Why IEEE sucks

[Jonathan F Sawyer]

The current parody of publishing journals as examplified by Alan Sokal's "sting" of
the leftwing journal Social Text reminds me of a similar incident which occurred in the
IEEE Broadcast Society. This happened in 1980 and I was the victim of the IEEE review
committee's focus on credentials and political correctness in approving papers for
presentation and publication.
Back then I was still in school (U of Co, BSEE) but had completed a design of a new
Radio transposer technology which I had done for an obscure (then not NOW!) broadcast
manufacturer. I wrote and submitted a paper to the IEEE Broadcast Society detailing
the new approaches in transposer design including some (such as phase locked upconversion)
which have since been patented and used widely in the field.

To my surprise my paper was accepted for presentation to the annual Symposium held
in Wash. DC. However when I arrived for the symposium I discovered that my presentation
was cancelled and replaced with some highly credentialled author who was to talk about
the "social impact" of the media. Confronting the review commitee about this I was
that there were to many(!) hard technical papers and that this new author can give
us a perspective from outside our field. Besides, they said, he is a distinguished
professor from Harvard (or Yale, I forgot) and you are just a college student.

I hung around to see what this new paper was about. Unfortunately for the author, he passed
out his paper to the audience prior to his presentation. Apparently he had only submitted
an abstract which was full of the obfuscating politically correct terminology of the
time. Well it turns out this guy was some right-wing kook who was blaming the jews in
the media etc. Of course all his "credentials" were fake and nobody checked up on them.

The sponsors immediately cancelled his presentation and asked me to present my paper
You can imagine what my response was. Needless to say I resigned my membership in
the IEEE.

Jonathan Sawyer
FreeWave Technologies

[Charles Gaumond]

Your anecdote certainly illuminates how small minded persons
react to apparent position in society. I would like to say two
things:

One is that the IEEE is a large organization and, like large
systems such as our atomosphere, not homogeneous. I have attended
local and regional meetings where speakers presented technical talks about
their specialty. There was no social puffery at these meetings
at all. I know that there are members of the IEEE who are interested in
technology and who are not pretentious.

The other is an anecdote. An acquaintance of mine visited a
foreign country with a group of government engineers and government
funders. He observed that the foreign engineers would kow-tow a bit
to the funders but were really interested in talking to one particularly
outstanding engineer. You can attain status either through diligent
use of your talents or by attaining a high social position. Either
action does not mean that your status will be recognized all
the time. (BTW, my acquaintance decided to become a funder because
he figure that it was easier!)

I would label your experience as a lesson about life rather than a
lesson about the IEEE.
--
Charles Gaumond
Blg 1 Room 215
202 767 3173
Code 7142
Naval Research Lab
Washington, DC 20375-5350

[Sid Moore]

In article 4okfmc$m...@ns1.netone.com,

Interesting story, Jon. Don't blame you for leaving IEEE. I'd have done it too. I quit on general principles after one year's membership. Didn't see any use in funding the hierarchy.
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>Jonathan Sawyer
>FreeWave Technologies
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Interesting story, Jon. Don't blame y

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[Mike Fouche]

Hello,

I think you ought to re-enlist in the organization. It is just
a microcosm of life. I work at the Boeing company and like all companies
we have our good people and bad people. Whenever I hear engineers
complain about Boeing or say derogatory remarks my response is "hey,
I'm Boeing, you're Boeing, John Doe (somebody we both know who is good)
is Boeing, ...". The point is that there are probably a lot of good
people who work hard for the good of the IEEE organization. Sometimes
the bad ones (or the ones haven't learned some important lessons in
life!) overwhelm the good ones in terms of publicity. But it seems
you were a member with good ideas - why leave and make it worse?

Mike Fouche
Boeing Missiles & Space Division

[S. A. Maas]

John:

It's easy to understand your response at the time, but not 17 years
later. I think it's a little long to hold a grudge. I agree that to
cancel an accepted paper is absolutely outrageous, and if i were you, I'd
have complained to the governing body of the society (Adcom or whatever
they called it then). You probably would have gotten satisfaction.
Resigning from the IEEE may have made you feel better, but nobody else
really cared or noticed. And, you let the morons who pulled this stunt
get away with it.

