Download as PDFThere are several scientific societies existing in the world. You can send application forms and pay membership fees if you wish to become a member. You can attend their conferences, submit papers to their journals, read their magazines, you know the story. But what if you could have your own society? A society that you govern, where you propose the ideas, define the directions and make the decisions? Well, we have got good news for you: you can have it, by joining ICST!
The Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering (ICST) has attracted over thirty-five thousand members since its founding in March 2003. The reason behind this growth is the society’s revolutionary approach that dares to change the old paradigms of classic societies — it lets you lead, lets you decide, lets you participate. This society is organised from the grassroots level, with a bottom-up system, so each member has the same right to contribute, propose ideas, access resources, and more. ICST embraces web technologies to promote democracy, transparency and quality in science and innovation. The society encourages activities that empower its members to succeed through direct participation and provide opportunities for objective recognition. You become a true member by participating in the professional social network, and not by submitting an application form and paying membership fees.
The power of this model lies in the novel Web 2.0 tools that ICST provides to its members. The leaders of the ICST organisation spent decades in the world of academia and understand your needs and concerns, so they can help you to focus on your career.
One of these leading services is AGORA, both a marketplace of ideas and an open forum that enables members to collectively shape the Society and its activities. The platform is unfiltered and non-mediated, so you can freely propose new conference and publication ideas, vote on suggested activities and volunteer for open positions. This system ensures that content and value are both co-created by the global membership in a bottom-up way.
Let’s assume that your proposal on a journal subject is accepted in AGORA — now you can immediately prepare your paper for submission via e-SCRIPTS. ICST’s revolutionary, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal publication system enables you not only to upload papers, but also to bid to review other submitted papers. Besides its democratic approach, the biggest appeal of e-SCRIPTS is its capacity to shorten the publication cycle through its Web 2.0 inspired mechanism.
If you choose to submit a paper to one of our conferences or workshops, ICST offers another sophisticated software application called the Article Submission System (ASSYST) that facilitates the paper submission and review processes. Throughout the organizational process of a technical conference, ASSYST is used by multiple members of the Organizing Committee and all the authors and reviewers.
Last, but not least, to help you manage all these new services, ICST provides you with MYBOARD, the gateway to all ICST services, activities, benefits, updates and current news, bringing you a personalized single-user page, set according to your individual needs, interests and preferences.
"This society is organised from the grassroots level, with a bottom-up system, so each member has the same right to contribute, propose ideas, access resources, and more"
Of course, by joining ICST you can also enjoy more standard membership benefits and services, such as member discounts on all ICST events, which is quite appealing considering that ICST sponsors over one hundred international annual scientific conferences, summits, workshops and symposia. The events cover a wide array of topics related to Information and Communication Technology and are held on all five continents.
As a member, you can also have free access to or significant discounts on the ICST publication portfolio consisting of a book series, over 30 journals, an online magazine and conference proceedings. One of the free member services is ICaST, the Society’s online magazine, where you can submit work-in-progress articles for peer review, exchange ideas through interactive forums, identify partners for research consortia, learn about upcoming Society events and activities, and acquire information on project and funding opportunities offered by the European Commission.
You can also access the European Union Digital Library for free, which is the central repository of all scientific content published under ICST copyright, including conference proceedings, journal papers, book chapters and magazine articles. You may review abstracts for free and only have to pay for the full articles that you wish to download.
Members’ contribution is measured objectively through the Science Rewards Program (SRP). SRP is ICST’s incentive program designed to inherently promote excellence, encourage participation, boost scientific information exchange and reward member contribution. The participation and royalty points earned are redeemable to ICST products and services. You can also earn awards through the Individual Membership Program (levels range from Subscribing Members to Distinguished Fellows), conference contribution (Conference Awards: Best Paper, Best Student Paper, etc.), or by being nominated for the ICST European Excellence in Research and Innovation Award.
Joining ICST also provides you with the benefits of being a de facto member of the European Alliance for Innovation, which offers participation options in this unique pan-European umbrella organization that gathers numerous players (research, education, government, venture capital, standardization) in the field of Innovation. Members will also have access to PEER-NET, the Alliance’s online community portal, which is an interactive and dynamic social network of scientists and ICT professionals. There will also be opportunities for Members to get involved in the Science for Innovation, Business and Technology Councils (SIBs) that cover twelve ICT-related areas. PEER-NET and SIBs are both great platforms to discover new research areas; identify potential partners for projects, consortiums and research assignments; post vacant positions; create powerful scientific synergies and interest groups and disseminate information to a carefully targeted audience. Using these services you become involved in a society that brings together all participants of the knowledge triangle: academia/science + regulation/government + business/industry.
So that’s it. This is your society. We hope you like it. For more detailed information about services and member benefits, please visit ICST’s new website and stay tuned for ICaST’s future feature articles!
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