The ACM SIGAPL Advisory Committee The Advisory Committee (AC) will be a group of advisors chosen by the current chair of ACM SIGAPL. Their purpose will be to discuss policy issues connected with SIGAPL, and with APL in general. In particular, long range policy, and issues for which a wider range of opinion than the EC can offer is desired may be discussed in the AC. It will also help to provide a source of continuity to the SIG, by keeping people in touch with SIG issues when they are no longer able to be involved on a more extensive level. The AC is purely an advisory body - its decisions have no force and are not official acts of ACM or of SIGAPL. However, the SIGAPL Chair and Executive Committee (EC) will generally pay close attention to a consensus of the advisory committee. The general rules for the AC, and its members, are as follows: Membership on the committee is by appointment of the SIGAPL chair. Members may be asked to resign, or removed from membership, by the chair. There is no fixed term of membership. Normally, AC members will be members of SIGAPL, but this is not a requirement. The only real requirement is that members should be people whose opinions are valued in matters of SIGAPL policy. The chair will normally invite at least the elected members of the SIGAPL EC to join the AC. Any member of the AC may propose issues for discussion at any time. Frequently issues may be suggested by the SIGAPL chair or the EC, but there is no requirement that this happen in every case. Any issue of SIGAPL policy or general activity is open for discussion. However, the AC is not a forum for micromanaging the day-to-day activities of the SIG or its volunteers. The SIGAPL AC is for discussion and debate, not action. Normally, formal votes will not be taken. Either a general consensus will be arrived at, or there will be two or more well defined positions with supporting arguments for the chair and the EC to consider when making decisions. An Email list (Listserv) has been created for the AC. All communications to the committee should be sent to this address. This is a closed list - only members of the AC may post to it. Most of the AC's activity is expected to be via this list. Physical meetings of the AC may or may not be scheduled in future - none are currently planned. The list will be maintained by the Chair with the assistance of the Information Director. Members of the AC are expected to be civil and professional in AC discussions. It should be assumed that each member has the good of SIGAPL and of the APL /Array Language community at heart, although the means used to achieve that goal may differ widely. Members should not act as advocates for a company, business, or organization in their discussions with the EC. Members should not impugn the motives of others on the list, nor engage in personal attacks or insults. If a member feels compelled to engage in such behavior, s/he should do so by personal communications, not on the list. While particular proposals may be freely discussed, and arguments against them may be advanced, this should be done in a constructive and not a confrontational manner. Members are requested to support assertions with facts whenever possible, and to clearly label expressions of opinion as such. Members will not intentionally make false assertions, conceal relevant facts, or otherwise attempt to deceive the AC when discussing an issue on the list. Members are requested to respond to AC discussions in a reasonably timely fashion. Someone who cannot, in general, read or reply to email within a 1-week timeframe is probably a poor candidate for the AC. However, AC members are NOT required or expected to respond to every comment posted to the list or even to comment on every issue raised. Members should not, in general, use the list to discuss matters unrelated to the mission of the AC. Short messages of personal interest to the majority of members are allowed. If a particular discussion is drifting off-topic, the chair may request or insist that members take the discussion to another venue, such as comp.lang.apl, or private email. The list is not for debating the merits of particular APL tools, techniques, features, or products. However, when such issues are involved in SIG policy, they may be discussed. Members should not hold themselves out as representatives of SIGAPL, or of ACM, based solely on their status as AC members. The AC's deliberations and recommendations are solely for the use of the SIGAPL chair and EC, at their discretion. To encourage free discussion, members agree not to quote discussion of the AC without specific permission from the person quoted. Members may resign at any time, by communicating their resignation to the SIGAPL Chair. Anyone may request appointment to the committee, or suggest another person as an AC member. The Chair is free to act on such suggestions, or not. There will be no official list of the members of the AC published. However, if a person wishes to announce his or her service on the AC, s/he may do so, and the chair should confirm such statements upon request. Robert G. Brown Chairman, ACM SIGAPL