IEEE Information Theory Society Newsletter Vol. 52, No. 2, June 2002 Editor: Lance C. Pérez ISSN 1059-2362 President’s Column Tom Fuja I’m afraid that I must spend this “President’s Column” rate; this new infrastructure included the IEEE Xplore discussing that most prosaic of all subjects – money. As I interface to on-line publications as well as a substan- briefly mentioned in my March column, these are very tially-expanded web presence that includes career de- difficult financial times for our society; indeed, it would velopment tools and e-mail aliases for members. not be an exaggeration to say that our continued exis- According to IEEE management, the cost of this new in- tence is in danger. So I will use this col- frastructure was hidden from the mem- umn to explain the situation – how it bership by the booming stock market, came about, how we are addressing it, and it is only now that we, the beneficia- and what the future may hold. ries of this infrastructure, are being asked to pay our “fair share”. In late 2000, our parent organization, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics And what a share it is. Under the new fi- Engineers (IEEE), found itself in finan- nancial model approved by the IEEE cial distress. The downturn in the stock Board of Directors in late 2001, we can market left the IEEE with insufficient in- look forward to diminished income and come to cover its expenses, and so to increasing bills from IEEE Corporate. make up the resulting deficit it turned to Specifically, the new financial model the only organizational units within mandates that, from now on: IEEE that carry a substantial reserve – • The first 5% of all investment in- the technical societies. The Information come on Society reserves will go to Theory Society was assessed a “tax” of IEEE Corporate – not to the Society. $164,900 in mid-2001 as its contribution Tom Fuja towards making up the IEEE deficit. • IEEE Corporate will get a 25% share But it didn’t end there. The IEEE suffered another year of all income derived from intellectual property (IP) of deficits in 2001, and as a result our Society was as- packages – e.g., the IEEE/IEE Electronic Library sessed another “tax” in April 2002 – this time to the tune (IEL), the All-Society Periodicals Package (ASPP), of $360,400. (To put these amounts in perspective, keep etc. Note that these packages represent the largest in mind that the total net worth of the Information The- single component of our Society’s income. ory Society at the end of 2001 – after the first “hit” but be- • A new stand-alone “infrastructure tax” will become fore the second – was only $1.2 million.) part of our yearly budget; as a data point, the antici- The obvious question: Why was IEEE relying on a pated infrastructure tax for 2003 is $134,600. booming stock market to pay its bills? The simple an- These changes in how IEEE does business are having a swer is “Poor fiscal management.” A slightly more sub- devastating effect on our Society budget. In the “first it- tle answer – or at least the answer preferred by the eration” of the 2003 Information Theory Society budget powers-that-be at IEEE – would be “Infrastructure.” – still being studied and re-worked as this column is During the mid-to-late 1990’s, a substantial new com- puting infrastructure was put in place at IEEE Corpo- continued on page 3 2 From the Editor Lance C. Pérez In this issue of the IEEE Information Issue Deadline Theory Society Newsletter, particular ef- September 2002 July 16, 2002 fort has been made to include the dates and announcements of all the IT Sym- December 2002 October 11, 2002 posia and Workshops that have been approved by the IT Board of Gover- nors. Though the information on a Electronic submission, especially in ascii and Word for- 2004 conference may be limited, I hope mats, is encouraged. that IT members will find this notifica- Lance C. Pérez I may be reached at the following address: tion useful. Lance C. Pérez I would like to ask that IT society mem- Department of Electrical Engineering bers once again peruse the March 2002 209N Walter Scott Engineering Center Newsletter article on the Newsletter University of Nebraska-Lincoln digital library and to check their per- Lincoln, NE 68588-0511 sonal collections for any missing issues Phone: (402)472-6258 they might have. Fax: (402)472-4732 Please help make the Newsletter as in- Email: [email protected] teresting and informative as possible Sincerely, by offering suggestions and contribut- Lance C. Pérez ing news. The deadlines for the next few issues are as follows: IEEE Table of Contents President’s Column. cover page Information Theory From the Editor . 2 Society Newsletter Letters to the Editor. 4 Vijay K. Bhargava Elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering . 