Re: (from Davide) COMPCOMM: Summary of the Commissions

[Lachlan Cranswick <l.m.d.cranswick@dl.ac.uk>]

Forwarded due to unsociable IUCr listserv.  Hopefully Davide can now 
post message from the from the viterbo@unipmn.it subscribed address.

Lachlan.

>DAVIDE.VITERBO@MFN.UNIPMN.IT
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Dear All,
>I am glad to see that there is a lively discussion
>within the Computing Commission about the planning
>of the School and of the Microsymposia related to
>the IUCr-2005 in Florence.
>As far as the School is concerned I think that it
>should last at least 4 days, but 5 days would be optimal.
>I do not think this will make a significant difference
>in the cost of attending the school, to the point of
>discouraging a potential partecipant. Of course some
>financial support for young participants must be found.
>I also totally agree with Bev's comment that "Hands-on
>computer experience is certainly useful, but equally of
>interest ......... were the lectures on computing
>subjects that were done without anything more than an
>overhead projector". More than on demos of software the
>school should concentrate on the illustration of the basic
>algorithms.
>Coming to the microsymposia for the congress, I am closely
>following all the steps done by Carlo Mealli to set up a
>Program Committee and I do not understand David (Brown)'s
>comment:
>"I am surprised that the commissions are being gently blamed
>for not providing program suggestions, as I had the distinct
>impression from earlier correspondence, that the Program Chair
>was interested only in names for the Program Committee at this
>stage, and did not want to receive suggestions for the program
>itself until after the Program Committee had been appointed"
>In his first letter to the commission chairs Carlo asked for
>some preliminary suggestions and indeed some commissions
>provided this information. I know there were some mailing
>problems and that Ton received the letter with some delay.
>The idea of sending a second letter asking for some more
>information was suggested by the IUCr president and discussed
>during his recent visit to Firenze, and the gentle blame was
>for those few chairs who did not even reply to the first letter.
>In any case I strongly favor David's suggestions for including
>in the commission proposals a MS organized by COMCIF and the
>inclusion in the school of at least one lecture on the impact of
>information technology on the future of crystallography.
>
>With my best wishes
>
>Davide
>
>
>
>
>
>> Dear Ton,
>>
>> 	I am addressing this letter to you as the chair of the Computing
>> Commission, but it is intended as an open letter to the whole Commission
>> and is copied to the COMCIFS discussion group for information.
>>
>> 	I am glad to see from Mealli's latest letter (Second Call) that
>> preparations for the IUCr Congress in Florence in 2005 are moving along
>> well, though I am surprised that the commissions are being gently blamed
>> for not providing program suggestions, as I had the distinct impression
>> from earlier correspondence, that the Program Chair was interested only
>> in names for the Program Committee at this stage, and did not want to
>> receive suggestions for the program itself until after the Program
>> Committee had been appointed.
>>
>> 	I wrote to the Program Chair earlier in my capacity as chair of
>> COMCIFS, requesting space in the program for open and closed COMCIFS
>> meetings, I was told that my request should be placed through one of the
>> commissions as they represent the full range of activities of the Union.
>> Since the Computing Commission is the obvious choice, I have been
>> following instructions, trying in a gentle way to make sure that the
>> Computing Commission provides a channel for COMCIFS' messages.  I assume
>> that this is the main reason I was asked to serve as a member of the
>> Computing Commission.
>>
>> 	Since we are now being asked for program suggestions for the
>> Florence congress, can I, as chair of COMCIFS, ask you, as chair of the
>> Computing Commission, to note COMCIFS' request for an open meeting or
>> possibly a microsymposium, and to make sure that this request is passed
>> on the Program Committee?  COMCIFS will organize the program for this
>> meeting which will focus on how CIF will help crystallographers get the
>> most our of the impending information revolution.  Over the past decade
>> we have prepared the groundwork with a potentially very powerful file
>> structure. We now need to get the message out to the community so that
>> this
>> potential can be properly exploited by the programs the Commission
>> members are writing.  COMCIFS' activities are, I believe, highly
>> relevant to the work of the Computing Commission and we both should
>> benefit at this stage from closer collaboration.
>>
>> 	In previous Congresses, COMCIFS has organized its own open
>> meetings, but since COMCIFS is not a commission but a subcommittee of
>> the IUCr Executive Committee, we have never been consulted in the early
>> stages of program planning and our open meetings have always been
>> scheduled as last minute additions to the program.  I am hoping that at
>> Florence the interests of COMCIFS will be properly integrated into the
>> program.  By funnelling this request through the Computing Commission I
>> hope we can expand the traditional activities of the Commission by
>> including more of a focus on how the information revolution will affect
>> crystallography.
>>
>> 	I am glad to see that the plans are shaping up for a Computing
>> School to be run in conjunction with the Congress and I would like to
>> suggest that this school include at least one lecture on the impact of
>> information technology on the future of crystallography.  I would see
>> this as a lecture that would interest all those attending the school,
>> since the students at the school will become the crystallographers who
>> will have to live with the changes that this new technology brings.
>> Such a lecture would also provide some light relief from the School's
>> more focused emphasis on algorithms etc.
>>
>> 	I look forward to working with you to help integrate COMCIFS'
>> concerns into the work of the Computing Commission and trust that you
>> will be able to add our requests into the suggestions you make to the
>> Florence Program Committee.
>>
>> 			Best wishes
>>
>> 				David
>>
>>
>> *****************************************************
>> Dr.I.David Brown,  Professor Emeritus
>> Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research,
>> McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
>> Tel: 1-(905)-525-9140 ext 24710
>> Fax: 1-(905)-521-2773
>> idbrown@mcmaster.ca
>> *****************************************************
>
>
>-- 
>Davide Viterbo, Prof.
>Dip. di Scienze e Tecnologie Avanzate - Università del
>Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro" - Corso T. Borsalino 54,
>I-15100 Alessandria, Italy.
>
>Voice: +39-131-287414, Fax: +39-131-287416
>E-mail: davide.viterbo@mfn.unipmn.it
>
>********************************************************************
>Member of the Executive Committee of the International
>Union of Crystallography (IUCr)
>
>Member of the Executive Committee of the European
>Crystallographic Association (ECA)
>***********************************************************************


-----------------------
Lachlan M. D. Cranswick
30th March till 5th May 2003 - visiting: Maproom Rm 31
Geochemistry - Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
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After 6th May 2003:
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