August 1996 € Volume 23 € Number 4
President's Desk
Looking Forward Rather Than Sideways
Some major progress following the merger
By Alfred Blumstein
Times are changing very fast these days with respect to INFORMS, and it
has been most refreshing to see how much progress has been made. I was a
participant over the last 20-plus years in various aspects of the ORSA/TIMS
relationship, and came to appreciate how important the INFORMS merger has
been. The initial mutually independent paths of ORSA and TIMS quickly highlighted
the associated inefficiencies. Starting in about 1972, the ORSA/TIMS jointure
involved joint meetings, a common newsletter (which eventually became OR/MS
Today) and the Interfaces journal.
Other aspects of the jointure developed over time, but the insistence on
two independent societies created considerable conflict and operating burden
on both societies. That resulted partly from natural competition between
two similar organizations operating in the same marketplace. It also occurred
because the jointure created "Siamese twins": too often, one of
the two that wanted to pursue some initiative was prevented from doing so
because it needed approval of the other. This situation so often resulted
in attention being directed sideways at the other rather than forward to
our collective needs.
A variety of operational devices were established to facilitate this jointure,
but they added to the cumbersomeness. These further handicapped both ORSA
and TIMS from becoming effective vehicles to serve the collective need of
the OR/MS community. Since the merger into INFORMS on Jan. 1, 1995, the
innovation, vigor and forward vision have clearly been renewed.
We came to realize that the former unitary concept of operations research
was becoming highly dispersed into multiple areas of application, which
were developing on their own. This required more of our activities to be
developed through our specialized subdivisions, and subdivision representatives
now occupy five of the 20 positions on the INFORMS Board.
We now have 31 thriving subdivisions, many strengthened through the merger
of similar subdivisions in ORSA and TIMS. Others will be created in new
areas where our approaches and methods are being used by a community that
is not yet under our umbrella, but which will find strong common interest
with the rest of us. That potential can only grow as our methods and perspectives
become more widely used, and as others see the intellectual and professional
advantage of linking to INFORMS.
We have all come to realize the saliency of information technology, both
as an important aspect of our professional work, but also as a critical
tool in conducting our organizational affairs. INFORMS On-Line, which is
being managed admirably by Michael Trick, is now a thriving operation serving
all our members. In a recent week, that web page had over 17,000 inquiries
from more than 3,500 different computers. That use has been growing at a
phenomenal rate, and most notably by practitioners who most often operate
from the domain .com
We are testing the waters of electronic journals. ITORMS (Interactive
Transactions of Operations Research and the Management Sciences), edited
by Ramesh Sharda, is exploring some of the exciting new dimensions of performance
possible with an electronic journal. The journal will contain bibliographic
expository articles that can be updated frequently instead of letting them
slowly fade into obsolescence, as happens with such reviews in the paper
journals. The algorithms underlying a particular example can be part of
the paper, and the reader can experiment with the algorithm to test its
performance and to perform his or her own sensitivity analyses online. The
paper and its algorithm can become an accessible analytic tool for any user
who would like to bring his problem to it. This test journal will help lead
us into the many innovative possibilities this kind of communication opens
between author and readers.
We have seen new vigor in our international relationships. TIMS was the
partner that had an explicit international agenda, whereas ORSA pursued
most of its international relationships through IFORS. Even though INFORMS
is the U.S. member of IFORS, it still has an explicit international interest.
That is reflected in our international meetings (two every three years)
and in our desire to link with colleagues from other nations. This will
occur primarily through our sections, many of which organize regular meetings
outside the U.S.
We have no intention to establish INFORMS chapters in other countries, but
we do expect that subdivisions will seek connections with their counterparts
in other countries, and those connections will bring our international colleagues
closer to us. Modern electronic communication has enormously shrunk the
communication distance among colleagues around the world, and distances
between locations is now far less a barrier to communication than differences
in professional perspective, and that is something that links our community
wherever people live.
It is most refreshing to see the vigor now pervading INFORMS and its membership.
We have begun to look forward to find means to strengthen our profession
and its contributions to many kinds of operations and organizations, and
also to its recognition in the larger community. That effort is bound to
further enhance the role and stature of the OR/MS profession wherever it
operates, and thereby further enhance the contributions we make to society.
I can think of no more important consequence of the merger.
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