Dear colleagues,
It's a great pleasure (and a little daunting) toÌýwrite this, my first column as president of our society.Ìý It’s nowÌýspring in Toronto.Ìý The organization of our International Symposium isÌýproceedings apace.Ìý As president one is involved in / has anÌýobserver's view into many aspects of the organization of theÌýSymposium.Ìý It is gratifying and impressive to witness the hard workÌýand commitment dedicated to the ISIT by so many Society members.Ìý AÌýmyriad of tasks must be completed and an astronomical number ofÌýdetailed and thoughtful decisions must be made behind the scenes —Ìýarranging the overall Symposium, forming the technical program,Ìýconceiving and arranging the associated events, on and on — allÌýtogether these build to the meeting we all enjoy and benefit from soÌýmuch.Ìý Thanks to all organizers and volunteers!
Following on the theme of dedicated work on behalf of our Society,Ìýprior to a recent ITSoc Board-of-Governors (BoG) meetings I wasÌýreflecting on the who/why/why/when/how of the Society.Ìý Societies areÌýcomposed of people who must be motivated to choose to participate inthat particular community.Ìý So, why do people choose ITSoc?Ìý I suspectÌýthat for many of us the initial spark was inspiration: ClaudeÌýShannon’s 1948 paper; a first course on information theory; theÌýunexpected clever applicability of algebraic structure to errorÌýcorrection; the elegance and concrete usefulness of studying theÌýphilosophical underpinnings of digital information and communicationÌýsystems. Speaking for myself ... wow.Ìý All that grabbed me bothviscerally and intellectually.
Still, while a spark may start a fire, fuel and oxygen are needed forit to keep burning.Ìý Why do members choose to stay in ITSoc?Ìý What doÌýthey get from staying?Ìý How does the Society help them?Ìý The core ofÌýthe Society's work aims to address these questions: to enable andÌýempower our members in their scientific and professional careers, andÌýto ensure that the Information Theory Society stays a fertile placeÌýfor great ideas to be generated, and from where great impact continuesÌýto emerge.Ìý Broadly, our Information Theory Society is about ourÌýpeople, the ideas those people generate, and the impact those peopleÌýand their ideas have: people, ideas, impact.
I thought then I might dedicate this initial column to talking aboutÌýour members, and some of the keys ways we support their ideas andÌýtheir impact — through publications and events.Ìý I want to give someÌýsense of statistics, some sense of recent accomplishments. I also want toÌýindicate some initiatives that members might find interesting to getinvolved in.
First, the people.Ìý Over the course of the year ITSoc membershipÌýfluctuates between 3500 and 4000 members.Ìý About a quarter are studentÌýmembers (split pretty evenly between graduate and undergraduate).ÌýAbout 15% identify as women.Ìý About 8% of our members do not provideÌýa gender identity.Ìý In comparison, respectively, the Signal ProcessingÌýand Communications Societies have around 25k and 35k members.ÌýMembership in all 47 Â鶹´«Ã½AV Societies and Councils is about 250k. (±õ·¡·¡·¡Ìýhas about 450k members total, about 200k of whom do not belong to anyÌýof the research-oriented Societies or Councils.)Ìý Geographically, ±õ·¡·¡·¡Ìýgroups members into 10 regions.Ìý These regions are North AmericaÌý(subdivided into regions R1-7), Europe/Middle East/Africa (R8), LatinÌýAmerica (R9), Asia Pacific (R10).Ìý Respectively, these regions make upÌý34%, 25%, 0.02%, and 39% of ITSoc membership.Ìý Note that in 2021ÌýNorth America made up about 42% of membership.Ìý Growth in ITSocÌýmembership outside North America has been outpacing growth withinÌýNorth America.Ìý Interestingly, the type of membership varies acrossÌýregions.Ìý Whereas in North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa womenÌýmake up about 9% and students 15-20% of the membership, in AsiaÌýPacific women make up almost 25% of members and students almost 50%.ÌýThe top 6 countries by membership are the USA, India, China, Japan,ÌýGermany, and Canada.Ìý The Board-of-Governors of our society has 26Ìýmembers, of whom 13 are from North America, 7 are from Europe/MiddleÌýEast/Africa, and 6 are from Asia Pacific.Ìý When we think about newÌý(and existing) initiatives, and how we can best engage and empower ourÌýmembers, such statistics are important to keep in mind.
