Dear BMVA member,
As one of the BMVA representatives to the governing board of IAPR, I was
asked to circulate
to all BMVA members the following message from the Executive Committee
of IAPR.
Please send your replies to me by July 31, marked
VOTE
at the address
[log in to unmask]
Thank you very much,
Maria Petrou



Dear IAPR members,

The IAPR Newsletter is the official publication of the International
Association for Pattern Recognition, published 4 times per year to keep
IAPR members updated on IAPR activities.  Each individual member of the
IAPR is entitled to receive his/her own copy of the Newsletter, either
directly mailed from the printer, for Member Societies that opted for
individual mailing, or redistributed within the Member Society, for Member
Societies that opted for bulk mailing from the printer.  In the former
case, Member Societies have to pay the difference between the individual
and bulk mailing to IAPR, when paying IAPR dues. In the latter case, Member
Societies will have to cover the expenses for distribution of all copies
received in bulk to individual members. In both cases, distribution of the
Newsletter to individual members has a cost for Member Societies.

To give you an idea of what an electronic version of the newsletter could
be, we have set up a web site open to all IAPR individual members (a simple
registration is necessary), where the two last issues of the newsletter can
currently be found. The web site, kindly hosted by the CEDAR, can be found
at the following address: http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/IAPR/
In the future, this members-only web site may also provide other useful
information to all the association's members.

There are motivations to support both paper and electronic version:

Advantages of paper version

- The Newsletter in paper version reaches our individuals ready to read and
  does not require extra effort to print it from our computer; it is
  portable and hence readable in any place; it is a tangible sign of IAPR
  membership.

- Newsletter in electronic form risks to be classified by receivers as junk
  mail and, as such, directly sent to trash (or, more optimistically,
  classified as non-urgent mail and its reading indefinitely postponed).

Advantages of electronic version

- Notification done by email is timely: the members would be informed
  through email whenever a new newsletter issue becomes available in
  electronic form. This is a very quick and efficient process, whereas the
  print version often takes several weeks, or longer, to reach individuals,
  not only due to mail delays, but also to the time taken by individual
  societies to distribute it.

- Electronic version is a bit cheaper for Member Societies, as they would
  save the postal expenses for internal distribution to individuals; colour
  pictures can be always included

- Newsletter in paper form is quite expensive for IAPR (IAPR covers the
  expenses for printing, as well as the for bulk distribution). The money
  saved in this way could be used for other aspects of IAPR policy: support
  to technical committees, more travel stipends to the ICPR, enhanced
  digital library services, etc.

To help the IAPR Governing Board come up with the best solution at its next
meeting, we would like you to fill out the included voting form and send it
back to the representative named by your society. Each member society of
the IAPR will report back to the executive committee with a summary of the
votes received.

Best regards,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Voting Form

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please fill in and send back to [log in to unmask] by July 31, 2003

 __
/_/ I prefer the IAPR Newsletter in paper form/postal distribution

 __
/_/ I prefer the IAPR Newsletter in electronic form/email notification


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