--
* ------------------------------------------ *
* Steve Maas s.m...@ieee.org *
* http://www.concentric.net/~smaas/index.htm *
* Nonlinear Technologies, Inc. *
* PO Box 7284 *
* Long Beach, CA 90807, USA *
* ------------------------------------------ *

[Haldane L. Collins]

> Mike Fouche <mi...@hsvaic.hv.boeing.com> wrote in article
<DsFDD...@bcstec.ca.boeing.com>...

I must whole heartedly agree with Mikes observation.
Why is it that some people only feel fulfilled by tearing down someone or
some entity.
It seems like these are people that may lack the capacity or understanding
how to contribute something
constructive to a debate. This prevailing attitude to publish offensive
and derogatory statements against
any individuals or organizations, no matter what the concern may be, takes
something away from
the power of the open forum. Freedom of speech is a god-given right yes
but what do you gain by being abusive?

Dane Collins
Boeing D&SG/Commercial Avionics Systems

[Marcus Anderson]

Haldane L. Collins wrote:
>
[snip]

> > The point is that there are probably a lot of good
> > people who work hard for the good of the IEEE organization. Sometimes
> > the bad ones (or the ones haven't learned some important lessons in
> > life!) overwhelm the good ones in terms of publicity. But it seems
> > you were a member with good ideas - why leave and make it worse?
> >
> > Mike Fouche
> > Boeing Missiles & Space Division

> I must whole heartedly agree with Mikes observation.

[snip]

> the power of the open forum. Freedom of speech is a god-given right yes
> but what do you gain by being abusive?
>
> Dane Collins
> Boeing D&SG/Commercial Avionics Systems

I had a falling out with The Australian Institution of Engineers (IEAust) this year, and
the matter has legal implications which I am pursuing as time allows. I would like to
comment that it is pointless to stay in an organisation that does not meet your
expectations (or their claims) of what the organisation is supposed to be. Far better to
vote with your feet and leave than suffer the psychological *abuse* that will most
certainly come your way if you try to change things from within.

I mean how completely niaive.

If this is representative of IEEE's attitude towards members who are dissatisfied with
the status quo (I dont believe it is), then I have to wonder about IEEE myself.
Complaints should be accepted with thanks and investigated with diligence. Often our
best friends are our most ardent critics. I have something to say already about an
article on etichs in IEEE's The Institution (April), which seems to reflect the same
banality towards ethics I expreienced with IEAust. I think ethics is about a lot more
than the pedantic "safety takes precedence" conclusions drawn by that article ("A matter
of Priorities"), and in fact the aviation industry in Australia has for some time now
been considering the Dick Smith promoted concept of "affordable safety", a concept which
has much to recommend it. But what about ethical issues like the ethics of Austalian
engineers who go to work in countries like Indonesia - knowing about the human rights
*abuses* the Indonesian Government perpetrates in East Timor ? IEAust (and IEEE) ought
to be *hammering* the Australian Foriegn Office and telling them that Austrlaiia's
policy on East Timor is bringing IEAust (and IEEE) members into conflict with their No.
1 Ethical Obligation. That's not abusive. That is their duty. DO they ? Of course not.
Why ? They are too afraid to risk being called *abusive* or other nasty words by the
Indonesian Government or anyone else who doesnt want to hear the truth.

How watered down then does my criticism have to be in order not to qaulify as *abuse* ?

If you want to see *abuse*, go and have your next holiday in Dili. You can see the
Indonesian Goverments lovely new Boeing missles on their lovely new British Aeorspace
supllied Howk Ground Attack fighter planes. When you come back to your beloved Boeing
missle factory and say to your Boeing pals "Hey dont knock IEEE, I'm IEEE.... (etc.)"
you might have a little more regard for what it means "I'm a member of IEEE" and not be
so sensitive to other peoples "God given right", whether or not you agree with them.

You migh respect them instead for having a *conscience*.

--
from the keyboard of...
MARCUS ANDERSON
All round fair dinkum Aussie, and ...
Student Member IEEE, APESMA
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