice grade line can transmit the equivalent of 300 8-bit bytes a second. If you were to use such a line to transmit a reel of tape, this tape would likely have been written at 60,000-320,000 bytes per second. In other words, the line capability would be slower than the rate at which the data was written by more than 3 orders of magnitude! As pointed out earlier, a great deal of work has been done to concentrate data by eliminating blanks, using coding techniques for strings of like characters, etc., but regardless of the techniques used, the limitation of the line speed is what normally limits the speed of a remote batch operation. However, a 4800 baud line with data compression can operate a terminal satisfactorily at around 300-500 lines-per-minute. It is interesting now to consider the cost to a user of this type of operation. If we were to analyze a typical RBE customer, we would find that he might be spending about $5,000 per month. If the customer were located in Toronto, it would likely be that he would spend about 20% of this amount for the cost of the line and the modems. Another 20% or about $1,000 would be for the terminal, leaving about $3,00 0 as the amount expended for computer time. As the line, modem, and terminal charges are non-productive to the user, this means that only 6 0% of the money he expends goes directly toward productive use. It is natural, then, that companies involved in supplying data services are constantly trying to reduce the cost of the non-productive part of the service. We should now take a look at the capacity of a large computer relative to the line speeds we have been discussing. If I may use the example of our own System/360 Model 85, it is interesting to note that the channel capacity on this equipment is now over 36,000,000 bits per second and this will be increased to 60,000,000 bits in mid-1972. Naturally not all this capacity is planned for data communications use as much of it will be involved in the internal processing involving tapes, disks and drums but this further illustrates the disparity between the capability of the lines in the network and the capability of a large computer. WHAT IS REQUIRED?Some years ago, AT&T made the prediction that the load for data communications would be equal to voice traffic sometime in the 1970’s. This comment has led to a number of proposals for the immediate establishment of large digital networks. One of these proposals was that of the Science Council recommending the Trans-Canada Computer Network (TCCN). This would be a digital network in addition to the facilities already available for analogue transmission. The analogy is drawn to the importance of this for Canada similar to the building of the railroads in the mid-18 00’s. In the United States, similar large digital networks are being proposed by private groups such as DATRAN. Some of these proposals have come from the common carriers and some from private organizations. The common carriers have fought the entry of private groups into this field and a breakthrough came with the decision in the United States to allow Microwave Communication Inc to establish a link between Chicago and St. Louis. For an example of small industry versus the large monopoly I would recommend you read an article entitled "The Battle for Data Communication" by Charles J. Lynch in Innovation No. Eleven, 1970. The costs to the user for lines and modems is large as pointed out earlier. To put this in prospective, at SDL the forecasted annual expenditure for lines and modems is over $11,000,000 by 1974. This is roughly equivalent to the initial investment in the System/360 Model 85. This makes it very tempting for firms such as SDL to look at going into the data transmission business. However, this is properly the business of the common carriers who are naturally concerned that such an approach to the business would ‘cream skim’ i.e., would likely service only the attractive part of the market leaving the common carriers to service the rest. If these and other concerns are foremost in the minds of the common carriers, I believe they should take the initiative now to assist in reducing the costs of communications to the industry. The common carriers have their own problems in raising capital and the thought of building a massive new digital transmission network may well cause them to hesitate. Much of the problem for the next few years could be solved if the common carriers would consider re-tariffing their present service and would undertake to develop better and lower cost modems. I could probably be convinced that there is a front-end loading on a switched network to set up a call, but I find it almost impossible to believe that it really costs substantially more once the microwave network is established to transmit data from Halifax to Vancouver than it does from Halifax to Toronto and yet the charges are now on an almost linear charge/distance relationship. A smoothly decreasing non-linear charge/duration relationship for switched inter-city service or dedicated service would go a long way to solving many of the problems we now face. Also, before we build a new network when there is clearly more than adequate capacity for the next number of years on the existing networks for long distance transmission, we should reconsider whether the original statement by the AT&T that data traffic would equal voice traffic, is in fact, true. In the September/October issue of Computer Magazine, the Stanford Research Institute analyzed just where the load on the network would really come from. Their analysis indicated that by far the largest load by 1990 would remain the telephone requirement. Next to this would be Video Telephone or Picturephone. These would be followed by some form of electronic mail and then television. The largest computer oriented operation would be remote library browsing, presumably as an adjunct to some computer assisted instruction operation. This does not necessarily mean that we should not look at building a new digital network because as I mentioned earlier, any of the above requirements can be met either digitally or through analogue transmission. However, we should be careful not to waste our resources when a relatively simple solution, such as the rate changes suggested might serve the users in the short run. Another example of more efficient use of present