Dear Augusto,
I am preparing the agenda for the next TC6 meeting. If you would like to discuss some item in particular please indicate it until this Thursday (8/5/01) in order that I can include it in the agenda.
As already mentioned, I deeply regret that I will not be able to attend the meeting in Cape Town due to a serious date conflict. For the CapeTown meeting it is too late (today is 11 may) but I would like to draw your attention to a topic whioch is described below in more detail. Maybe it is better to wait for this item (if you consider it as interesting) until the meeting in Zurich where I will be present.
Best regards Otto
cc.: TC6 delegates
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A discussion point for IFIP TC6
"The slow disappearance of conference series" (and what do do against that)?
The observation: 1. I received yesterday a paper version of the "invitation and programme" for "CMS 2001(Communication and Multimedia Security)" May 21-22, 2001 at GMD, Germany. The event should be announced on the web via http://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/mobile/cms/start.html/prog.html but these pages are still "under construction" (ten days before the event!). 2. Nothing to object against the conference programme but: - IFIP visibility is rather poor (only logo number 4 out of four logos: (GMD TU Darmstadt, GMDIPSI, and therafter: IFIP). - it is mentioned that the events is number six in a series which started 1995 - but IFIP is not mentioned here at all. 3. Involvement of IFIP TC6 is practically nonexisting: Nobody from TC6 is in the programme committee which consists of 24 people [a certain exception could be R. Grimm who was WG 6.5 co-chair some years ago but who has no relation any more with IFIP TC6]. 4. Thus IFIP didn't do anything (apparently) for the conference. No paper reviewing, no participation in the programme, nothing!! Did we sign a contract? Will we get some revenue from the publication? 5. On the other hand, P. Horster is once again deeply involved (he was the man who cancelled last year the predecessor conference in Klagenfurt some days before the event for very dubious reasons; remember what Reinhard Posch told us in Beijing!).
To a certain extent, I feel responsible for this development since the event is going to be held in Germany. But I didn't have any information and I was not contacted. Shouldn't we establish a rule that the conference organisors have to contact the national delegate well before the event in order to discuss IFIP's participation correctly? My observation is that we risk to loose some well established conference series (there are at least three or for similar other examples!) and, on the other hand, we do not get enough compensating events.
I would like to discuss these problems in Zurich.