Important! Do you want more DSP articles?

Hi Guys, I'll get straight to business.

It's possible that the real-world, practical, 
DSP articles that we've been producing for 
the IEEE Signal Processing magazine will be 
discontinued.  A few minutes of your time 
can help avoid this from happening.

BACKGROUND:
I've been able to convince the officials of the 
IEEE Sig. Proc. magazine to publish articles, 
one article in each issue, specifically directed 
at working DSP engineers.  Those articles are 
more practical, down-to-earth, real-world DSP 
articles; as opposed to the traditional 
highly-specialized, math-intensive, advanced 
state-of-the-art research articles that 
are directed at industry researchers and 
university professors. 

Our "practical DSP" articles have been published 
in a new column, that we created for the Sig. Proc. 
magazine in January 2003, called "DSP Tips & Tricks".
Last year several of our friends here on comp.dsp 
produced really terrific DSP articles for the 
Tips & Tricks column.  I consider the new column to 
be a *wild* success, but I'll admit that I'm prejudiced 
in its favor.
  
HERE'S THE PROBLEM:
The IEEE is having money problems and one way to 
reduce their expenses is to reduce the number of 
pages in the Sig. Proc. magazine.  Please know that 
the managers of the magazine have absolutely no way 
to tell if the DSP Tips & Tricks column is useful, 
or merely a waste of time and money.  I'm afraid 
they're going to reduce the number of pages of 
the Tips & Tricks column so severely that no useful 
practical-DSP articles can be produced.  If that 
happens, the DSP Tips & Tricks column will die away.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
If you'd like the DSP Tips & Tricks column to 
survive, then you can help me see that it does.
You can help by taking a few minutes and send 
me an E-mail with just a sentence or two stating 
that you 

      "like the Tips & Tricks column and look  
       forward to more DSP articles", 

or
      "you've found the Tips & Tricks column to   
       be useful and hope it continues", 

or something like that. 
 
Your E-mail doesn't have to be long in words, 
but if you'd like to say more I encourage you 
to do so.

I *promise* you guys, if you spend a few minutes 
creating an E-mail message and send it to me, 
I'll spend hours compiling those E-mails and 
forward them to every single IEEE Sig. Proc. 
magazine manager that I can find.  That way the 
people running the magazine will appreciate the 
value the Tips & Tricks column has for us 
working DSP engineers.

IMPORTANT - If you do send me an E-mail, 
**PLEASE** put the phrase "Tips & Tricks" in the 
Subject line of your E-mail.  THIS IS CRITICAL!!
As I forward your E-mails to the Sig. Proc. 
magazine's managers, I want them to easily see that 
the E-mail is in regard to the Tips & Tricks column. 

So that's it.  You now have an opportunity to make a 
difference in the availability of practical, useful, 
DSP articles.  Without your help, I have no ammunition 
in my fight for the survival of the DSP Tips & Tricks 
column.  I hope you agree with me and send your 
E-mails to:

     r.lyons@ieee.org

and please don't forget to include the phrase 
"Tips & Tricks" in the Subject line of your E-mail. 

Thanks Guys,
[-Rick Lyons-]

Hi again,

  if you send me an E-mail, it would be good 
to list your company name after your name.

Also, to really get the IEEE Sig. Proc. 
manager's attention, you might say something 
about how the Tips & Tricks column will 
influence you in continuing your IEEE 
membership, or becoming a new member.

Money talks.   ;-)

Thanks guys,
[-Rick-]

  

r.lyons@REMOVE.ieee.org (Rick Lyons) wrote in message news:<400c1fd9.33981375@news.west.earthlink.net>...
> Hi again,
> 
>   if you send me an E-mail, it would be good 
> to list your company name after your name.
> 
> Also, to really get the IEEE Sig. Proc. 
> manager's attention, you might say something 
> about how the Tips & Tricks column will 
> influence you in continuing your IEEE 
> membership, or becoming a new member.
> 
> Money talks.   ;-)
> 
> Thanks guys,
> [-Rick-]

Hi Rick,

IMHO, IEEE already shot themselves in the foot with the price increase
for the communications society. I dropped my membership in it like a
hot potato. The articles they publish are way too esoteric and, unlike
grad students, I don't have the 24/7 required to sort wheat from
chaff. You can be sure, I'll drop IEEE completely (again) if Sigproc
heads that way.

