IFAC '96 on CD-ROM
==================

The idea of putting the material of IFAC congresses and
symposia on CD-ROMs (compact optical disks), instead of
paper, first came up in 1991 but, at that time, it seemed
too farfetched. Then the ten heavy volumes of the Sydney
Congress Preprints indicated that something needed to be
done. Meanwhile, computers with CD-ROM readers became more
affordable. So the National Organizing Committee of the San
Francisco Congress gave the matter some serious
consideration - and concluded that, by 1996, the time may be
ripe for this innovation.

Two questions, though, needed to be answered. The first,
whether it was not just the biased perception of a bunch of
Americans that CD-ROM readers are available at most places
of the world where control engineers want access to the
congress papers. The second, how the serious session-goer
could be provided with the papers of his/her interest at the
congress. The idea that computers on the sport could print
out individual papers for everybody, according to personal
wishes, was deemed premature. Instead, it was suggested that
printed volumes should also be produced, arranged by
technical subjects, and each participant should be able to
choose a small subset of those volumes. By the kind
assistance of the TB Chairman, Vladimir Kucera, members of
the Technical Board and Chairmen of the Technical Committees
were polled on these questions and replies were received
from 30 persons. About two thirds felt that the control
engineering community was getting ready for CD-ROMs while an
overwhelming majority considered it necessary that a
selection of printed volumes be provided as well.

Our friends at Elsevier were kept informed during the whole
process and were invited at an early stage to participate.
After some initial hesitation, they became enthusiastic
supporters of the idea and are now ready to actually prepare
and market the CD-ROMs.

As a result of all these discussions, the following
arrangements are now in place for the 1996 Congress:

1.The full material of the Congress, estimated at about 8000
pages, will be replaced on CD-ROMs. The disks will be
prepared from the usual camera-ready manuscripts by
optical scanning. They will contain their own table of
contents, authors' index and subject (keyword) index and
will be readable under the three major operating systems
(DOS, MAC and UNIX). Each full paying participant of the
Congress will receive a copy as part of the registration
package. Student participants, who pay a reduced
registration fee, will be able to buy a copy at the
Congress site. Copies provided to the Congress participant
will carry a single user licence. The same CD-ROMs will be
marketed by Elsevier after the Congress, as the official
Congress Proceedings; these Proceedings copies will carry
a library (multiple user) licence.

2. The full material will also be printed, the usual way
from camera-ready manuscripts. The printed papers will be
arranged in about 15 'subject volumes', each volume
containing a thematically coherent part of the material.
Congress participants will receive, as part of their
registration package, two volumes of their choice and may
purchase additional volumes for extra payment. Volume
choices made at preregistration will be guaranteed while
on-the-spot selections will be satisfied as long as the
stocks permit. In addition to the subject volumes, there
will be a Plenary and Index Volume that every participant
will receive. This will contain the plenary papers, the
table of contents, authors' index and subject (keyword)
index for the full set of the subject volumes, and
instructions concerning the use of the compact disks.

The organizers and the publisher do hope that the
significant extra effort needed to implement this scheme
will pay off, in terms of the satisfaction of the congress
participants and of the entire control engineering
community. They also trust that what is an experiment today
will prove to be the wave of the future.

Janos Gertler
Chairman, IFAC Publications Managing Board
Publications Manager, IFAC '96 NOC
.