British Computer Society Research Articles

EC Software protection directive

The last issue of CLSR reported the views of the Intellectual Property Committee of the British Computer Society on the recent EC Software Directive. In this issue the UK Implementation Working Group of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) presents its concerns.

Comments and recommendations by the intellectual property committee, British Computer Society

Comments and recommendations by the intellectual property committee, British Computer Society

Training, career development and registration for safety critical software systems specialists

A career development program for information systems practitioners currently being used widely by employers in the UK and now becoming available in North America is described. The program, called the Professional Development Scheme (PDS), was developed by the British Computer Society to address the lack of structure and quality control generally present in the way computing professionals were being trained. The performance standards underpinning the program (The British Computer Society Industry Structure Model) have been thoroughly updated and now include material specific to the development, maintenance, and management of software for safety-critical applications. The use of the program for this purpose and potential developments in the field of training and registration for safety-critical software specialists are discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Usability metrics and methodologies

The British Computer Society's human-computer interaction specialist group sponsored a one-day seminar on usability metrics and methodologies in connection with its 1990 annual meeting in London. The seminar was organized by Nigel Bevan from the National Physical Laboratory and attracted an audience of about 80 people. The lively discussions during the seminar and the tea breaks indicated substantial interest in the issues of usability engineering.

‘We are all managers now’

The title of my article ‘We are all managers now’ is taken from Steve Shirley&apos;s chosen theme as President-Elect of the British Computer Society in 1990. Her message is that we, as information systems/information technology (IS/IT) professionals, need to seek greater interaction with business managers, in particular with the board members of our large corporations, if IS/IT is to assume the pivotal role expected of it in the 1990s.

Challenge of the 90S: Harmonizing Business and Technology for Commercial Advantage

Every business executive in every industry throughout the world is facing increasing and unrelenting competition. During the past decade this growing competition has brought with it the associated threat of survival of so many enterprises at a time when we are also experiencing the effects of a new industrial revolution created by the continuing and rapid advancements in information technology. In this paper we present the argument that the key to corporate success is associated with the development of the effective management of IT. The expenditures involved are now so large that they must be the concern of the Chief Executive Officer of the company. But, as we demonstrate, this is not the current situation in many organizations. The challenge of the ‘90s will be to integrate in an effective manner, the corporate business strategy with the increasing use of IT. In many cases, it will require a new style of management, but for those organizations who do not make this change, their corporate prosperity may be at stake. This paper sets out my personal view on this major issue, which was presented on the 23 April 1990, as the British Computer Society 1990 Jubilee lecture and sponsored by Computer Weekly.

Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics

The Newsletter of the Cybernetics Machine Group of the British Computer Society (30 November 1989) has given details of the group's activities. In this issue the Chairman gave an analysis of progress in the field over the past three years. A redefinition of aims and activities was proposed — a sharper focus by means of which even greater progress can be made. It concluded that the revised remit of the group can be nothing less than the discovery of the physical laws by means of which natural information processing, knowledge engineering and intelligence take place.

People and Computers: Designing for Usability: Proceedings of the Second Conference of the British Computer Society, Human Computer Interaction Specialist Group, University of York, 23--26 September, 1986.

People and Computers: Designing for Usability: Proceedings of the Second Conference of the British Computer Society, Human Computer Interaction Specialist Group, University of York, 23--26 September, 1986.

BCS and IEE accreditation of software engineering courses

Both the British Computer Society and the Institution of Electrical Engineers regularly visit academic departments to accredit degree courses which include software engineering. In some cases, the two bodies have visited together. This paper outlines the purposes of accreditation and the criteria applied, and suggests ways in which the traditional expertise of the two chartered bodies may complement each other.

Software engineering training requirements in a professional services company

In the paper I characterise the nature of the business of a software engineering company such as Praxis, show how this leads to a number of problems in the planning of training, describe how we are solving these problems through, in particular, the adoption of the British Computer Society's Professional Development Scheme, and outline how training and recruitment are related.

Submission from the British Computer Society

Submission from the British Computer Society

IT Support for Employment

Geoff Busby is director of a project recently launched by the British Computer Society, IT Support for the Disabled. This aims to draw the attention of employers to the ways high technology can enable more disabled school leavers and adults to go into open employment in a widening range ofoccupations.

Communicating with users during systems development

This paper is the outcome of a series of discussions and workshops held by the British Computer Society's (BCS) Database Specialist Group in Scotland. The paper outlines advantages and disadvantages of two popular approaches to system development (conceptual modelling and prototyping) and suggests that they are not mutually exclusive methods, but, in fact, complementary.

Book review: EXPERT SYSTEMS 85. Edited by Martin Merry (British Computer Society)

Expert Systems 85, edited by Martin Merry, contains the papers presented at the fifth technical conference of the British Computer Society's Specialist Group on Expert Systems. The conference covered a wide variety of topics ranging from general discussions of expert systems, applications, planning systems, uncertain inference, and knowledge representation. For the most part the authors assume some familarity with AI and expert systems although one does not need to be well versed in the area in order to follow the papers. Anybody with an interest in expert systems should be able to find at least a few papers worth reading in this collection. Both researchers and students would find this book interesting. Expert Systems 85 may be helpful in broadening the horizons of those who are relatively new to the area and it would be especially appropriate as a source of supplemental readings for a graduate or undergraduate course.

Towards a new theory of information

A new theory of information was presented by the author to Expert Systems 86, the Conference of the Specialist Group on Expert Systems of the British Computer Society at Brighton, 15–18 December. He envisions information to be a property of the universe, as real a property as matter and energy. This comment explains some of the thinking behind the paper.

Book reviews

Book reviews

The centre for computer studies, Singapore

Abstract Arising from the Singapore Government's identification of Information Technology as a major element within its economic strategy, considerable emphasis has been placed on the vital need for Singapore to have a substantial body of competent computer professionals to support and implement this commitment to computerization. Through the National Computer Board, the Singapore Government has established an integrated programme of computer education within which the Centre for Computer Studies is a strategic component. The Centre is charged with the task of providing skilled programmers and system analysts to constitute the main core of the professional workforce for the computing industry in Singapore during the 1980's and 1990's. The Centre provides both Higher National Diploma in Computer Studies and Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies courses, which are accepted by the British Computer Society for exemption from their Part 1 and Part 2 Examinations respectively. The Centre therefore provides an ed...

Communicating the weather

BBC Television's computerised weather system won a British Computer Society Applications award for 'the most imaginative and economically effective application of computer technology in Britain in 1985'. Designed by the BBC Computer Graphics Workshop in conjunction with the Meteorological Office, the new system links the Met Office computer with a microcomputer at the BBC which, in turn, controls software running on a minicomputer.

Software engineers and the IEE

A discussion meeting was held on 22nd January 1986, at the request of the IEE&apos;s Computing and Control Divisional Board, to air matters of importance arising from the Institution&apos;s decision in 1982 to admit software engineers as full members. Speakers included members and non-members of the Institution, and particularly included speakers from the British Computer Society. About 30 people attended, of whom a substantial proportion were members of both the IEE and the BCS.

School and home: The British Computer Society's Schools Committee Working Party

The School and Home Working Party of the British Computer Society was set up in April 1984 with the aim of producing a series of short reports on various aspects of the effects that computing at home could have upon the school curriculum and methods of learning. Its work has been divided into four tasks, all of which should be completed during 1986: (1) research and report on the microcomputers used in school and in homes; (2) research and report on the use of microcomputers in homes; (3) creation of a guide to “Accessing Remote Computers”; (4) creation of a guide for teachers on future computing. This paper sets out to describe the work of that Working Party.