Subject: ESCApad #15 Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 09:22:39 +0100 From: Isabel Trancoso To: esca_list@speech.inesc.pt ============================================================================ ESCApad number 15 July 6, 1999 ============================================================================ AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF ESCA FROM THE ESCA PRESIDENT Dear ESCA Member, Since its foundation, ESCA has been steadily expanding and consolidating its activities; it has offered an increasing range of services and benefits to its members and it has put its financial and administrative functions on a firm professional footing. Indeed, over the past ten years, ESCA has evolved from a small EEC-supported European organisation to a fully-independent and self-supporting European-based international association. For a number of years now, the ESCA Board has been discussing the long-term future of the Association. In particular, attention has been given to our strategic relationships with related international organisations and events, and the stability and size of our membership base. The first issue is important because it specifically relates to the need to preserve the valuable temporal and scientific complementarity between our EUROSPEECH conference and other major conferences such as the International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP). Indeed, the current alternation between EUROSPEECH and ICSLP is seen as a very valuable contribution to scientific progress in the speech science and technology field. However, there is currently no guarantee that this productive state of affairs will continue indefinitely. The second issue is important because the ability of the organisation to provide full-time support and services to members such as yourself is critically dependent upon the total income of the Association and thus on the number of paid-up subscriptions. This currently varies dramatically from year to year due to the biannual cycle of EUROSPEECH conferences, and thus managing the budget of the Association is unnecessarily complicated and confusing. This in turn limits our ability to use our resources in the best interests of all our members. After considerable discussion, the ESCA Board has come to the conclusion that these issues could be properly addressed by the promotion of ESCA as a truly "international" association in the global field of speech science and technology. Indeed in many respects ESCA has de-facto already been internationalised; EUROSPEECH is a truly international conference, ETRWs have been held in many countries around the world and SIG activities naturally extend beyond European borders. This situation clearly supports our belief that a world-wide membership-based organisation is in the best interests of the speech community. Therefore, in December last year, the ESCA Board approached the Permanent Council of the ICSLP with a suggestion that ESCA would be willing to extend its responsibilities to encompass both EUROSPEECH and ICSLP, thereby offering each ICSLP conference the same financial and organisational stability that is enjoyed by EUROSPEECH. The PC-ICSLP debated our proposal at length at its meeting in Sydney and, whilst acknowledging that contin uity and consistency would indeed be more easily provided by a membership-based organisation, the PC-ICSLP stated that it felt uncertain about the appropriateness of the idea given the strong European flavour of ESCA. Specifically, it was noted that ESCA's constitution currently excludes Board level representation from outside Europe - and this was seen as a barrier to accepting the proposal as formulated. The ESCA Board has subsequently considered this situation very carefully and, in consultation with our Advisory Council, we have drawn up provisional plans for a very exciting set of changes to our constitution:- Proposal #1: ESCA to be converted to a truly international organisation and to change its name, for example to the "International Speech Communication Association" (ISCA) or to the "International Spoken Language Association" (ISLA). There are subtle linguistic issues to be taken into account in the adoption of a suitable name, but the Board would be happy to be guided by a consensus view, as resolved by a membership poll. Proposal #2: Each Board position to be open to any member, regardless of where they are located geographically. As now, all Board positions would become vacant through the natural cycle of events (each member currently serves a four-year term), hence the geographic balance would ebb and flow over time. Proposal #3: The number of Board positions to be extended from ten to fourteen posts. This increase in the number of Board positions would allow non-EU members to be elected at the earliest possibility. Also, since Board positions are not honorific posts but involve specific responsibilities with respect to the management of the Association, the increase would facilitate a broadening of the variety of activities undertaken. The only restriction being considered is that there should be a maximum permissible number of Board members from any one country, for example one or two. As you would expect, such proposals require changes to the 'Statutes of the Association' (see the ESCA web site - http://www.esca-speech.org/ - to be reminded of the current wording), and this can only be done at a meeting of the ESCA General Assembly. However, the next such meeting is scheduled to take place in only a few months at EUROSPEECH'99 in Budapest. Therefore the Secretariat will in due course be issuing an agenda detailing the specific changes being proposed. I do hope that you will be able to lend your support to the conversion of ESCA to ISCA/ISLA and to the creation of a truly democratic International Association dedicated to the promotion of speech science and technology on a global basis. The potential benefits to the future of our field are immense, and the consequent expansion of the membership base will create a strong and vibrant organisation that will be able to respond to the needs and aspirations of all workers in the field. I look forward to your feedback and support, and I hope to see you at the General Assembly in Budapest to play your part in this potentially historic event. Prof. Roger K. Moore President: European Speech Communication Association ============================================================================= SIGs: Widened possibilities for ESCA Special Interest Groups Since 1997, ESCA has the possibility to have Special Interest Groups (ESCA-SIGs). A SIG is a group of individuals sharing a common interest. SIGs get special support of ESCA as regards publicity, meetings, and any other activity undertaken. It is likely that SIGs will play an important role in the organisation of future EUROSPEECH conferences. A SIG gets a start-up grant of 1000 Euro. This spring, the ESCA Board has decided to widen the possible scope of a SIG. Besides the SIGs around a specific scientific topic, it is now also possible to create a regional grouping or a grouping related to a language, for instance. In addition, it can be envisaged that for some topics joint SIGs with other international organisations would be benificial. We hope that these new and flexible options for SIGs will stimulate ESCA members to consider starting a SIG. And remember, the upcoming EUROSPEECH'99 conference will be an excellent occasion to bring people together! Information on ESCA-SIGs (including requirements and a draft constitution) can be obtained at http://www.esca-speech.org/sig.html or with Gerrit Bloothooft (gerrit.bloothooft@let.uu.nl) ============================================================================= All additional information at the ESCA web-site: http://www.esca-speech.org The ESCA secretariat can be contacted at: info@esca-speech.org Requests concerning membership, Speech Communication and ordering Proceedings should be forwarded to the Secretariat. For message distribution at esca_list contact: publicity@esca-speech.org =============================================================================