Jeff White

"Rick Lyons" <r.lyons@REMOVE.ieee.org> wrote in message
news:400c1fd9.33981375@news.west.earthlink.net...
>
> Hi again,
>
>   if you send me an E-mail, it would be good
> to list your company name after your name.
>
> Also, to really get the IEEE Sig. Proc.
> manager's attention, you might say something
> about how the Tips & Tricks column will
> influence you in continuing your IEEE
> membership, or becoming a new member.
>
> Money talks.   ;-)
>

Rick,

Indeed it does!  In my separate reply to you I suggested more than my own
membership was at stake.

Here's a scenario:
Academics have to publish in order to keep their jobs and eventually get
tenure.
To publish, they need willing journals.
The journals need customers.
Academics alone don't represent a large enough market to sustain the
journals.
The journals depend on the non-academics to survive.
If they don't serve us well, we won't subscribe.
If we don't subscribe, they stop publishing.
If they stop publishing, an important venue for academics to publish goes
away.
If the venue goes away, some academics will lose their jobs or fail to get
tenure.
ERGO:
The astute academic authors are thus encouraged to write stuff that's
understandable for their own good.
The journal editors (who are mostly academic authors) should be encouraged
to publish stuff that's understandable as their legacy to the viablity of
the society/journal.
QED???

Now let's make it stick 'cause our learned colleagues don't seem to be very
good at Marketing 101!!

Fred (SM)

Rick Lyons wrote:

> Hi Guys, I'll get straight to business.
> 
> It's possible that the real-world, practical, 
> DSP articles that we've been producing for 
> the IEEE Signal Processing magazine will be 
> discontinued.  A few minutes of your time 
> can help avoid this from happening.
> 
> BACKGROUND:
> I've been able to convince the officials of the 
> IEEE Sig. Proc. magazine to publish articles, 
> one article in each issue, specifically directed 
> at working DSP engineers.  Those articles are 
> more practical, down-to-earth, real-world DSP 
> articles; as opposed to the traditional 
> highly-specialized, math-intensive, advanced 
> state-of-the-art research articles that 
> are directed at industry researchers and 
> university professors. 
> 
> Our "practical DSP" articles have been published 
> in a new column, that we created for the Sig. Proc. 
> magazine in January 2003, called "DSP Tips & Tricks".
> Last year several of our friends here on comp.dsp 
> produced really terrific DSP articles for the 
> Tips & Tricks column.  I consider the new column to 
> be a *wild* success, but I'll admit that I'm prejudiced 
> in its favor.
>   
> HERE'S THE PROBLEM:
> The IEEE is having money problems and one way to 
> reduce their expenses is to reduce the number of 
> pages in the Sig. Proc. magazine.  Please know that 
> the managers of the magazine have absolutely no way 
> to tell if the DSP Tips & Tricks column is useful, 
> or merely a waste of time and money.  I'm afraid 
> they're going to reduce the number of pages of 
> the Tips & Tricks column so severely that no useful 
> practical-DSP articles can be produced.  If that 
> happens, the DSP Tips & Tricks column will die away.
> 
> WHAT YOU CAN DO:
> If you'd like the DSP Tips & Tricks column to 
> survive, then you can help me see that it does.
> You can help by taking a few minutes and send 
> me an E-mail with just a sentence or two stating 
> that you 
> 
>       "like the Tips & Tricks column and look  
>        forward to more DSP articles", 
> 
> or
>       "you've found the Tips & Tricks column to   
>        be useful and hope it continues", 
> 
> or something like that. 
>  
> Your E-mail doesn't have to be long in words, 
> but if you'd like to say more I encourage you 
> to do so.
> 
> I *promise* you guys, if you spend a few minutes 
> creating an E-mail message and send it to me, 
> I'll spend hours compiling those E-mails and 
> forward them to every single IEEE Sig. Proc. 
> magazine manager that I can find.  That way the 
> people running the magazine will appreciate the 
> value the Tips & Tricks column has for us 
> working DSP engineers.
> 
> IMPORTANT - If you do send me an E-mail, 
> **PLEASE** put the phrase "Tips & Tricks" in the 
> Subject line of your E-mail.  THIS IS CRITICAL!!
> As I forward your E-mails to the Sig. Proc. 
> magazine's managers, I want them to easily see that 
> the E-mail is in regard to the Tips & Tricks column. 
> 
> So that's it.  You now have an opportunity to make a 
> difference in the availability of practical, useful, 
> DSP articles.  Without your help, I have no ammunition 
> in my fight for the survival of the DSP Tips & Tricks 
> column.  I hope you agree with me and send your 
> E-mails to:
> 
>      r.lyons@ieee.org
> 
> and please don't forget to include the phrase 
> "Tips & Tricks" in the Subject line of your E-mail. 
> 
> Thanks Guys,
> [-Rick Lyons-]
> 
> 

