🚀 go-pugleaf

Well - I had promised myself that I wasn't going to do this, but...

<Dan's long post about volunteerism deleted>

While I agree 100% with the statements/amazement about lack of volunteers,
let's look at the other side. IHMO:

1)  There is tremendous competition for one's "leisure" time. More and
    more ways to waste time.
2)  There is less "lesiure" time available, especially in today's (poor)
    economic climate. Those of us who haven't been laid off are busy
    doing our work and the work of those who were (or the people that
    weren't hired to keep up with increased workload).
3)  There's less money being spent by corporations on things like 
    professional development and participation.
4)  Computer Science enrollments are down and are CONTINUING to
    decline.

Given all of this, ACM needs to change.  I think we all agree that the
status quo is unacceptable, and, if it continues, things will get even 
worse.  My local chapter is now in death throes, following a decline that
started in the late 80s.  I suspect that's not uncommon.  

In the face of this, what has been the response of the volunteers that 
Dan comments have been around forever:

1)  A full time art director was hired - and the quality/readability of
CACM has gone down.
2)  The "quality" of headquarters services has gone down, despite heroic
efforts on the part of individual staffers (for example, look at the
delays in TOSEM, and when it finally DID some out, how many folks got
duplicate copies).
3)  The service(s) provided to local chapters/sigs has been DRASTICALLY
reduced. Two examples here:
	A)  The "local activities" workshop(s) at the past two ACM
	"premier" conferences have either been drastically scaled back
	or eliminated entirely.
	B)  The Lectureship program has been turned completely upside
	down, and is apparently now being micro-managed by either the
	EC or Council as a whole.  The net result is fewer lecturers,
	fewer lectures and less contact with student chapters, the
	very folks who will be the future (if any) of ACM.

So, what can we (as members and "volunteers") do to change this?  I'm not
sure.  For one thing, I can't convince my management to give me much
release time for ACM activities, given the current level of "benefit"
my employer sees.  And, having tried to change things for a number of
years when I DID have management support, I'm not convinced that the
sort of change that's required is even possible.

Anyway, here are a couple of places to start:

1)  Fix CACM - I won't bother to repeat the suggestions that have already
been circulated here.
2)  Make some REAL (financial) cuts, and STOP trying to be all things to
all elements of computing.  One of the BIGGEST problems I think ACM has
is that it's TOO diverse, and tries to do TOO many things.  Is ACM a loose
organization of local chapters, student chapters and SIGS?  Is it a
publications house?  Is it yet another academic society?  Is it an
education provider?  Is it a seminar provider?  Is it a mutial 
admiration society for the elite? 

We're trying to do EVERYTHING, and doing NOTHING very well.

If someone comes up with some REAL reforms, and there appears to be hope
that things will get better - count me in.  Otherwise, I'll probably
keep paying my dues as long as CACM is occasionally useful.

(list of volunteer positions held available on request)
--
Clay Jackson - N7QNM
US WEST NewVector Group Inc
Bellevue, WA
uunet!uswnvg!cjackso
<My opinions are my own - everything else belongs to NewVector>