4 IEEE Information Theory Society Newsletter (USPS 360-350) is published quarterly by the IEEE Review of the Information Theory Society. 4 Information Theory Society of the Institute of Historian’s Column . 5 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Headquarters: 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, 2002 Information Theory Workshop Announcement . 6 New York, NY 10016-5997. Golomb’s Puzzle Column™: Placing Pentominoes on Boards. 7 Cost is $1.00 per member per year (included in Society fee) for each member of the Infor- IEEE Information Theory Society Annual Meeting . 8 mation Theory Society. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY Solution to Golomb’s Puzzle Column™: Some Combinatorial Questions . 11 and at additional mailing offices. Distinguished Lecture in Hong Kong . 12 Postmaster: Send address changes to IEEE Information Theory Society Newsletter, New Books . 13 IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. © 2002 IEEE. Information contained in this Special Issue of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory on Space-Time Transmission, newsletter may be copied without permis- Reception, Coding and Signal Design . 16 sion provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advan- Conference Calendar . 23 tage, and the title of the publication and its date appear. IEEE Information Theory Society Newsletter June 2002 3 President’s Column Continued from page 1 written in mid-April – we are showing an anticipated deficit greater financial accounting from IEEE; for instance, an of $300,200. A couple more years of this and we will simply independent audit of IEEE’s financial position requested run out of money. And then… what? by the societies will take place this summer and will (pre- Our Society has a pretty simple financial structure. We have sumably) help us to identify potential savings. one major source of income – the money paid by libraries to • We must take some concrete steps to put our own soci- buy our Transactions, either alone or as part of an IEEE pack- ety’s financial house in order. Whatever happens with age. (Individual membership fees – even newly raised from regard to cost cutting at IEEE, there will almost certainly $15/year to $30/year – represent a pretty small part of the in- be some increased costs (relative to the “old days” of come picture, and they certainly do not cover the cost of pro- 1999) passed onto the societies, and if we are to remain ducing and delivering a member’s Transactions.) Similarly, part of IEEE we will have to find a way to pay that bill. our major expense is the production of those same Transac- How can we do this? Once again, we only have a few tions. Unlike many other societies, we do not seek to make “buttons” we can push. Membership dues may have to big surpluses on our meetings; the registration fees are kept low (compared to, say, ComSoc meetings) and we provide increase modestly. (Our membership dues are $30/year, travel subsidies to allow many young members to attend. but it is estimated that it costs $70/year to produce and Ultimately, our meetings are usually a “wash” financially – deliver an issue of our Transactions to a member; so right i.e., they break even or show a small surplus. The other now each member gets a $40/year “subsidy” from our li- sources of income that some of the larger societies employ – brary sales.) We may have to ask our ISIT organizers to such as advertising in magazines or journals or rental of dis- budget for a “structural” surplus, as most societies do. play space at meetings – will simply not generate significant (So rather than being pleased with a providential surplus income for a society our size. of $10K, we may have to ask organizers to budget for a planned surplus of $50K.) So we’re left with a big hole in our budget and not many ways to fill the hole. To illustrate this, suppose we were to at- • Finally, in anticipation of the possibility that IEEE does tempt to fill that looming $300,200 deficit for 2003 by taking not act responsibly, we should begin to think – as a last some drastic steps. Suppose we were to: resort – about how the information theory community • cut our 2003 Transactions page count from 3150 to 2000 should organize itself in a “post-IEEE” future. Ideas pages; have been floated – ideas such as the formation of a non-profit “Friends of Information Theory” foundation, • increase our membership fee from $30 to $50; which could solicit donations and carry out some of the • increase our Transactions individual non-member sub- functions currently carried out by the Information The- scription price - i.e., the price paid by (approximately) ory Society – but without incurring charges from IEEE; 530 libraries that do not subscribe to an IEEE package – such an organization could provide a “bridge” to a from $520 to $620.