SIF a short presentation http www societeinformatiquedefrance fr

SIF: a short presentation http: //www. societe-informatique-de-france. fr/ 1

A bit of history l In 1985, creation of SPECIF l l stands for the “Society of the academic employees in Informatics of France” During 25 years, SPECIF has acted as a learned Society in Computer Science l l Main achievement: Informatics well organized at the university level (only) In 2012, SPECIF becomes SIF, the learned society in Informatics l Goal: to do as well with a broader perspective, from building a larger community to promoting Informatics in primary and secondary education 2

Scope l l Si. F is about Informatics, encompassing computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive studies (but not only) Si. F welcomes members of Academia, Industry, and general public who agree with (at least some of) its objectives 3

SIF Objectives 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Promoting Informatics as a science without frontiers Teaching Informatics from an early age Organising Informatics Curricula Lifelong training in Informatics and Social Issues 4

SIF Overview l l 25 elected Board Members Budget: l l Around 45 K€ a year Members l l +/- 400 « physical members » and 50 « corporate and institutional members » l Companies, Research labs and Teaching departments 5

Scientific Council, as in 2015 l From Academia l l l l Serge Abiteboul Gérard Berry Gilles Dowek (chair) Anne-Marie Kermarrec Claire Mathieu Laurence Nigay Maurice Nivat Monique Teillaud l From industry l l l François Bourdoncle Philippe Montarges Françoise Soulié-Fogelman Pascale Vicat-Blanc From the SIF board l l Christine Froidevaux Colin de la Higuera Jean-Marc Petit Michel Raynal 6

Main Achievements (1/3) l Each year, SIF organizes: l An annual congress l l Feb 2013, Nice, « Lifelong Computer Science education » Feb 2014, Poitiers, « Scientific mediation Research days » Feb 2015, Orléans, « Women and Informatics » Workshops on « Innovation and Research » or « Teaching » l l Sep 2014, Paris, « Teaching and Innovation in Inoformatics » April 2014, Paris, « MOOCs » 7

Main Achievements (2/3) l « 1024 » : the SIF journal l l 4 issues per year Binaire l l SIF’s blog Hosted by « Le Monde » newspaper 8

Main Achievements (3/3) l Active Website 9

How? l By promoting informatics, its teachers, researchers, outstanding innovations l l l Si. F supports the “Gilles Kahn prize”, the most prestigious Ph. D prize for informatics in France Si. F supports the “Boost your Code” prize Si. F supports “Interstice”, the best informatics for the general public website in French 10

SIF and other learned societies l International l l National l l ACM, BCS, Informatics Europe SEE, SMF, SFP, SMAI National (technical societies) l Many special interest groups exist in France and are now joining the « council of associations » created in June 2015 Strong relationship with both INRIA and CNRS (INS 2 I) 11

Appendix 12

1 Informatics as a science l l There are still people who believe that Informatics is not science but only a technology Informatics is nevertheless based on a number of deep concepts that have emerged over the past 100 years: the notions of machine, language, algorithm, model are critical 13

Informatics as a science with no frontiers l l l Many sciences define themselves through borders: what is inside and what is outside The Si. F defends the position that in the case of Informatics, this is the wrong model Informatics has many themes which are shared with other sciences 14

2 Teaching informatics early l l l In France, today, most young people finish their baccalauréat without ever having been taught any informatics. In most cases, they will have been taught how to use an editor and a navigator. We believe that everyone should be entitled to learn Informatics and not to be left ignorant Here are two position papers (in French) l l http: //www. lemonde. fr/idees/article/2012/06/22/linformatique-est-une-science-bien-trop-serieusepour-etre-laissee-auxinformaticiens_1722939_3232. html http: //www. rue 89. com/2012/06/28/linformatiquelecole-il-ne-suffit-pas-de-savoir-cliquer-sur-une- 15 souris-233389

3 Promoting interlinked curricula l l l At university model, a lot has still to be done to avoid a number of difficulties The intrinsic nature of informatics means that everyone wants to teach it, feels he can teach it, and is sure that he can teach it better than trained specialists in Informatics Even if new questions arise all the time and it is tempting to readapt informatics curricula to suit the latest buzz words, it is essential to work on long term shared curricula l l Enabling the students to have the right to mobility Allowing the field to mature through the sharing of pedagogical experiences and material 16

4 Informatics and social issues l Due to not understanding the very nature of information, all types of excessive behaviours can be observed: l l l Youngsters renouncing to privacy Laws being voted with very high penalties for attitudes that are at the same time very banal Older generations being adverse to any use of social networks because they do not understand these Informatics specialists should be fully part of the social debates Furthermore, research associating Informatics specialists and social science specialists should be encouraged 17

5 Lifelong informatics l There is the need to better study what happens to the IT professionals during their career l l Is there a specific middle age problem in IT? Lifelong training is a priority l Universities should participate in a stronger way to the re-training of IT professionals 18

How? (1) l l Involving collectively all the actors l Researchers l Teachers l Members of industry Reaching common positions about important topics and making these known l Newsletters (internal) l Website (internal/external) l Medias (external) Cooperating with fellow societies and organisations l Inside informatics l In other sciences Learning from other countries l Relations in international societies 19

How? (2) l By promoting informatics, its teachers, researchers, outstanding innovations l l l Si. F supports the Gilles Kahn prize, the most prestigious Ph. D prize for informatics in France Si. F supports the Boost your Code prize Si. F supports Interstice, the best informatics for the general public website in French 20