I suspect I may have a minority opinion.
*HOWEVER* I believe the IEEE ceased to be relevant/viable in mid-60's.

I was an EE major from 1961 on.
I had the opportunity to be a "student member".
I said why bother, all the journals were off in the theoretically 
theory-land. The IRE had seemed more oriented to the "real' world.

The IEEE's view held sway in accreditation, part of reason I quit 
pursuing a degree. I later saw my view substantiated as a tech looking 
at what "accredited" graduates produced.

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 21:34:42 -0600, Richard Owlett
<rowlett@atlascomm.net> wrote:

  (snipped)
>> 
>
>I suspect I may have a minority opinion.
>*HOWEVER* I believe the IEEE ceased to be relevant/viable in mid-60's.
>
>I was an EE major from 1961 on.
>I had the opportunity to be a "student member".
>I said why bother, all the journals were off in the theoretically 
>theory-land. The IRE had seemed more oriented to the "real' world.
>
>The IEEE's view held sway in accreditation, part of reason I quit 
>pursuing a degree. I later saw my view substantiated as a tech looking 
>at what "accredited" graduates produced.

Hi Richard,
  in 2002, the IEEE Sig. Proc. Society mentioned 
several times in his President's Messages in the 
Sig. Proc. magazine the need to make the more 
responsive to the needs of practicing engineers.

In April 2002, the IEEE President-Elect, Michael 
Adler, published an article in the IEEE's 
Institute newspaper where he said, the IEEE 
has become largely irrelevant to engineers in 
industry.  I think his words were too soft.
I would have said the IEEE is, for all practical 
purposes, useless to working engineers.

Richard, your opinion is *definitely* not 
a minority opinion.

[-Rick-]
  

Might be little off topic but what are real benefits of becoming an IEEE
member?

Reduced conference registeration fees? who cares as far as your institute is
paying for it.

All articles are available through Xplore if your institute subscribes. I am
really unable to find somthing special for members.

Ishtiaq.


"Rick Lyons" <r.lyons@REMOVE.ieee.org> wrote in message
news:4010acff.332268031@news.west.earthlink.net...
> On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 21:34:42 -0600, Richard Owlett
> <rowlett@atlascomm.net> wrote:
>
>   (snipped)
> >>
> >
> >I suspect I may have a minority opinion.
> >*HOWEVER* I believe the IEEE ceased to be relevant/viable in mid-60's.
> >
> >I was an EE major from 1961 on.
> >I had the opportunity to be a "student member".
> >I said why bother, all the journals were off in the theoretically
> >theory-land. The IRE had seemed more oriented to the "real' world.
> >
> >The IEEE's view held sway in accreditation, part of reason I quit
> >pursuing a degree. I later saw my view substantiated as a tech looking
> >at what "accredited" graduates produced.
>
> Hi Richard,
>   in 2002, the IEEE Sig. Proc. Society mentioned
> several times in his President's Messages in the
> Sig. Proc. magazine the need to make the more
> responsive to the needs of practicing engineers.
>
> In April 2002, the IEEE President-Elect, Michael
> Adler, published an article in the IEEE's
> Institute newspaper where he said, the IEEE
> has become largely irrelevant to engineers in
> industry.  I think his words were too soft.
> I would have said the IEEE is, for all practical
> purposes, useless to working engineers.
>
> Richard, your opinion is *definitely* not
> a minority opinion.
>
> [-Rick-]
>
>
>

I am about the laziest engineer there is... but this is why I think
the IEEE is a GOOD thing, not an irrelevant behemoth. My standpoint is
that if you have a problem, chances are someone else has already
solved it. So instead of wasting time solving difficult problems,
invest some time honing your research skills, and together with IEEE
Xplore, you can get most jobs done with very little work.

