Introduction to the 1970s

1970s

In 1971, the Computer Group became the Computer Society. (The Computer Group promoted this name change to better represent the stature it and other IEEE groups had attained.) For the Computer Society, the seventies was a decade of significant growth in both the depth and breadth of services. Membership grew by a factor of over two-and-a-half.

The society's publication program grew rapidly. The Computer Group News, renamed Computer in 1972, became a monthly publication in 1973, and significantly increased its tutorial-oriented content. At the same time, IEEE Transactions on Computers was unbundled from it, making Computer the only publication received automatically with society membership. The subscriber base to the now optional transactions held up well, and the society learned it could expand its publications program outside the membership dues structure.

The society introduced the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering in 1975, and the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence in January 1979. The decade saw the publication of more than 25,000 periodical pages: about 13,500 pages for the IEEE Transactions on Computers, about 4,100 pages for the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, over 400 pages for the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis & Machine Intelligence, and over 8,000 editorial pages for Computer.

Late in the decade, the society formalized its non-periodical publications into the Computer Society Press. The operation mainly produced conference proceedings, tutorial texts, and reprints in the seventies.

Fourteen new technical committees were formed, making a total of 20 by the end of the period. The committees contributed significantly to growth in the number of specialty conferences and meetings. In the late seventies, the Computer Society was sponsoring or cosponsoring about 50 technical conferences, meetings, and symposia, many with ACM.

The society initiated the Education Committee in 1970, and produced the first model curriculum in 1976. The Distinguished Visitor Program began providing speakers to chapters in 1971.

The Computer Society was also the first society within IEEE to establish student branch chapters. This activity began in 1974 as an experiment and was subsequently adopted by the IEEE. Additionally, the society formalized and expanded its awards program in this decade.

The staff supporting the society's operations also grew. The position of executive secretary was created in 1971. By the end of the decade the Computer Society staff numbered 16 permanent employees: two in the executive secretary's home office in Silver Spring, Maryland, and 14 in the publishing group's rented space in Long Beach, California, plus several temporary part-time people in both locations. The needs and viability of the publishing organization grew to the extent that, late in the decade, the society started the process of acquiring its own building in Los Alamitos, California.

By the end of the seventies, Computer Society membership had grown to 43,930, including 7,833 students and 3,943 affiliates. There were now more than 100 chapters, including about 30 student branch chapters.