facilities would be economical pricing and packaging of the lightly used night shift on the microwave network for overnight tape transmission. In any case, one thing is clear and that is that the common carriers have a huge job to meet the very heavy development costs required both for the short run needs of the computer industry and for their own long run needs to meet the massively increasing communication requirements of our country and of every other country. THE WIRED CITYTo give you an example of the incredible investment required one need only consider what will have to be done if even some of the 2 8 suggested requirements for the communication network proposed by Roger W. Hough of the Stanford Research Institute in fact come about by 1990. Many of these items are directed toward the individual user in his own household. If one realizes the amount of information that will be transmitted to and from each household, it becomes obvious that our cities would have to be completely rewired. At the moment community antenna television (CATV) does bring a substantial capacity into nearly a million households in Canada. This capacity could be enough to transmit 25 to 3 0 TV channels. However, this is one-way transmission and is not suitable for things such as in-the-home instruction. Also, this system is not switchable. Ideally, a system of switched coaxial cables would solve the problem if the cables were capable of about 300 megahertz. It should be noted that a TV signal requires about 6 MHz and 600 telephone signals could be accommodated in the same space. Needless to say, the switching of lines of such capacity would, in itself, be quite a problem (remember the channel capacity of a large computer) but in fact, this would not be required for many of the services. SUMMARYIt is this broad area that is now being addressed by the new Canadian Computer/Communications Agency and the implications for the correct use of capital in our country, in the coming decades are enormous. Back to Section B Index or just read on  TRENDS IN CANADIAN COMPUTINGCANADIAN INFORMATION PROCESSING SOCIETYNOVEMBER, 1970Trends are not predictions. Predictions have an inevitable sense about them while trends only indicate what will happen unless we take steps to alter the pressures causing the trends. The trends I would like to discuss in the computing field in Canada are those brought about by institutional action rather than technological change. BACKGROUNDFirst, why should we as computer professionals be concerned about what is happening at the national level? One reason is that our industry will be the most socially influential of any in this decade. Also, there is little doubt that the computer-based industry will be the third largest industry in the world during the 1970’s with only the petroleum and automobile industries being still larger. This alone means that we have a great social responsibility to ensure that this industry is properly directed. We, therefore, must concern ourselves with whether or not the changes proposed will be in the national or even international interest. Secondly, however, computer professionals have a personal interest in the direction the field is taking. Each of us must satisfy ourselves that the changed environment of the 70’s will allow us to perform more effectively. If our job is to advance the state of the art, will the proposed institutional changes allow this to happen more easily? If our job is to produce results for our companies, will this be done more easily? Will the computer professional be as free to innovate, and to establish new services? If there will be such a loss of freedom, is this significant in the light of the national interest? What is the national interest? I contend that we cannot afford to ignore the trends in the computer industry either personally or professionally for to do so would be the equivalent of professionals in other fields developing a new nuclear device and then disclaiming any responsibility for the results. While developments in the computer field are not usually as dramatic as the above analogy would indicate, i.e. they do not usually cause loss of life, the impact of the computer on society could be every bit as great. WHAT IS THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY?At a recent meeting of the Ontario Government Department of Trade & Development, a group selected from the computer field tried to define the industry. A suggested definition was "that part of the information industry which is computer-based and is involved in the storage, movement and manipulation of data". That group went on to conclude that the industry so defined was likely already over $500,000,000 in Canada in 1969. Projections by the Federal Government, the Science Council and others would indicate that this industry could grow to between $4-billion and $8-billion in 1980. As this would amount to between 2.3% and 5.4% of the gross national product at that time, it is easy to see why the industry will become one of the largest in Canada in 1980. While the projections are arrived at by various means, all of which can be questioned, the magnitude does not vary greatly. If these projections are even close, what will have to happen to make this come about? WHAT ARE THE TRENDS?1. Increasing Proliferation of Consumer-Oriented Services: Many of these services will be available to the relatively uninitiated public. Some of the things we have talked about for many years such as the chequeless or cashless society will, in fact, become a reality within this decade. Operations such as CHARGEX are only the start. Other things being experimented with now include computerized shopping and customized information services. All of this will throw a very large load on the computer and communications facilities of the country. 2. Increasing Dependence on Communications: The economy of scale of large computers will encourage the centralization of many of the above services. This will lead to an increasing dependence on communications facilities. The concept of the wired city involving a coaxial cable to every home capable of handling two-way communication including videophone, TV, computer assisted instruction, facsimile electronic mail, etc., may not come within this decade but experiments in this field are almost certain to start within this time frame. 