The fiftieth anniversary of Information Theory is just around the corner, and 1998 is shaping up as a banner year for our field. A number of special events and initiatives are planned to make this a great celebration.
You can walk the hallways that Claude Shannon walked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1998 International Symposium on Information Theory, which will be held on August 16-21. The Shannon Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Neil Sloane, winner of the 1998 Claude E. Shannon Award winner.
Another opportunity to walk Shannon's hallways will be the May 18 celebration to be held at the cradle of information theory: Murray Hill, New Jersey.
Two broad-based IEEE Information Theory Workshops will take place in 1998: San Diego, California on February 9-11, and Killarney, Ireland on June 22-26.
The Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Netherlands in Amsterdam will be the venue of a colloquium on the past and future of information theory on June 17-19.
The German Information Theory Society is sponsoring a conference on coding and information theory on March 3-5 in Aachen.
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Information Theory, the Board of Governors of the Society has decided to create the "Golden Jubilee Awards for Technological Innovation" for advances that have had a profound impact on technology. These awards will spotlight the major practical contributions in the history of coding and information theory.
Furthermore, key papers in the development of the fields of interest to the society will be recognized as recipients of the "Golden Jubilee Paper Awards". An open call for nominations for these awards appears elsewhere in this issue.
A most valuable research tool will be available at the end of 1998: the whole collection of IEEE Transactions on Information Theory in searchable full-text CD-ROM format. A companion Web site is also in the planning.
The Transactions will publish seven issues per year starting in 1998. The October 1998 issue will be a commemorative issue containing perspective papers written for a wide audience by some of the most famous names in the field.
A program of reviewing rewards will take place in 1998 on a trial basis: high quality reviews that reach the associate editor before the deadline will be eligible to receive a $100 reward. The purpose of this program is to encourage reviewing timeliness while strengthening the attachment of our dedicated referee pool to the Transactions.
We can also look forward to a special issue of this Newsletter containing articles of archival value. Furthermore, our artistically inclined members will have a chance to make a different type of archival contribution: an open "contest" to create a logo for the Information Theory Society will be held in 1998.
For updated information on these initiatives, do visit the Society's Web site:
All these exciting events are a sign of the vibrancy of the wide world of Information Theory as it reaches its golden jubilee. This is a great time to proselytize our field and the IT Society, and encourage our colleagues and friends to join us in celebrating the beginning of the second fifty years of Information Theory.