The following document represents views as put together by the Committee of the Guildford Branch of the BCS on the future of BCS branches. This is Version 1.06 of the document. The original paper was generated by (the author) Martin Ferrier in 2000 as a BOG initiative commissioned by BCS HQ. Where appropriate Minority or individual views are noted.
2 Summary
The BCS branch should remain but change its structure in the following key ways:
Find ways of further exploiting Web and e-mail technology
Utilise the senior local members of the branch, especially the Fellows.
Work more closely with local IT industry
Facilitate stronger networking at branch meetings.
Increase the scope of branch meetings and vary their format.
Increase the ongoing level of help from HQ in particular standard communications. At the branches congress, one of the big points to arise was that HQ should take on more of the admin for branches. We have good web and email in our branch at the moment, but this takes a lot of admin from one or two talented individuals. The idea was we have a central facility that looks as if it is local
3 Introduction
The following document is input to the BCS BOG group. It represents views as put together by the Committee of the Guildford Branch of the BCS on the future of BCS branches. The basic assumption is made that branches will continue. This document looks at their potential future role. The major background to this is the BCS programme 2000plus (the background to that is detailed in a section towards the end). The specific reference to branches in that programme on which this document is written is “We will need to look very carefully at the role of those branches in a world now geared more to networking electronically, than through physical meetings; but there is no doubt about the importance of the branch network as a major channel for communicating and delivering service to our community.”
The background to all of this is the Role of BCS . “As a Professional Institution for the field of information systems engineering, the British Computer Society exists to provide service and support to the IS community, including individual practitioners, employers of IS staff and the general «.... promote the study and practice of Computing and to advance knowledge therein for the benefit of the public”
The committee members of a BCS branch are volunteers as are all BCS Council and Board members.. Thus any proposition needs to be take that into account. There is therefore a social aspect of the structure of the branch, which needs to be catered for otherwise a branch will disappear because the committee will see little value to their contribution. That does not mean that we need to have specific social events for which traditionally the uptake has been poor.
We need to be clear what type of activity a branch can and should do and the type of activity that BCS HQ should do. The branches will need a flow of information, guidance (not regulation), funding, and help (HQ training and guidelines for branches perhaps) from HQ to ensure they can conduct their activities. Equally there should be a flow of information and guidance from the branches back to HQ.
The activities of the BCS can be roughly broken out into the following areas:
The Virtual BCS. This is the manifestation of the BCS on the network, the services it provides and the communication vehicles it provides. None of that implies and further commitment on behalf of the members other than their voluntary contribution. This is not a branch provided capability.
The activities done by BCS HQ
The activities done by Specialist Groups
The activities done by Branches
· Virtual Activities, e-mail, snail mail. It is an assumption that soon all BCS members will have e-mail and Internet access.
· Face to Face activities such as meetings, presentations, workshops, clinics, job fairs
· Committee meetings. Although this is an activity, it is a by-product of the branch. This needs to be managed to an acceptable level of commitment for the members.
· It is the intention of this document to only look at the activities of the Branch. Top
4 The role of a branch
4.1 The Members relationship with the BCS.
Who should a BCS member feel is their primary contact with the BCS? The main contact with the BCS is between the individual member and HQ. The branch and branch committee are brokers in the operation. Members don’t apply to branches for membership nor do they pay their subs to them. For all formal matters, they deal directly with HQ. Committee members are a subset of the BCS membership. Some activities currently done by branches could be moved to HQ, especially in this network age. Such an action may make the branch appear more irrelevant. Because the branch is local and individuals in it can meet face to face, it can however become a point of human contact, which can be very valuable. It’s web site should be an extension of that and represent its individuality not be just an extension of the central site.
Basically, the body of the society is the members, and they fund HQ to provide the services that keep the society together. The BCS consists of nothing more than Paying members, and HQ. All the rest has evolved around it. Strip away the committee’s etc, and that’s what you are left with.
Branches will always lack the resources for more sophisticated roles unless existing roles are dropped or migrate to HQ. They are essentially voluntary organisations dependent on a small group of enthusiasts. HQ itself has little resource to offer. Now we have a highly pressured working life with a range of communication channels – specialised magazines, television, Internet etc providing technical information. Members who do come to meetings are a minority, just as those who go to live theatre are a minority compared with those who go to the cinema or watch TV – and for much the same reasons; those who enjoy live performance put up with something which is lower quality in many ways to get human contact. Whilst this currently does not make a branch a good channel for the BCS it points to the way forward, which is to offer local contact in ways for which there is little substitute.