3. Increasing Size of Companies Involved: Mr. Kierans and others have said that a very large investment running into billions of dollars will be required to meet this demand. This will be for all aspects of the field including computer hardware, communications facilities and people. If this is the case, such a demand will tend to be met by large companies as these are the only ones who can raise the investment required. 4. Increasing Influence of Government: There can be little doubt that our country is being governed according to a set of national priorities. Among these are: • national unity If these are the major forces behind the Government’s moves, there is little doubt that they consider the computer industry as one that is absolutely necessary to the attainment of these national aims. Therefore, there can be little doubt of their involvement in the field. WHO ARE THE PARTICIPANTS?1. The Manufacturers: These are largely U.S. firms. As pointed out in the Financial Post of November 14, Canada would face an extreme balance of payments problem, if it tried to import all of the equipment necessary to meet this rate of expansion. Therefore, it would appear that the Federal Government has already capitulated in one phase of the computer field in Canada. Their demonstrated policy is to support the large American manufacturers to conduct research and development and manufacturing in Canada. This is exemplified by the recent grants to IBM and Control Data Corporation. This does not mean that there will not be some manufacturing in Canada by Canadian organizations but this will be restricted to small speciality items. As the experience of France and other countries would indicate that independent development of a ‘main frame1 industry is not feasible, I believe the Government has taken a reasonable approach here. However, as the Government will clearly want to retain control of the computer service industry in Canada, I doubt that the Federal Government will support these same manufacturers in the development of large service networks. 2. The Common Carriers: I believe that the common carriers will be involved in the computer field in one way or another. As many people have noted, the present equipment installed by the common carriers is not suitable for general data processing. However, there is a tendency to install general purpose equipment for message handling. This equipment could be used logically to provide some services. These would be largely of the nature of COMPILE, LOAD and GO operations of the type often now provided by time sharing systems. However, the common carriers can offer little, if any, economy of scale in large data processing operations, i.e. their costs for operators, rental of commercial tape drives, disk files and other units are no different than those of any other company. Their management costs, if anything, may be higher. All of this indicates that the place of the common carriers in the field will have to be considered very carefully but legislation totally excluding them from the field could well be "legislation against common sense" and it is not likely that this would be in the national interest. 3. The Independent Computer Service Industry: This new group of companies, often referred to as the computer utility industry, has occasioned much of the interest in the industry in the last couple of years. While their track record has been far from uniform, they are now providing a significant alternative to the traditional way of obtaining computer power which was only attainable previously by installing one’s own computer. This industry is largely Canadian-owned and as it is both available and vocal, will certainly play a large part within the industry. 4. The User Group: One cannot normally say a single instance is a trend but I would predict that groups of companies such as that recently formed by Eaton’s, Stelco, TRW and London Life will become more common. Their influence on the industry has yet to be felt but they could become a major force. 5. The Federal Government: The Federal Government clearly feels that it cannot lose control of this new industry as it did with the electronics industry. The result is certain to be a major Federal Government interest in the activities of the industry. As the computer-based industry could exceed the automobile industry in terms of national importance, then one could expect to see at least the level of interest that led to the Canadian/American automobile pact. The Federal Government’s announced interests are: • to make the best use of Canadian resources in the computer field • to retain Canadian ownership of as much of the field as possible • to do what is in the public interest When viewed against the national priorities discussed earlier, one can see why the Science Council has now switched its proposals for a major program to a Trans-Canada Computer Network and why the Department of Communications has proposed the new Canadian Computer/ Communications Agency. COMMENTThe Federal Government is struggling for a more precise definition of what is in the national interest. Whatever their conclusions, the above analysis would indicate that major changes will be taking place in the industry within the next several years - As those in the computer field will be the most directly affected by these changes and, further, will have the responsibility for making the changes work, I believe it is vital that we make our point of view known. Reaching a consensus through a society such as CIPS will not be easy but even a statement of various opinions will be helpful guidance. If we do not make our position known, we will have no one to blame but ourselves if we do not like the solution that will, without doubt, be imposed upon us by the Government. Back to Section B Index or just read on  THE JANUS COMPLEXPRESIDENT'S MESSAGEAll Presidents and most politicians, as they approach the end of their term of office, take the opportunity to look back with pride and forward with relief. As this will be my last President's Message, I would certainly not want to break this longstanding tradition of a year-end review. This has been a year of introspection and change and both of these are luxuries a society can only afford occasionally but cannot afford to do without, from time to time. Some of the major successes of the year are: The Reorganization of the National