On the technical and educational fronts, there are a few things I’dÌýlike to highlight.Ìý Regarding publications, our long-standing ±õ·¡·¡·¡ÌýTransactions on Information Theory, which was established in 1951 asÌýthe IRE Transactions on Information Theory, last year experienced aÌýtransition in its Editor-in-Chief (EiC).Ìý In mid 2023, Prof. MurielÌýMedard passed the editorship to Prof.~Venu Veeravalli.Ìý (Thank youÌýProf. Medard!)Ìý Prof. Medard restructured the Transactions into an Area +ÌýAssociate Editor model.Ìý Over the past few years great progress hasÌýbeen made in decreasing the ``sub-to-pub'' time — from 406 days in 2019Ìýto 301 days in 2023.Ìý Among other important metrics, the decrease inÌýsub-to-pub is useful to be aware of, and to share around withÌýcolleagues from cognate fields, as perceptions of long sub-to-pubÌýtimes may discourage some submissions.Ìý Over the same time frame theÌýSociety has launched two new publications.Ìý In 2020 the ±õ·¡·¡·¡ÌýJournal on Selected Areas in Information Theory was launched.Ìý In 2021,ÌýThe Â鶹´«Ã½AV BITS the Information Theory Magazine was launched.Ìý JSAIT hasÌýadmirably filled the niche for a special topics journal, and BITS theÌýneed for a venue for tutorial papers.Ìý (I'd like to note thatÌý in 2023 theÌýSociety also initiated a best-tutorial-paper award, the ±õ·¡·¡·¡ÌýJoy Thomas Tutorial Paper Award.Ìý Please consider submitting aÌýnomination.Ìý The nomination deadline is tentatively set for 01ÌýOctober.)Ìý Both JSAIT and BITS present opportunities for volunteers toÌýwork on focused topical issues as guest editors.Ìý These areÌýlower-commitment engagements than serving as an associate editor ofÌýthe Transactions.Ìý Serving as a guest editor provides excellentÌýeditorial experience one can build on.Ìý Please consider proposing aÌýspecial issue.Ìý I also want to acknowledge that in 2023 Prof. RobertÌýCalderbank completed his term as the ``launch'' EiC of BITS.ÌýProf. Suhas Diggavi is now the BITS EiC.Ìý Prof. Changho Suh alsoÌýcompleted his term as Editor of the Â鶹´«Ã½AV ITSoc Newsletter..ÌýProf. Lalitha Vadlamani is now Editor.Ìý Thank you all.
Of prime importance are our events---ISITs, ITWs, and schools.Ìý ISITÌýwill be held in Athens, Greece in 2024, in Ann Arbor, USA in 2025, andÌýin Guangzhou, China in 2026.Ìý As a positive indication of engagementÌýin the Symposium, the number of paper submissions to ISIT'24 was 950,Ìýup from 717 in 2023 (Taipei) and 822 in 2022 (Aalto).Ìý ITW will be heldÌýin Shenzhen, China in November 2024, in Sydney, Australia in 2025, andÌýin Phoenix, USA in 2026.Ìý In terms of schools the Society organizesÌýannual schools in North America, Europe, India, and East Asia.Ìý ISITs andÌýITWs form the core venues in which our members meet, discuss, andÌýpresent their technical results; students network, build theirÌýprofiles, and ultimately find jobs.Ìý ITSoc schools are designed toÌýplay a complementary role — to foster engagement and confidenceÌýamongst students in a supportive environment and to increaseÌýaccessibility.Ìý Schools are designed to be less formal, with a lowÌýbarrier to participation.Ìý They are located around the globe to defrayÌýthe cost of participation.Ìý If you are a student, looking forÌýopportunities to network and engage, consider attending a school! ManyÌýof our members first met at an ITSoc school.Ìý And, if you are aÌýyounger professor or professional, looking to engage with the Society,Ìýand build experience in organizing, consider organizing a school.Ìý TenÌýyears back, chairing the 2014 school at the University of Toronto wasÌýmy own first leadership role in the Society.