If branches try and do something professional with too little voluntary labour they will fail. If they ask HQ for support they will cripple HQ because HQ can not provide real administrative support to 40 or so branches. Thus one approach has to be to go outside the realm of the existing committee. For example there are 42 Fellows in Guildford Branch who have skill and expertise, which we should use. Perhaps HQ should send all the Fellows a letter reminding them of the advantages to the up and coming members with respect to Give Back.
Equally local IT industry should take more of an interest because they want two things out of such a relationship:
· Access to a skilled workforce.
· Channel to market for their products.
Such a relationship must not be seen as the BCS becoming a recruiting and advertising agency. Top
4.2 What does a member get from the BCS?
The following questions highlight the issue.
Why join the society?
What are the benefits?
What can I do in the society that I can’t outside it?
What do I want from the society?
Are they getting Value for money and is that differentiated based on membership fee.
Why volunteer for branch committee, why get involved? This is covered in a later section.
What are the benefits?
In an ideal world, what would a member expect from the society?
Networking. This is contact with people whom you feel will be able to help you in the future. Some of this can be done in the virtual networking sense and as such would be the province of HQ. Some relies on the additional feeling that come from meeting some one face to face and is the province of the branch.
Education. This comes in many forms, books, presentations, workshops, and online tutorials. The only items that a branch can deliver are presentations and workshops. Branches do not have the capability or critical mass to provide a library.
Skills Development. This is very similar to the previous item on Education.
Information access. This is something that a local branch can’t do except via workshops and clinics.
Help desk. Except as one off events such as clinics branches can’t do this.
· Fellowship, human contact. It is not known what other branches do here but Guildford does very little in the way of Social events. Neither does it feel that such events are worthwhile. Thus the fellowship and human contact has to be within the format of working branch events. The reason the branch annual dinner was dropped was only indirectly linked with the lack of support. Our first dinner was well supported, but the problems were:
· People could only really speak to the people beside or opposite them.
· We had a BCS president as guest speaker who was regarded by the attendees as being boring and out of touch with the branch.
· This resulted in a poorer attendance at the second dinner with similar comments being made and after that it just had to be dropped. Thus we should not try purely social events without a value add to the attendees.
Guidance and Career Development. This is something, which HQ can provide in some measure. Certain aspects of it the local branch are best placed to do. Professional Standing. Regarding Post nominals, I don’t know many people who use them in society in general. I only use them in formal letters and job apps. As for ‘Chartered Information System Practitioner’ (no contractions being allowed on this) well it’s a bit of a joke. It doesn’t have the same ring as CEng or Eur Ing? does it. Professional standing though is more than just letters it is:
· Public Recognition
· Advantage over Peers
· Earn more money
· Climb the career ladder
· Gain respect/kudos
· Win Jobs Top
4.3 What services should the member get from the branch?
What are the things that a branch should be doing?
· Fellowship and human contact. This is linked with networking. The current model for Guildford is that people come along to a branch meeting, sit down listen to the chairman and then a presentation and then go home. There are a number of things wrong with this:
· There is limited other opportunities for people to get together as a branch. There is no branch dinner a social event, which can be tied to a professional event, such as recognition of new fellows, prizes and so on.. There are limited outings. Help facilitating outings should be something HQ can give assistance with.
· Members don’t get introduced. At each meeting four members should introduce them selves and explain who they are and what they are working on. We want a friendly sociable atmosphere. This must of course never be seen as pressurising people into doing things they don’t want to do.
· There should be roundtables hosted before each meeting covering a subject of interest.
· There should be more directed invites to meetings (as per Oxford Group).
· In the invite to a meeting people should be invited to present to the branch a current problem or issue they have to see if there is anyone in the audience who can help them. This could represent a fundamental shift from the speaker being the focus to the evening to networking being the focus. We need to move carefully to ensure that this is what our members want.
· There are no Christmas and summer meetings. The current wisdom is that they would be poorly supported if attempted. Thus once again we should move carefully into such changes.
· Education: This can be covered by lectures. In addition however we should be running clinics and workshops.
· Career Development: This should cover mentoring and promoting people within the BCS. It is not current practice to sponsor new fellows through the branch. This should cover the whole end to end spectrum of developing people within university through MBCS and FBCS. We should direct the question to the 42 fellows to see how they can specifically help along the lines of:
· Running Clinics, or workshops .
· Publicity. We should be promoting the work of the BCS through local press and the branch web sites.
· We should be inviting local IT industry to participate in branch meetings. They can help with workshops. The quid pro quo for them is that they can get to demonstrate their products prior to a meeting, or explain what career opportunities they have. Going down this path needs to be carefully managed to ensure we get the compromise between commercialism and professionalism. Links with Academia. This is happening on a limited scale. But we should be looking at more members of the BCS to provide the role of guest speaker for Surrey and perhaps some of the other colleges.
· Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Currently, the record keeping side of this is optional [certificates are available each year for completed record cards]. I think CPD is currently underplayed at Guildford. Currently, it is the responsibility of the branch to authenticate CPD records prior to submission at HQ. This is a classic example of failing to embrace Internet technology. You can envisage a system whereby each member of the society had their own online account, which could track CPD, personal details, SIG subscription etc. If BCS HQ do no think that is worthwhile then you have to seriously consider the worth of CPD. Top
4.4 How big should a branch be?
We have had comments in Committee that meetings in other towns (Farnborough was quoted) drew in a completely different set of attendees. Maybe we should encourage this and go for many more small Branches (or sub branches) which are primarily social groups with less formal meetings; still with speakers perhaps, but not striving for prestige and big audiences as branches currently do. These groups would have no great function in the BCS structure but would meet the needs of those who like their technical discussion 'live'. They could also be born, flourish and possibly die off according to local needs but without causing major trauma to the BCS organisation. How can branches become more effective/efficient?
With e-mail and web sites, we might as well accept that communication between the membership and HQ will be much more effective if much of it is carried out directly, than if a branch organisation interposes itself. It is ludicrous that we have to stuff envelopes in this day and age! We must assume soon that the programme and chairman’s letter etc. can be delivered electronically by either a push or a pull mechanism.
Techniques we can use.
· The obvious one is the branches web site. This is covered in a later section.
· Look at alternative means of holding events such as telephone conference calls, newsgroups or bulletin boards. HQ should look at what help it can provide in setting up alternative meeting arrangements such as telephone conference calls, newsgroups or bulletin boards. They should look at the costing and logistics of setting those up and help with negotiating and perhaps setting up a countrywide facility. This might be a good way to run clinics. It might get over some of the geographic considerations. Publish the role of mentorship/career advice on the web site and get some volunteers for that from the set of fellows. Obviously you need to work the arithmetic of this. As Peter Sutherby comments this may be worth trying if, say, 10 Fellows agreed to give one evening a month, and see perhaps 2 graduates or members each evening, this resource could easily be swamped and lose credibility. Thus it has to be set up with some controls to avoid the free for all. Group mentoring sessions might be more appropriate.
· Hold a conference specifically for local industry to kick-start the interface with local industry .
· Organise clinics/roundtables before a branch meeting
· Introduce people at branch meetings.
· Organise workshops in addition to presentations.
· Running films at members meetings.
· Publish the success of members.
· Top
4.5 What can HQ do to make branch committees more efficient?
Act as a facilitator or enabler for certain activities. For example:
· Outings to places such as Bletchley Park and Swanick. As a branch we struggle to find other places to visit or obtain contacts. There are others, such as the BT museum at Faraday House. HQ should maintain a central register. They should review what visits are made by branches and get the information put on a central register. They should negotiate special rates for visits.
· Maintain a register of good speakers, their topics and how to contact them, and what fees they charge.
· Swap meetings with other countries Computing societies.
· Look at alternative means of holding events such as telephone conference calls. HQ should look at the costing and logistics of setting those up. They can help with negotiating and perhaps setting up a countrywide facility.
Giving a yearly prize to the most innovative branch and to the most innovative committee members to be given at the yearly BCS IT prize giving. The branches would nominate themselves and their most innovative committee member.
Ensuring a regular monthly dissemination of knowledge that can be either used by the chairman or personalised and then passed on by the branch. All past information should be on the branch web site (or at least a pointer to it on HQs Web Site). The relevant committees within BCS HQ should provide this information. This information should include things such as:
· Competitions upcoming and winners
· Elections to BCS or higher levels (This is where a branch might choose to tailor it).
· Key industry information. This is where the BCS HQ need to have tie ins with industry.
· Recent press comments. (This is where the BCS HQ needs to have tie ins with the press).
· Events relevant to IT, conferences etc….
· Who’s who in the industry and changes. Top
4.6 What services could HQ provide which a branch can’t or shouldn’t?
There are some services that a branch should not provide either because it doesn’t have the resources or the critical mass. The following is a list of those services. If any one is going to provide them then HQ should provide them. Whether they do or not is a separate debate. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list rather those that occur as a need throughout the rest of the document.
Virtual Networking
Help Desk (real people at the end of a phone or via Virtual networking)
Fellows Conferences and develop a quid quo pro. These are senior members of the organisation and should be getting more for their money and also giving it back. They should be invited to Fellows only events. Equally they should be asked to help run mentoring sessions, clinics and workshops for their local branches.
