[CvGmt News] IMU-Net 27: January 2008

[The Electronic IMU Newsletter]

IMU-Net 27: January 2008

A Bimonthly Email Newsletter from the International Mathematical Union
Editor: Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel, University Paris Descartes, Paris, France

CONTENTS

1. Editorial
2. News from IMU
3. IMU on the Web
4. ICM 2010 Web site
5. ICMI News, the new Newsletter from ICMI
6. ICME-11 and ICME-12
7. Subscribing to IMU-Net

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1. EDITORIAL

Among other activities, International Congresses of Mathematicians
(ICM) are the most important activity supported and assisted by the
International Mathematical Union. Needless to say, every ICM should
reflect the best work of mathematics being carried out in the world -
this has been a significant feature and a strong tradition of ICMs. At
the same time we must ensure that the ICMs should present the best
work being carried out in all mathematical subfields and in different
regions of the world.  By doing this, the ICM is indeed recognized as
the highest academic festival of mathematicians all over the world.
But, the significance of the ICMs is not confined to this, it gives
also an important opportunity to highlight the beauty, the influence,
and the power of mathematics to the whole society, which in turn
brings big impact for the further development of mathematics. The 15th
General Assembly in Santiago de Compostela in 2006 approved new PC/OC
guidelines that describe the roles of the various parties involved in
the preparation
of the scientific program of an ICM, and the Executive Committee was
charged with the task of upgrading the Guidelines whenever
appropriate. In the current version of the guidelines, endorsed by the
IMU EC on November 21, 2007, the purpose of ICMs is described as
follows:
"International Congresses of Mathematicians are the most important IMU
activity and need correspondingly careful preparation. Every ICM
should reflect the current activity of mathematics in the world,
present the best work being carried out in all mathematical subfields
and different regions of the world, and thus, point to the future of
mathematics. The invited speakers at an ICM should be mathematicians
of the highest quality who are able to present current research to a
broad mathematical audience."
The details of the current version of the guidelines for the Program
Committee and the Organizing Committee can be found at the IMU website
http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/PC/

Zhi-Ming Ma
Vice President, IMU Executive Committee

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2. NEWS FROM IMU

- Colombia is a new member of IMU, as of 1st January 2008.

- The IMU Executive Committee will have its annual meeting
on 20 and 21 April 2008 in Budapest (Hungary). Requests that
need EC decisions should be sent to Martin Groetschel, Secretary of
IMU (secretary at mathunion.org) by the end of February 2008.

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3. IMU ON THE WEB: DIGITAL FEEDBACK

The remarks "Digital Downside" of the previous IMU on the Web provided
an unusual volume of feedback. For example, Stevan Harnad of the
American Scientist Open Access Forum supplied comments explaining that
Open Access comes in colours, specifically green and gold, the colours
sported by Australia's representative teams. I recommend googling the
Forum and studying its discussions.

For full details amplifying this and the remarks below see
http://www.ceic.math.ca/News/IMUonWeb.shtml#CEIC24

Mention of "Journal and Conference scams" led a reader to suggest I
also issue a warning to respectable conference organisers. In brief,
there is strong anecdotal evidence (instanced in the case of ICM2006)
of persons claiming to intend to attend a conference and seeking a
formal letter of invitation; yet their purpose likely is solely to
obtain an entry visa to the host nation.

CEIC 1998-2008

The International Mathematical Union's Committee on Electronic Information
and Communication was created at the behest of the Dresden Quadrennial
Assembly of the IMU, in 1998 and now commences its tenth year. It
should be no secret that a primary purpose of the CEIC was to advise
on the matter of journal prices. Its first formally endorsed
recommendation was one we spoke of as "Personal Collected Works" and
that officially became a "Call to All Mathematicians to Make
Publications Electronically Available".

Alf van der Poorten (alf AT maths.usyd.edu.au), member of the CEIC.

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4. ICM 2010 WEB SITE

The ICM 2010 Website has been started. It will be constantly updated,
giving relevant information as and when it becomes available.
The web address is:
http://www.icm2010.org.in

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5. ICMI NEWS, THE NEW NEWSLETTER FROM ICMI

ICMI (International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, an
official commission of IMU), launched last December the first issueof
its bimonthly email newsletter with the name ICMI News. This
newsletter aims at improving communication between ICMI and the
worldwide community interested in mathematics education, informing
about actions and recommendations of ICMI, highlighting issues that
are under discussion, and reporting about ongoing activities. In
addition, ICMI News will report on major activities by the ICMI
Affiliated Study Groups (HPM, PME, IOWME, WFNMC and ICTMA), on major
international events related to mathematics education and on other
topics of general interest to the community of educational
researchers, curriculum designers, educational policy makers, teachers
of mathematics, mathematicians, mathematics educators, and others
interested in mathematical education around the world.

The first issue of ICMI News included, among other items, updated
information about the 11th International Congress on Mathematical
Education (ICME -11) and about ICMI Study 18 - Statistics Education in
School Mathematics: Challenges for Teaching and Teacher Education.
ICMI News reported on the first meeting of the current Executive
Committee of ICMI, included a calendar of events of interest to the
ICMI community, and featured a historical vignette about the Swiss
mathematician Henri Fehr (1870-1954), the first secretary general of
ICMI, who played a very important role in the international
cooperation in mathematics education for more than 50
years.

If you are interested in subscribing to ICMI News, there are two ways
to do it:
1. Click on http://www.mathunion.org/ICMI/Mailinglist with a Web browser
and go to the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to ICMI News online.

2. Send an e-mail to icmi-news-request at mathunion.org with the Subject-line:
Subject: subscribe

Jaime Carvalho e Silva, Editor of ICMI News

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6. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES ON MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION

- ICME-11
Important deadlines for the Eleventh International Congress on
Mathematical Education  (ICME-11), to be held in Monterrey, México, on
6-13 July 2008, are:
15 February 2008: Submission of applications to the ICME-11 Grant programme
2 March 2008: "Early bird" registration

More information on ICME-11, including a pdf of the Second
Announcement, is available on the congress website
http://icme11.org/

- ICME-12
The site for ICME-12 has been selected: It will take place in Seoul
(Korea) in 2012. The precise dates of ICME-12 will be announced later
and a Korean delegation will be present at ICME-11 to provide
information on the ICME-12

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7. SUBSCRIBING TO IMU-NET

There are two ways of subscribing to IMU-Net:

1. Click on http://www.mathunion.org/IMU-Net with a Web browser and go
to the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to IMU-Net online.

2. Send an e-mail to imu-net-request at mathunion.org with the Subject-line:
Subject: subscribe

In both cases you will get an e-mail to confirm your subscription so
that misuse will be minimized. IMU will not use the list of IMU-Net
addresses for any purpose other than sending IMU-Net, and will not
make it available to others.

Previous issues can be seen at:
http://www.mathunion.org/Publications/Newsletter/archive/index
____________________________________________________________________________
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