IEEE societies use the Web to effect change

In August I took part in the Chapters Congress of the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES). This congress assembled the chairs of the PES chapters as primary voting delegates, together with the PES governing board and several of the PES staff. The objective was to obtain "grassroots" input to the governing board on a wide variety of topics. The delegates attended a social get-together on the first evening, then spent two days of intense discussion of issues (with some tutorial-type sessions), and finally voted to produce a prioritized list of recommendations. It is a very effective example of democracy in action. This congress was patterned after the IEEE Sections Congresses, which have been held every three years since 1984. This was the first time an IEEE technical society has held this kind of event.

I was invited to be the facilitator on the topic of electronic communications, and together with Harold Ruchelman -- a volunteer with considerable experience in producing section and chapter newsletters -- we shared the topic of communicating with members and potential members. We had a lot of fun and great interactions with chapter volunteers from around the world. For my presentation, I used a laptop with an LCD overhead projector attachment and a modem connection to the Internet to view a set of Web pages on the theme, "Five steps to an effective electronic communications strategy." You can view these pages at
"power.eng.mcmaster.ca/alden/denver/ec_strat.html".

PUBLICATION POLICY.   Before I focus on the concerns and recommendations of the delegates, I want to set the stage by reviewing a major change that this society has recently implemented. The Power Engineering Society has traditionally required all papers to be presented at a conference prior to publication. This policy was intended to assure that full discussion of the paper could be included at the time of publication. The recently concluded summer meeting was the last such general meeting with mandatory presentation. The new policy states that accepted papers will have their titles and abstracts published in the Power Engineering Review and on the Web, and made available via fax-on-demand. The full paper will be available for purchase from the IEEE Customer Service Center.

The use of the Web and FOD enables a sufficiently rapid response so that publication delays can be reduced while retaining the opportunity for peer review and discussion. The society has also recently increased its use of the Web for communicating with its members (and others), as well as making more use of e-mail for communicating between volunteers. The society has also tasked one of its governing board members, Hans Puttgen, to investigate the implications of implementing discussion groups within the PES.

There were three parallel sessions entitled "Emerging Issues." I attended the one chaired by PES President Bob Dent. Under the heading of "Dissemination of Information," his lead-off topics were Web pages, fax-on-demand and e-mail.

FAX-ON-DEMAND.   For those of you not familiar with the term fax-on-demand, this is a service whereby you can receive faxes on a specific topic. You need a fax machine with a telephone handset. You phone the number of the FOD service. You respond to a voice menu by pressing number keys to select your choice. You receive the fax(es) and pay the phone bill -- both for requesting and receiving. The IEEE Regional Activities Department set up the IEEE FOD service, called RABFacts; its number is 1-908-562-6555. Regional Activities has expanded RABFacts for use by other IEEE entities -- one phone number with multiple lines does it all. The PES service is known as Powerfax and is described on the Web at " http://www.ieee.org/power/powerfax.htm ".

CHAPTER NEEDS.   So the delegates arrived, most knowing something about the changes taking place, and many already using or starting to use more and more electronic communication (EC) tools. Let's look at what they wanted PES and/or IEEE to do for them at the local chapter level.

  *   Education and training. Basic and advanced training in EC techniques. In the basic category for members: how to use e-mail and Web software to communicate and obtain information; how to use mailing lists and discussion groups properly. In the advanced category for volunteers: how to set up and manage mailing lists and discussion groups; how to create and maintain Web pages.

  *   Facilities. Provide IEEE-managed servers for chapters to keep and maintain their own Web pages. Support development of e-mail discussion groups for chapters, working groups and technical committees. Make tools available to assist chapter volunteers in maintaining and disseminating information. Make the IEEE home page more member-friendly. Put more information on the Web -- Distinguished Lecturer Program, conference manuals, chapter manuals, directories, etc. Put membership applications on the Web.

  *   Money matters. Provide seed funding for development of chapter Web sites and improved e-mail communications at the chapter level. Negotiate reduced rates for Internet access from providers.

BOTTOM LINE.   I was impressed with the group synergy of these chapter volunteers. They picked up on the fact that the PES governing board members were there to listen and take their concerns and recommendations seriously. Many issues were discussed. I have only relayed those related to electronic communications. I came away with the feeling that I witnessed a major rebirth of a society, in which those "grassroots" members knew what they wanted to do as volunteers, discussed what was important to them, made some critical priority choices and went back to their chapters to help move their society ahead.

Two final comments: One, the chapters congress experience -- an enabling opportunity that, I hope, other societies will seriously consider; two, the impact of Web and other EC technologies -- the society management has begun to use the Internet to change the way PES does business, and the chapter volunteers made it clear they not only approve, but want similar changes at the local level, and they came up with clear guidelines for implementation.