ACM SIGAPL to be merged with SIGPLAN

[Steve]

SIGAPL Friends:

The ACM SIG Governing Board (SGB) held a meeting on February 11, 2008,
in
Chicago. One of the items on the agenda was the SIGAPL Program Review.
The SIGAPL Chairman, Guy Larocque, attended the meeting to defend the
interests of SIGAPL.

First, Robert Walker gave a presentation on the viability of SIGAPL.
R.
Walker and Vicki Hanson had written a report in the weeks before the
meeting analyzing the viability of SIGAPL. Their main recommendation
was
that SIGAPL be dechartered and merged with SIGPLAN.

Then, the SIGAPL Chairman made his presentation and highlighted all
the
accomplishments achieved in the last few years, including achievement
of
the goals mandated by the SGB. Unfortunately, the SGB voted in
majority
for the dechartering of SIGAPL and the merging with SIGPLAN. However,
the SGB clearly wished that SIGAPL continue its activities, but in
association with SIGPLAN. The motion that was adopted indicated that
the
current members of both executive committees must negotiate an
agreement
in the coming months. The transition will become official this June.

We realize that this may appear as an unfortunate turn of events for
many among you. In fact, SIGAPL Executive Committee member, James
Korn,
has decided to let his ACM membership lapse, because he thinks the
handling of the transition by the SGB Executive Committee over the
last
two years has been disingenuous. However, the Chairman had a long
discussion with the SIGPLAN Chair, Kathleen Fisher, after the meeting,
and had assurance that SIGAPL will continue its activity as before. In
fact, K. Fisher offered her collaboration in several aspects and
highlighted the fact that the SIGPLAN structure may be beneficial to
SIGAPL. In particular, there are resources that we can take advantage
of, such as the organization of conferences, the addition of member
benefits or support for the development of the web site.

The members of the SIGAPL steering committee have held meetings to
define the conditions that will be negotiated with SIGPLAN. In
particular, we insist that SIGAPL keep its name and has its own
steering committee. Also, all the funds in the SIGAPL account should
remain within SIGAPL. In other words, we are negotiating the terms of
the association in such a way that SIGAPL continues to be highly
autonomous in satisfying the unique orientation of the group but will
benefit from inclusion in the larger, more generally-oriented
organization.

Best Regards,
The SIGAPL Executive Committee

[leec]

On May 1, 6:20 pm, Steve <st...@shrogers.com> wrote:
> SIGAPL Friends:
>
> The ACM SIG Governing Board (SGB) held a meeting on February 11, 2008,

<snipped>

Hi Steve,

Is there a precedent for such a merger within the context of SIGPLAN,
or other ACM SIGs? If so would be interesting to know the +/- of those
consolidations from the view point of the group being subsumed.

Lee Courtney
lee (underscore) courtney (at) acm (dot) org

[Steve]

Hi Lee:

I'm not aware of precedent for this merger. In previous cases where
the ACM SIG Governing Board voted to decharter a SIG, the SIG was
simply dissolved with members given the option to join some other SIG
of their choice for the balance of their current membership. I
believe this is an indication that the SGB wishes SIGAPL activities to
continue and that SIGPLAN is a viable home for us. Though never
explicitly stated, there may be a desire on the part of the SGB to
minimize the number of SIGs to make things more manageable.

Regards,
Steve Rogers

[Curtis A. Jones]

Steve,
Didn't SIGAPL originate from within SIGPLAN?
Curtis

[Steve]

Hi Curtis:

I wasn't active int the APL community at the time, but I believe
that's true. As I understand it, SIGAPL was at a time when APL
community activities were greater that any other language within the
greater SIGPLAN community and there was a divide between the mostly
practitioner oriented APL community and the more academic members of
SIGPLAN. I don't know if this will still be an issue or not. OOPSLA
has a pretty pragmatic bent.

# Steve

[Mike Kent]

Yes. Back when (up until 197?) there was STAPL,
the Special Technical (something) on APL, one of
several language specific activities within SIGPLAN.

[Mike Kent]

leec wrote:
> On May 1, 6:20 pm, Steve <st...@shrogers.com> wrote:
>> SIGAPL Friends:
>>
>> The ACM SIG Governing Board (SGB) held a meeting on February 11, 2008,
> <snipped>
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> Is there a precedent for such a merger within the context of SIGPLAN,
> or other ACM SIGs? If so would be interesting to know the +/- of those
> consolidations from the view point of the group being subsumed.

SIGFORTH was absorbed into SIGPLAN about a decade ago. There was a less
official try at SIGPLAN providing something for the Lisp practitioner
community around the same time. Both sort of faded away over a period
of a few years.