The Future of the IEEE Computer Society: Keeping Pace with Technology

T he IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) is witnessing a tremendous change to which it must adapt if it's to maintain its high relevance to the engineering profession. More specifically, the computer industry is undergoing a transformation unlike anything seen in the past 20 years. Cloud computing and social networking, powered by multicore, nonvolatile memory, and photonics are profoundly changing the nature of computing products and services. Computing skills are no longer limited to a few select people: elementary school students today have more computational power, con-nectivity, and IT skills than many professionals did 20 years ago. The IEEE-CS is ideally positioned to embrace this change and lead the transformation. I've been on the board of governors for the IEEE-CS, and I helped write its new strategic plan. 1 I also gained insights during the past four years as the editor in chief of IEEE Computing Now — a front end to IEEE-CS publications (http://computingnow.computer.org) — and more recently by driving the formation of the IEEE-CS's Special Technical Communities (STCs). 2 Based on this experience, I'd like to share my personal views of the society's future. The IEEE-CS addresses six main areas, all of which are equally affected by technology's rapid changes. The first is publications. Today's printed publications are being complemented or even replaced by online publications that evolve in style. Blogs, comments, and tweets are competing with traditional magazine and journal articles. One major challenge for the IEEE-CS is retaining the quality of its traditional articles (with their rigorous reviewing processes) while riding the wave of new technologies, where instantaneous feedback is valued — think of FaceBook " likes, " blog comments, and retweets. The society must sustain the cost of high-quality publications (even online magazines require production by staff) while including new publication formats (blogs, groups, and so on) and delivery models (such as tablets and smart phones). This is similar to how Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have created business models with free membership, while relying on financial models based on advertisements, recruiters, and so on. At the same time, the community expects open access to all content. The next area is professional activities. IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; the IEEE-CS further narrows these fields to computing technology. Most recently, our profession has extended to include information technologists (IT). Are IT professionals engi-neers? Is the IEEE-CS the right forum for them, and vice …