World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC)

Citation

(2006), "World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC)", Kybernetes, Vol. 35 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2006.06735fab.003

World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC)

World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC)

Triennial congress

Arrangements to hold the triennial Congress of WOSC are currently being made by the President and the Director-General in full consultation with the Directorate. Invitations to host the event have been received from all parts of the world; Details of the arrangements will be published on the WOSC website and in this, the official journal of the organisation, as soon as they are released.

Norbert Wiener Institute of WOSC

At recent meetings held in London, Manchester and Aberystwyth UK a number of important issues were discussed. They included:

A transparent structure of the institute. It was considered that a new structure should be formulated that defines and explains the way in which the institute functions. Proposals to this end are being formulated for consultation with the WOSC Directorate.

Links with Kybernetes and its publishers. Based on the experience of close cooperation between the institute and the official journal, it was considered that the links should be both strengthened and extended. It was made evident that publishing a full refereed contribution in the journal not only entitled authors to membership of the publishers’ Literati Club with all its advantages, but also to membership of the Norbert Wiener Institute.

Membership of the institute. Currently all the federated organisations and institutions that form WOSC are also “corporate” members of the N.W. Institute. Researchers and others who contribute to its activities do so either as members of these federated bodies or as contributors who meet the criterion of contributing to the official journal. It has been suggested that some other form of membership could be introduced to enable others to participate in its activities and benefit from its research and development connections.

Some form of designation of membership was also put forward; and grades of membership discussed. It was decided that any programme that involved a membership with appropriate designations, should be the subject of a more detailed study and consultation.

Funding of the institute. The institute, currently, is not funded by WOSC and needs, like most similar bodies, to increase its financial support. The means of increasing funding has been discussed on many previous occasions and a number of strategies have been formulated. Any suggestions for improving the financial backing of the institute will be carefully considered.

Further discussions. Further discussions on these points will continue. Many valuable, contacts were made at the WOSC events of 2005 and these are being pursued.