Board The assignment of individual responsibilities to Board Members has, by and large, worked well and was one factor in enabling us to move forward on several fronts at one time. The ConstitutionThe final draft of the revised constitution is elsewhere in this issue. If this is approved in September, it should help the administration of the organization, e.g. with mail ballots now being possible on important matters, etc., as well as giving a more balanced National Board through regional representation. I hope you will study this and vote for its approval. AccreditationIn my opening address in Vancouver I said that I wanted to see the accreditation process moved forward from the committee stage to a full proposal or else we should stop talking about it. Through the continued efforts of Bill Kerrigan and the gratifying co-operation of other societies, we are now able to present such a firm proposal elsewhere in this issue. This proposal will be brought before the National Board Meeting on May 27 in Toronto. Again, this is 'must' reading as it is a major step and one that will affect all those in the computer field in Canada. INFOR JournalINFOR has been launched as a co-operative venture with CORS. We have arranged for the first three issues to be sent to all CIPS members and it is my personal hope that this policy of making this part of the CIPS membership will meet with the approval of the Society. New SecretariatAs we have now undertaken a joint project with CORS in the form of the INFOR Journal, it seems to make sense that we should, at this time, try to reduce the administrative costs for CIPS, CORS and INFOR by establishing a joint administration of the mailing lists and other secretarial functions. Negotiations for this are nearly complete and the new arrangements will be announced at the Annual Meeting. Computer Science AssociationDuring the year we were pleased to welcome the CSA as the University Computer Science Special Interest Group of CIPS. Canadian Computer ShowIn September we launched the first Canadian Computer Show which was a great success and now look forward to the combined Canadian Computer Conference and the Canadian Computer Show in Toronto in September. Salary and Manpower SurveyBy now you will have received the first Salary and Manpower Survey which will now become an annual publication complementing our already highly regarded Computer Census. CIPS MagazineThis magazine which was started last year has been expanded in scope and we hope that by that Annual Meeting the expanded Editorial Board can be announced. This step should further increase the usefulness and readability of the magazine. Relationship With Other SocietiesAs pointed out in earlier editorials, I believe that active co-operation with other societies is essential and clearly the joint Journal, secretariat, proposal for accreditation and numerous other contacts indicate that this is completely feasible. We are now in the process of trying to expand these contacts in the hope of gaining more reciprocal benefits. Some of the above steps should give CIPS more to offer during these contacts. Where have we fallen short of the objectives set forth last year?New MembersDespite a major effort at the Local and National level, we have not been able to increase the membership substantially over last year. Also, contacts were made with groups in several major cities and, while discussions are continuing, we were not able to establish any new sections this year. I hope that the new executive will make this a major project. FinancesThis magazine has been an expensive project and it has only been through the combined efforts of the publisher and the volunteers that we were finally able to make a profit on the April issue and should have the magazine in a breakeven condition from now on. Administration of the society has also been an expense and it is hoped that the new joint secretariat will substantially reduce these costs for the next several years. I hope that by reducing these two major cost items, plus the anticipated success of the Canadian Computer Conference, we will have put the Society on sound financial footing. A full report will be presented at the Annual Meeting. IFIP Congress'74We missed on this. I believe we were somewhat naive about the professionalism of the proposals that are necessary to land this major Congress. I will recommend to the Board that it is not too early to start a well thought through campaign to get IFIP Congress'77 in Canada and will have some suggestions along this line. Some year-end thanks are overdue to many people. A particular note of appreciation is due John Gillies, our Executive Secretary and the University of Waterloo. John will be leaving his post on May 31 and I know all those in the Society appreciate the contribution he has made and wish him all the best. The University of Waterloo has been the host for our offices for many years in a largely unsung effort. Their contribution cannot be underestimated. I have already acknowledged, on many occasions, the outstanding contributions of the Members of the Board in their various areas. Many others have also made an outstanding contribution to the Society and at the risk of omitting many who should be mentioned, I would like to thank, in particular, Bill Kerrigan for his work on accreditation, Dick Mason as our Editor for INFOR, Cam Pickell for his work on the magazine, Colin Campbell for his handling of the Canadian Computer Show and Tony Black for his efforts on the upcoming Canadian Computer Conference. Enough reminiscing! It has been a very interesting and exciting year and I now wish the best of luck to your incoming President, Jim Kennedy and his new Board. Back to Section B Index or just read on  A PROPOSAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CANADIAN FEDERATION OF INFORMATION PROCESSING SOCIETIESDECEMBER 1973PREAMBLEThe need for Information Technology will lead to our industry becoming one of the largest in Canada within a decade. The professionals who operate within the information industry are presently represented by many Societies, all of which properly endeavour to promote some aspect of this broad field. To ensure those in the field have a proper voice in how this industry develops, it will almost certainly be necessary that the various Societies form a joint society of societies which will be broadly representative of the many facets of this field and which will become the national focal point for the information industry. Precedence for such a society is well established with AFIPS in the United States, and this proposal recommends to the major information processing societies in Canada that we set up a similar society, which might be known as CAFIPS. ADVANTAGES1. A National Focal Point With the establishment of the Computer/ Communications Secretariat in the Department of Communications and the substantial interest being shown by federal and provincial governments in the information industry, professionals in our field should have a corresponding national focal point through which they can express their opinions to governments and have a means for useful dialogue. 