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SIF: a short presentation

1http://www.societe-informatique-de-france.fr/

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A bit of history In 1985, creation of SPECIF

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 Main achievement: Informatics well organized at the

university level (only) In 2012, SPECIF becomes SIF, the learned

society in Informatics Goal: to do as well with a broader

perspective, from building a larger community to promoting Informatics in primary and secondary education

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Scope

SiF is about Informatics, encompassing computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive studies (but not only)

SiF welcomes members of Academia, Industry, and general public who agree with (at least some of) its objectives

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SIF Objectives

1. Promoting Informatics as a science without frontiers

2. Teaching Informatics from an early age

3. Organising Informatics Curricula4. Lifelong training in Informatics5. Informatics and Social Issues

SIF Overview

25 elected Board Members Budget:

Around 45K€ a year Members

+/- 400 « physical members » and 50 « corporate and institutional

members » Companies, Research labs and Teaching

departments

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Scientific Council, as in 2015

From Academia Serge Abiteboul Gérard Berry Gilles Dowek (chair) Anne-Marie Kermarrec Claire Mathieu Laurence Nigay Maurice Nivat Monique Teillaud

From industry François Bourdoncle Philippe Montarges Françoise Soulié-Fogelman Pascale Vicat-Blanc

From the SIF board Christine Froidevaux Colin de la Higuera Jean-Marc Petit Michel Raynal

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Main Achievements (1/3)

Each year, SIF organizes: An annual congress

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 » Sep 2014, Paris, « Teaching and Innovation in

Inoformatics » April 2014, Paris, « MOOCs »

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Main Achievements (2/3)

« 1024 »: the SIF journal 4 issues per year

Binaire SIF’s blog Hosted by « Le Monde » newspaper

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Main Achievements (3/3)

Active Website

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How?

By promoting informatics, its teachers, researchers, outstanding innovations SiF supports the “Gilles Kahn prize”, the

most prestigious PhD prize for informatics in France

SiF supports the “Boost your Code” prize SiF supports “Interstice”, the best

informatics for the general public website in French

SIF and other learned societies

International ACM, BCS, Informatics Europe

National SEE, SMF, SFP, SMAI

National (technical societies) 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 (INS2I)

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Appendix

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1 Informatics as a science

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

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Informatics as a science with no frontiers

Many sciences define themselves through borders: what is inside and what is outside

The SiF defends the position that in the case of Informatics, this is the wrong model

Informatics has many themes which are shared with other sciences

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2 Teaching informatics early 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) http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/06/22/l-

informatique-est-une-science-bien-trop-serieuse-pour-etre-laissee-aux-informaticiens_1722939_3232.html

http://www.rue89.com/2012/06/28/linformatique-lecole-il-ne-suffit-pas-de-savoir-cliquer-sur-une-souris-233389

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3 Promoting interlinked curricula

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 Enabling the students to have the right to mobility Allowing the field to mature through the sharing of

pedagogical experiences and material

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4 Informatics and social issues

Due to not understanding the very nature of information, all types of excessive behaviours can be observed: 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

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5 Lifelong informatics

There is the need to better study what happens to the IT professionals during their career Is there a specific middle age problem in

IT? Lifelong training is a priority

Universities should participate in a stronger way to the re-training of IT professionals

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How? (1) Involving collectively all the actors

Researchers Teachers Members of industry

Reaching common positions about important topics and making these known Newsletters (internal) Website (internal/external) Medias (external)

Cooperating with fellow societies and organisations Inside informatics In other sciences

Learning from other countries Relations in international societies

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How? (2)

By promoting informatics, its teachers, researchers, outstanding innovations SiF supports the Gilles Kahn prize, the

most prestigious PhD prize for informatics in France

SiF supports the Boost your Code prize SiF supports Interstice, the best

informatics for the general public website in French