Association for Computing Machinery facts for kids

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Association for Computing Machinery

Formation	1947; 78 years ago (1947)
Type	501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership corporation
Headquarters	1601 Broadway, Times Square, New York City
Membership	110,000
President	Yannis Ioannidis

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a big international group for people interested in computing. It's based in the United States. Founded in 1947, it's the largest group of its kind for computer science and education in the world.

ACM is a non-profit group. It has almost 110,000 members, including students and professionals. Its main office is in New York City. ACM helps bring together people who study and work with computer science (also called informatics). Its main goal is "Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession."

History of ACM
What ACM Does
ACM Services
- Publications
- Digital Library
Membership Levels
Chapters
- Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Conferences
Awards
Leadership
ACM Council on Women in Computing
Partner Organizations
See Also

History of ACM

ACM started in 1947. Some people who worked with early computers felt there was a need for a group where they could share ideas. They wanted to talk about the new "computing machinery."

Many of these early members had worked with computers during World War II. They helped build some of the first big computers, like the Harvard Mark I and ENIAC. Others worked on secret code-breaking machines.

The group was first called the Eastern Association for Computing Machinery. The next year, they changed the name to the Association for Computing Machinery. Since 2016, the ACM has also been recording the stories of important people in computing history.

What ACM Does

ACM headquarters are located at 1601 Broadway, Times Square, New York City.

ACM has over 180 local groups for professionals. It also has 38 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These SIGs are where most of ACM's activities happen. There are also more than 680 student groups. The first student group started in 1961 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Many SIGs, like SIGGRAPH (for computer graphics) and SIGPLAN (for programming languages), hold regular conferences. These conferences are important places to share new ideas in different computer fields. The groups also publish many special journals and magazines.

ACM also supports other computer science events. One big event is the worldwide ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC). They even sponsored a famous chess match between Garry Kasparov and the IBM Deep Blue computer.

ACM Services

ACM offers many services to its members and the public. These include publications and a huge online library.

Publications

Proceedings for the 1970 ACM National Conference

ACM publishes over 50 journals. These include the well-known Journal of the ACM. They also have two general magazines for computer professionals: Communications of the ACM and Queue.

Other ACM publications include:

ACM XRDS: This is a popular student computing magazine in the US.
ACM Interactions: This magazine looks at how people, technology, and experiences connect.
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Computers in Entertainment (CIE)
Many journals called ACM Transactions. These focus on specific areas of computer science. Some examples are:
- ACM Transactions on Algorithms (TALG)
- ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS)
- ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG)
- ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS)

Communications of the ACM used to publish new research. Now, it's more for discussions and important ideas in computing history.

Digital Library

The ACM Digital Library is a huge online collection. It has almost all articles published by ACM. This includes articles from their journals, magazines, and conference papers. The library also has a "Guide to Computing Literature." This guide lists over a million entries about computing.

The Digital Library has an archive going back to the 1950s. It also offers online forums and tech news. It's a great place to find information about computer science.

ACM started a new way of publishing in 2013. Authors can choose to make their articles "Open Access" (free to read). ACM also lets authors put their papers on their own websites. This helps share knowledge widely.

In 2022, ACM made all its publications from 1951 to 2000 free to access online. This was part of its 75th anniversary celebration.

Membership Levels

ACM has different levels of membership. These levels recognize members who have been part of the group for many years. They also honor those who have made important contributions to computing.

The highest levels of membership are limited. For example, only a small percentage of members can be Fellows.

Fellows

The ACM Fellows Program started in 1993. It honors ACM members who have done amazing things in computer science and information technology. They must have made big contributions to ACM's goals. As of 2020, there are 1,310 Fellows out of about 100,000 members.

Distinguished Members

In 2006, ACM started recognizing "Distinguished Members." These members have at least 15 years of experience. They also need 5 years of continuous ACM membership. They must have made a big impact on the computing field. This group includes Distinguished Engineers, Scientists, and Educators.

Senior Members

Also in 2006, ACM started recognizing "Senior Members." These members have at least 10 years of professional experience. They also need 5 years of continuous membership. They must show leadership and make technical or professional contributions.

Chapters

ACM has three types of chapters:

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Professional Chapters (for adults working in the field)
Student Chapters (for students)

As of 2022, ACM has professional and SIG Chapters in 56 countries. There are also ACM student chapters in 41 countries.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

These groups focus on specific areas of computing. Here are some examples:

SIGACCESS: For accessible computing (making tech easy for everyone to use).
SIGACT: For algorithms and computation theory.
SIGAI: For Artificial Intelligence.
SIGARCH: For computer architecture (how computers are built).
SIGCAS: For computers and society.
SIGCHI: For computer–human interaction (how people use computers).
SIGCOMM: For data communication.
SIGCSE: For computer science education.
SIGGRAPH: For computer graphics and interactive techniques.
SIGHPC: For high-performance computing (supercomputers).
SIGIR: For finding information online.
SIGKDD: For knowledge discovery and data mining.
SIGMOD: For managing data.
SIGOPS: For operating systems (like Windows or macOS).
SIGPLAN: For programming languages.
SIGSOFT: For software engineering (how to build software).
SIGWEB: For hypertext and the web.

Conferences

ACM and its Special Interest Groups (SIGs) hold many conferences around the world. These events are very popular places to share new research. They can also be very competitive, meaning only the best papers are accepted.

Some well-known ACM conferences include:

AIES: Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
CHI: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
CIKM: Conference on Information and Knowledge Management
SIGCOMM: ACM SIGCOMM Conference
SIGCSE: SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
SIGGRAPH: International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques
RecSys: ACM Conference on Recommender Systems

ACM also helps organize the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC). This event celebrates women in the computing field.

Awards

ACM gives out many awards. These awards recognize people for their amazing technical and professional achievements in computer science.

Some of the most important awards include:

ACM A. M. Turing Award: This is often called the "Nobel Prize of Computing."
ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award: For young computer professionals.
ACM Prize in Computing: For important contributions to computing.
ACM Software System Award: For developing influential software systems.
ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award: For outstanding PhD research.
ACM Student Research Competition: For student research projects.

Many of ACM's Special Interest Groups also give out their own awards.

Leadership

The ACM is led by a President. The current President for 2022–2024 is Yannis Ioannidis. He is a professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

ACM is guided by a council. This council includes the president, vice-president, treasurer, and chairs of various boards.

ACM Council on Women in Computing

ACM-W is the ACM council for women in computing. It works to support and celebrate women in the field all over the world. ACM-W's main programs include:

Regional celebrations for women in computing.
ACM-W chapters.
Scholarships for women computer science students to attend conferences.

ACM-W also gives an annual Athena Lecturer Award. This award honors amazing women researchers who have made big contributions to computer science.

Partner Organizations

ACM often works with other groups. Its main partner is the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS). IEEE-CS focuses more on computer hardware and standards. But ACM and IEEE-CS often work together on conferences, publications, and awards.

They also work with other professional groups, like the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).