· Participation in branch work should be re-emphasised as one of the things that can contribute to a successful case for fellow.
Central Library and online catalogue.
Education in the form of online tutorials, course ware only available to members.
Online enrolment for students at no cost. Only communication with them will be electronically.
· Links with country wide Industry. This is forging links with significant country wide computing companies. This should be helping tie in Industry certification, viz. Java Certification with the BCS levels.
· HQ should look at what help it can provide in setting up alternative meeting arrangements such as telephone conference calls, newsgroups or bulletin boards. They should look at the costing and logistics of setting those up and help with negotiating and perhaps setting up a countrywide facility. This might be a good way to run clinics.
· HQ web pages should direct members to the various methods of achieving industry certification. It does currently have pointers to ISEB and the Computer Driving Licence, which are professional qualifications.
· Guidance to branches on the content of branch web sites, as long as local initiatives are encouraged. Top
4.7 Why should a member join a branch committee?
So why do people join a branch committee? In my opinion it is getting harder to encourage people on to the committee. This needs to be tied in with the human interface and networking.
We should also invite local industry to come along to meetings and present their propositions for involvement. This is obviously an area for debates further as there are opposing views to this involvement of industry. The contrary views are:
That we should be seen only as a professional institution and as such keep industry at arms length.
That we should acknowledge industry help if we are to expand the membership of the BCS and accept that that may dilute some of the professionalism.
How do you measure the success of a branch?
Each branch should be encouraged to establish a success criterion. It may be different from one branch to another. This should be listed on the branches web site. Top
4.8 A Branches Web Site
This is one of the key things that will characterise the branch in years to come. It is important that for each branch the following items should be on the web site.
List of Committee Members and how to contact them together with a brief CV.
List of committee meeting dates and locations. Contact information (a telephone number, not a meeting address) if you want to come along.
Edited highlights of committee meeting minutes
Accounts.
List of local members who are willing to give mentoring or career advice.
How the branch will measure its success for the year
List of branch meetings locations and dates.
Panel inviting comments.
Links to other local branches
Links to HQ web site.
Links to local industry (where they have helped out the branch)
Links to local academia (universities and colleges).
Bulletin board for local help requests (e.g. help with IT at a local school).
Current local job opportunities. (Once again see the earlier comment on the virtues and vices of more involvement with Industry).
Downloadable calendars of all events in CSV format.
Pointers to monthly dissemination of detail from HQ.
Copies of all the presentations.
Ways to encourage visitors to the web site to suggest or offer topics for monthly meetings. We need to ensure search engines will pick up the local site with appropriate keywords. In addition there should be pointers from Local councils sites and IT industry(!) sites.
………….what else needs to be on the list?
4.9 Contents of HQ Web site
List of Board Members and how to contact them
List of committee meeting dates and locations. Contact information if you want to come along.
Edited highlights of committee meeting minutes
Accounts.
List of local branches and contacts.
How the BCS will measure its success for the year
List of branch meetings locations and dates (imported from local web sites)
Panel inviting comments.
Links to sponsoring industry sites
Links to academia (universities and colleges).
Links to site where accreditation features
Link to computing magazine web site.
Bulletin board for help requests (Help desk and networking)
Online Library Catalogue
Job opportunities.
CVs of those members who wish to advertise themselves
Pointers to local branch information on mentoring and career advice.
Downloadable calendars of all events in CSV format.
The parallel structure to Branches is Specialist Groups; their problem was arranging contact between members scattered across the UK. I have had little contact with them recently but I would not have thought it beyond the abilities of a few Internet experts to arrange HQ services, which would enable discussion of technical knowledge and experience between members of similar technical interests. I believe many members would find this attractive; I have often felt aware that I can not go to my professional institution for professional (i.e. technical) information because there is none at HQ and no formal way through HQ of finding any. This is potentially much closer to the mentoring idea and probably also much more effective as CPD than a branch could supply. Maybe the initial Internet or web site service would not be perfect, but HQ could lead the development of improved versions. Overseas members could be serviced as well as UK members.
4.11 Specific Roles within a branch committee.
4.11.1 Branch Treasurer
Comment from Mike Stone.
I would be prepared to get involved in evolving views of what a treasurer would expect from HQ and vice versa. This would involve a lot of work so I think in the first instance it should only be necessary to let HQ know of a willingness to be involved.
4.12 What is the role of Regional Officers?
This section is deliberately left blank, as I am not aware of any thing they do and I would suggest we don’t need them. Can anybody add anything here? [Comment – From memory they were originally appointed to help branches in recruiting and similar tasks. (Peter Sutherby)
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