IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July/August 2022 - 5

to remove duplicates and limit overlaps. As a result,
14 broad titles were identified, which were used as
names for the TSs being created.
A database was then produced, hosting information
about 14,291 individuals who had been involved
in these conferences as general chairs, program
chairs, track chairs, authors, or reviewers. In total,
791 chairing services, 22,351 authorships, 7211
papers, 4149 reviewers, and 16,353 reviews were
recorded. The number of each individual's contributions
was calculated in terms of number of chaired
conferences and tracks, number of submitted
papers, andnumber of performed reviews. Anoverall
indicator was thus obtained, used to obtain a list of
individuals ranked based on their level of contribution
to CTSoc's conference activities over the considered
timeperiod.
At the same time, a natural language processing
approach was used to automatically assign a certain
number of predefined labels (tags) to the above individuals
based on the titles of chairing services, contributed
papers, and/or reviewed papers. Each TS was assigned
a certain numberof labels, whichwere thenused for the
initial allocation. A round-robin approach was adopted
to allocate approximately the same number of individuals
to eachTS, thus guaranteeing, inprinciple, a balancing
of TSs' sizes. A balance between experienced
contributors and newcomers, geographic distribution,
gender diversity, etc., was pursued as well. The above
methodology and the obtained results were presented
to theBoG in itsMay 7, 2020, and July 9, 2020, meetings.
By leveraging the achieved results, the process of
inviting individuals to join the assigned TSs was
started. First, dedicated invitations were sent by
emails to the highest ranked contributors. In this
way, each TS was assigned three co-chairs. Then,
between July and August 2020, approximately 2900
emails were sent to highly ranked individuals, inviting
them to join the TSs as members. The process was
managed through an online application created ad
hoc. Approximately, 600 individuals accepted to join
the assigned TS. The newly established TCs featured
an initial set of approximately 30-50 members. A kickoff
meeting of the SCTC was organized on October 19,
2020, participated by the co-chairs of the 14 TSs.
FROM STREAMS TO COMMITTEES
In its November 6, 2020, meeting, the BoG decided
to initiate a process to transform the TSs into the
Society's Technical Committees (TCs). The process
outcome is illustrated in Figure 1.
As can be seen, the TechnicalActivities (TAs) area
was separated from the Education Activities area, and
a VP of TAs role was created. The TCs report to the TC
July/August 2022
Figure 1. Organization of the TAs area.
Board. Under the TA, the Future Directions Committee
(FDC) was also established. The responsibilities of
the TCs, TC Board, FDC, and VP of TAs were included
in the new version of the CTSoc's Bylaws and
Constitution.
The TC Board has a supervisory role for the TCs,
supporting organization, quality control, and management
of TAs. It is Chaired by the VP of TAs, and consists
of the chairs of all the TCs, the VP of Conferences,
the VP of Publications, the VP of Industry and Standards
Activities, and the President as Ex-officiomember.
Detailed Policies and Procedures (P&Ps) for the TAs
were also drafted and approved by the TC Board, and
are expected to be brought to the attention of the BoG
in the comingmonths.
Three separate officer roles were defined for
each TC, namely chair, vice-chair and secretary, and
founding co-chairs were invited to discuss and agree
on the role to cover for the first two-year term. After
the first term, officers will be elected. According to
the P&Ps, IEEE and CTSoc membership is required to
have voting rights, but not for being a member of
a TC (at least for 2022). After roughly one year, the
process of TCs creationwas finally completed.
TCS' RAMP-UP
The TC Board started to meet every two months
to discuss the status of activities, approve TC's
P&Ps, evaluate proposals for new TCs, etc. The first
meeting was held on March 19, 2021.
Between November 2020 and January 2021, the
officers of each TC were invited to organize the first
meeting with their members. As per the TA's P&Ps,
the TCs shall meet at least every six months to support
the management of their business.
TCs may form subcommittees and special interest
groups (SIGs), and appoint liaison positions.
Existing TCs may be merged, modified, or dissolved
as necessary to ensure continued relevance and
effectiveness.
New TCs can also be created (e.g., on proposal by
the BoG or by CTSoc members). For instance, after the
establishment of the initial 14TCs, a newTC focusing on
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