However...

>"I. R. Khan" <ir_khan@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
> Might be little off topic but what are real benefits of becoming an IEEE
> member?
> 
> Reduced conference registeration fees? who cares as far as your institute is
> paying for it.
> 
> All articles are available through Xplore if your institute subscribes. I am
> really unable to find somthing special for members.

That's a good point, you can certainly get a lot of the advantages of
IEEE without necessarily becoming a subscribing member... so I do
think the IEEE should offer more value for membership, but I think,
essentially, the techincal literature they proffer is useful... you
just need to know what you are looking for...

"I. R. Khan" <ir_khan@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:buqd6n$ka8gj$1@ID-198607.news.uni-berlin.de: 

> Might be little off topic but what are real benefits of becoming an
> IEEE member?

I would concur that most of the publications are full of articles that 
are too esoteric. I find the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society to 
have more useful articles even for non audio guys. I like Rick's column 
in Signal Processing (with contributions from several famous comp.dspers)

For small companies nad independents the IEEE life insurance program is 
very attractive. I probably save more than my dues with the cost savings 
from the insurance program.

IEEE has a lot of local chapters based on areas of interest. I was the 
Twin Cities Chapter Chair for Signal Processing & Communications for a 
couple of years. We met periodically (in theory once a month) for 
presentations.

In my community, IEEE has sponsored study groups as well. For example, 
there is a Signal Processing study group.

Most electrical engineering schools also have student chapters. 



> 
> Reduced conference registeration fees? who cares as far as your
> institute is paying for it.

Its not always monopoly money. For people like Rick Lyons and me, its 
real money. Responsible employees spend their employers money wisely.

> 
> All articles are available through Xplore if your institute
> subscribes. I am really unable to find somthing special for members.
> 
> Ishtiaq.
> 



 
-- 
Al Clark
Danville Signal Processing, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Purveyors of Fine DSP Hardware and other Cool Stuff
Available at http://www.danvillesignal.com

> I would concur that most of the publications are full of articles that
> are too esoteric. I find the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society to
> have more useful articles even for non audio guys. I like Rick's column
> in Signal Processing (with contributions from several famous comp.dspers)

I never said IEEE is irrelevant. It publishes great articles. But here I
would like to say that IEEE's review process is terribly slow. Therefore the
research published in IEEE is already published/ presented by the authors in
little modified forms in other journals (like Electronics Letters) and
conferences etc. I think IEEE has realized this thing (at least in CAS-I and
CAS-II) and is trying to improve the situation. Due to larger subscription
of IEEE, articles published earlier in other journals get lesser citations
and get forgotten after some time. However this is the fact that research
published in IEEE is generally 2-3 years is old.

> For small companies nad independents the IEEE life insurance program is
> very attractive. I probably save more than my dues with the cost savings
> from the insurance program.
>
> IEEE has a lot of local chapters based on areas of interest. I was the
> Twin Cities Chapter Chair for Signal Processing & Communications for a
> couple of years. We met periodically (in theory once a month) for
> presentations.
>
> In my community, IEEE has sponsored study groups as well. For example,
> there is a Signal Processing study group.
>
> Most electrical engineering schools also have student chapters.

I don't think we have it upto this extent in Japan. Most of the activities
of IEEE are limited to larger cities like Tokyo and Osaka and traveling is
soooooooo expensive.

> >
> > Reduced conference registeration fees? who cares as far as your
> > institute is paying for it.
>
> Its not always monopoly money. For people like Rick Lyons and me, its
> real money. Responsible employees spend their employers money wisely.

Membership fee is to be paid by the member while conference fee is paid by
employer. My point is that IEEE should offer something more to its members,
like free download of say 50 articles each year etc. etc.

> > All articles are available through Xplore if your institute
> > subscribes. I am really unable to find somthing special for members.
> >
> > Ishtiaq.
> >
>
>
>
>
> --
> Al Clark
> Danville Signal Processing, Inc.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Purveyors of Fine DSP Hardware and other Cool Stuff
> Available at http://www.danvillesignal.com

Ishtiaq.
The Univ. of Kitakyushu, Japan