2. Improved Publications Such a society of societies could be responsible for establishing or continuing national publications in the information processing field, both at the professional level, with journals such as INFOR, as well as improved general publications for the membership at large. Such a co-ordinated approach is the only way Canada can have a truly significant program of publications in our field. 3. Better Regional Programs Increased cooperation among societies could lead to better programs in the smaller population centres where no one society can provide a broad enough program. 4. Continuity of Administration The major problem of virtually every current society is its lack of sufficient financial strength to afford full-time paid professional staff who could help to organize briefs, keep members better informed and, generally, direct the affairs of such an organization to the benefit of all members. Many societies use volunteer resources for administrative work and the changes in responsibility from year to year are a major cause of inconsistency of results. A full-time Executive Director could work under the guidance of a Board of Directors, as described below and would carry out their policy decisions. No company of any size could operate without such professional management and we cannot expect societies to be effective without this. 5. Lower Secretarial Costs The combined Secretariat would certainly reduce some of the secretarial overhead of the many separate organizations. This would be particularly valuable if the plans for HOST proceed at the federal level. Such lowering of costs across many societies would help to defray the expenses of the full-time professional staff, as noted above. 6. National Education Programs The new society could develop national education and professional development programs. The Society would also become a logical interface with the new international organization known as the Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals which would be of interest to most, if not all, those in the information processing field. 7. Co-ordinated International Representation In much the way that AFIPS represents a number of societies at the International Federation of Information Processing Societies, the new Canadian organization could gradually give the opportunity to members of all societies to serve on various IFIP Committees through the international membership of CIPS which it would be hoped would become a Charter member. Possibly, at some future date that membership might even be transferred to CAFIPS. PROPOSED ORGANIZATION1. Independence of Member Societies It would be assumed that the individual participating societies would remain autonomous and independent. CAFIPS would truly be a Confederation for the purposes noted above and its activities would be in addition to the more specialized programs of the member societies. 2. Policy Direction CAFIPS would be run by a Board of Directors composed of the Presidents of the various participating societies on an ‘equal vote’ basis. This Board of Directors would be responsible for establishing the scope of CAFIPS and the overall policy. The Board would elect from itself a President and such other officers as may be required. 3. Operation of CAFIPS The day-to-day operation would be carried out by an Executive Director responsible to the President and the Board. He would be assisted by whatever secretarial assistance may be required and this might be provided under an arrangement with HOST. PROPOSED PARTICIPATING SOCIETIESThe intention would be that each of the societies asked to participate in this ‘Society of Societies’ would itself represent a major area within the information processing field. In alphabetical order these could be... CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF INFORMATION SCIENCES would represent those who are interested in Library Sciences CANADIAN INFORMATION PROCESSING SOCIETY would, in particular, represent those with broad interests in the field of Computer Science CANADIAN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY, its members would have as their primary interest the operational research field COMPUTER SCIENCE ASSOCIATION, now a Special Interest Group of CIPS, this could represent those who have a particular interest in University information processing THE DATA PROCESSING INSTITUTE, this group would represent those interested in data processing in the federal government THE DATA PROCESSING MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, the Canadian Institute of the DPMA could represent application programmers and data processing managers Other organizations representing specialty areas could certainly be considered as members, including organizations representing the process control part of the information industry. Time Schedule This draft is being circulated so that Boards of Directors of the various societies who might participate would have an opportunity before the end of February 1974 to discuss the feasibility of this proposal. Assuming general agreement to proceed, it is recommended that each society then appoint a member of its Board to form a working committee to draft the organizational details. If the final proposed organization meets with the approval of the participating societies, the announcement could take place at the Canadian Computer Conference to be held in Ottawa in June. Attendees at the meeting to discuss the possible establishment of the Canadian Federation of Information Processing Societies, October 31, 1973: Ann Bodnarchuk, President, CORS |
