Communications of the ACM
Our ACM Community
As we celebrate ACM's 75th Anniversary this year, it seems a fitting time to consider the community that ACM has fostered. ACM was founded to support the science of computing and over the years has continued to do this in many ways. We began as a national organization of 52 members called the Eastern Association for Computing, reflecting the initial local scope of its founding members. "Eastern" was dropped a few months later, with the recognition that the organization could eventually reach far beyond what was initially envisioned. In the early years, ACM was comprised entirely of members and volunteer leaders, with paid staff only being hired later as the organization grew beyond what could be supported solely by the members' efforts.
It is a strength of ACM that it has continued to grow and develop new programs. In the 1960s, Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were started, recognizing that professionals would want to connect not only with the computing profession in general, but also with others interested in their areas of specialization. Today, there are 38 SIGs, giving many a sense of professional community in their areas of greatest focus. In the past two decades, ACM also has grown to include Regional Councils that provide recognition and support for initiatives within their region of the world. ACM's programs have grown to provide services to a large global community: as a publisher and archivist of computing's literature, as a developer of curricular guidelines used worldwide, as a source of impartial technical information for policymakers, and as a channel for multiple programs supporting lifelong professional development.
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