Events outside of our control generally change our lives greatly. The
tragic events of September 11 have no doubt affected each of us
individually. They also affected us institutionally. A broadened
Executive Committee meeting that was scheduled for middle of October
was cancelled. This was supposed to be our "get organized" meeting; we
hope to reschedule it sometime in February. ACM Headquarters was
closed for a while and staff took some time to get back to their
normal routine, which contributed to the delay in producing the
current release of SIGMOD Digital Library, which will consist of
Volume 5 of the Anthology, the DVD Silver Edition, and the 2001
DiSC. We are now (hopefully) back to normal and these should be
produced by the end of the year.
In parallel with the production of the current edition of the Digital
Library, we have started to make preparations for the upcoming
releases. We are preparing a list of publications that should be added
to the Anthology. I can now announce that the VLDB Endowment and
Springer-Verlag have relaxed the requirements for the inclusion of the
VLDB Journal in DiSC so that we can now include each year's volume
without delay (previously we could include the volumes with one year
delay). We are working with other institutions and publishers to
expand the scope and coverage of SIGMOD Digital Library.
After years of hard work, some SIGMOD volunteers have expressed a
desire to "retire". DiSC founding editor Isabel Cruz is one of those;
after the incredible amount of effort and energy that she spent
starting DiSC and producing three volumes, she certainly needs a
rest. We are fortunate that Aidong Zhang (University at Buffalo, SUNY)
has agreed to take over DiSC editorship. She is highly qualified for
this job. Isabel will stay on the Editorial Board for at least one
year to smooth the transition. Aidong is now working to establish the
new DiSC Editorial Board; we are also working on transferring the
required infrastructure to Aidong's laboratory. The Advisory Board is
also renewed and the new members are listed in this issue. There will
be other changes in coming months. If you can volunteer for any SIGMOD
position or activity, please let me know.
| M. Tamer Ozsu |
| October 2001 |
|