ISITs, ITWs, and ITSoc schools are all places where innovative andÌýengaging events are piloted, tested, and, sometimes, adopted for theÌýlong term.Ìý In a future column I look forward to reporting on theÌýevents at ISIT in Athens and to outlining various ways to get moreÌýinvolved with the Society.Ìý Our Society is ours to shape, please bringÌýyour ideas!
I now would like to acknowledge and thank my fellow officers.Ìý InÌýITSoc the officers are elected by the BoG from BoG members-at-largeÌý(i.e., those BoG members elected by the general society membership) and enter a 5-yearÌý``shift register'' of duties.Ìý In year 1 the Second Vice-PresidentÌý(``2VP'') focuses on membership.Ìý In year 2 the First Vice-PresidentÌý(``1VP'') focuses on awards.Ìý In year 3 one serves as President.Ìý InÌýyear 4 the Junior Past President (``JPP'') has slightly reducedÌýoperation duties and serves as a source of wisdom, perspective, andÌýstrategic thinking (the things one might have done as president…).Ìý InÌýyear 5 the Senior Past President’s (``SPP’s'') primary focus is chairingÌýthe Nominations and Appointments and the BylawsÌýCommittees. If you find the discussion of the officerÌýshift-register not too dry, and if you are interested in any aspect of theÌýorganization of the Society and how the Society runs, the foundationÌýand primary sources for societal operations are the Society’sÌýConstitution and Bylaws (especially the Bylaws).Ìý Please find both at:Ìý/people/organization. Into the shift registerÌýI'd like to welcome Meir Feder, elected as 2VP for 2024.Ìý Aaron WagnerÌýis 1VP in 2024.Ìý Christina Fragouli is SPP in 2024.Ìý I especiallyÌýwant to thank Matthieu Bloch and Wei Yu.Ìý Matthieu Bloch served asÌýITSoc President in 2023, deftly navigated some ``tricky'' situations,Ìýand brought his perceptive and engaging Gallic sensibilities to many aÌýtopic.Ìý Thank you Matthieu!Ìý Wei Yu completed his role as Senior PastÌýPresident in December 2023.Ìý Anyone who has had the good fortune toÌýwork with Wei on organizational matters (not to mention technicalÌýones!) will have appreciated Wei's deeply considered input andÌýthoughtful and balanced perspective.Ìý We have been fortunate to haveÌýhad Wei as an officer of the Society.Ìý Somehow, Wei has not yetÌýfinished contributing.Ìý Wei chairs two ad-hoc committees in 2024. OneÌýis considering open-access publishing models.Ìý The second isÌýreflecting on how the Society might ``steer'' the technical program of theÌýISIT across the years.Ìý I look forward to reporting on bothÌýcommittees' recommendations in a future article.Ìý RegardingÌýopen-access I also recommend you read Wei’s article published in the Sept. 2021Ìýissue of BITS.Ìý Thank you Wei!
I hope to see many of you at ISIT'24 in Athens.Ìý PleaseÌýfeel welcome to reach out to me directly at [email protected].ÌýI’ll also note that Board-of-Governors meetings (generally Feb@ITA,Ìýsummer@ISIT, and autumn@somewhere) are open to all society members.ÌýPlease feel welcome to attend.
In closing, IÌý would likeÌý to thank all our volunteers for theirÌý workÌýon behalf of our members and our society.Ìý Thank you.
Note: A version of this column also appeared in BITS The Information Theory Magazine.
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