OR/MS Today - December 2000

December 2000

INFORMS Online

... And There Is So Much More to Do!

By Michael A. Trick

Last issue, I reviewed the history of INFORMS Online (IOL) under the title of "We've Come So Far." INFORMS Online has grown in the last six years from a few dozen pages to a system that is thousands of times larger and accessed by 2,000 people every day. One important aspect about the Internet is that it changes every day, and IOL needs to change with it.

I became editor of IOL in 1995. As part of that process, I wrote a "vision statement" for the search committee. You can view that statement at http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/iolapp.fil. Keep in mind that this statement was written in a period of great experimentation on the Web. As I mentioned last issue, most companies had not discovered the Web yet, and it was unclear what the Web was capable of becoming. Overall, I think my original statement has held up pretty well. There are just one or two items on my list that have not come to fruition.

The most pressing need, in my opinion, is to allow online membership and renewals. To an outsider, the current lack of this capability seems stunning. As I wrote six years ago, this is a clear requirement for any organization's Web system. Why has this not occurred? Perhaps the most glaring deficiency in my vision statement, and what I have learned most about, is the difficulty of integrating the Web into the core software systems of the organization. The difficulty is not collecting credit card information over the Web, as my statement suggested, but rather getting the information into the existing membership software and updating business processes.

When we started, the vision was that INFORMS would write software to provide that interface. Now it is clear that such updates are in the purview of software developers who work for the companies that provide us with our core software. After waiting far too long, I expect that we will have this capability shortly.

The next major piece for the future is the development of a "members only" area of IOL. We have debated this issue for many years, vacillating between our wish to provide useful information about OR/MS to the world and our need to provide additional member services. At this point it is clear that we can develop enough added services to meet both of these goals. A members-only area that allows members to handle their email communication from INFORMS, online journal subscriptions and membership information is already a significant improvement. As we expand additional services such as improved membership and bibliographic data search, specialized conference additions and so on, we will create an area that will be essential for those in OR/MS. In doing so, we will enhance a significant member benefit to encourage joining and remaining a member of INFORMS.

Overall, if there is one major change on the Web in the six years I have been editor, it is the changing view of the Web as a method for an organization to disperse information to a system whereby users become part of a community. Now, personalized systems reflect the user's interests and activities. A practitioner of OR should see a different INFORMS Online than a student, and each should be able to create their own individual view. That is the greatest challenge going forward.

These are challenges, however, for other editors. This month marks the end of my second term as IOL's editor. Beginning in January 2001, Matt Saltzman of Clemson University will become editor. Matt has been with IOL almost since the beginning as associate editor/conferences. For the past two years, he has also been an INFORMS vice president responsible for information technology. Matt will undoubtedly put his unique stamp on IOL, and I expect we will see a great number of new and innovative changes. These ideas reflect a large number of conversations Matt and I have had over the years, and I believe Matt is the ideal person to move IOL to the next level.

The last six years have been a lot of work, but they have been tremendously rewarding. Perhaps the best reward was the opportunity to work with a large number of highly skilled, highly motivated people, including volunteers and the INFORMS staff. This column is too short to mention all of them, but let me give special thanks to the IOL editorial team through the years. A full listing of team members is available at http://www.informs.org/about.html. Without them, IOL could not have existed.

This will be my last column in this space; Matt will pick things up next issue. I am honored that the membership has chosen me as president-elect. In a year, I will again be writing for this magazine, albeit in the "President's Desk" column.

Michael Trick (trick@cmu.edu) is a professor in the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, the outgoing editor of INFORMS Online and the president-elect of INFORMS.

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