Here's something I ran across just today from an interview with Ernst Weber.
excerpt: Bell: When you became president of IEEE, what did you want the new society to be able to do that the old ones couldn't? Weber: Well, actually we were most concerned with creating an integrated system. Obviously, as in any organization, people who were chairmen of a committee didn't easily give it up; so what to do? How do we slowly change it so that the man becomes the vice-chairman of a professional group, etc? That was a principle component, the very first time. Then of course there was publication. There was Electrical Engineering, which research showed shouldn't continue. **It was too problem-oriented** and the Proceedings on the other hand didn't lend themselves to a more general publication because they were strictly oriented towards scientific aspects and fundamental issues publication. So we had to invent a new publication. This was what I was thinking and eventually they respected me. Again, as in all such instances, it had to be a real membership publication, which they hadn't had before. AIEE had it as Electrical Engineering, and then after Transactions for this special publication I came to the Proceedings. So Spectrum was a key invention and fortunately then Don Christiansen was found. **emphasis added http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center /oral_history/pdfs/Weber050.pdf ----- Original Message ----- From: Price, Edward To: [email protected] Sent: 1/12/2009 10:12:22 AM Subject: RE: iNARTE PS or IEEE Ted touches on a raw subject about the IEEE. Almost 35 years ago, there was a strong challenge to the existing IEEE structure addressing that exact question. Academia and management won, the "working engineer" lost. Certainly the reasons were more complex than the arguments, but one key aspect to understand is that "working engineers" were usually too busy with their own careers to put much personal time and effort into volunteering for the IEEE, especially at a time when the IEEE was growing beyond the USA. My subjective observation was that the greater the presence in the IEEE, the further a person was from the "working engineer" category. Another important reason for the shift of the IEEE focus is that academic types need to publish, establishing that printed record of their work. The IEEE Transactions and Spectrum were ideal venues, hungry for papers that could establish their "professional" status among publications and a great conduit for those wishing to get published. Again, my subjective view is that the Transactions became useless to me, a quarterly shipment of smoke in a green binder. Spectrum was also remarkably stuffy, although it has been vastly improved in the past year or so. Obviously, these are personal opinions. However, for those looking for metrics, try counting up the ads in Spectrum. How many ads are looking for radar engineers (pick you category of "working engineer") and how many are looking for academic positions. These ads are placed by people who spend their money expecting results, and they professionally understand who Spectrum reaches. You might begin to wonder if the IEEE shouldn't change its name to reflect truth in advertising.... - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
