sist NEWSLETTER vol.1, no. 4

CHAI R PERSON' S REPORT

The European lASSIST Action Group Workshop was held at the Danish Data

Archive in Copenhagen, June 26-29, 1977, under the direction of lASSIST West

European Secretary, Per Nielsen. A major product from this meeting was a data

organization registration form (DORF) which is reproduced in this Newsletter .

Copies of the DORF can be obtained by writing to Elliott Avedon, Department
of Recreation, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. The completed form
should be returned to him. A study description questionnaire form developed
by the Zentralarchiv at Cologne was reviewed and discussed. Several archives

are now testing this instrument. Individuals interested in examining or test-

ing the instrument should contact Elliott Avedon for copies. The Workshop

also addressed levels of documentation for machine-readable files. The re-

sults of this discussion are reported in this Newsletter .

The program for the February 8-11, 1978, lASSIST Conference at Nordic Hills,
Itasca, Illinois has been revised on the basis of membership feedback. The fol-

lowing panels have been scheduled: Documentation, Alternative Structures for

Data Access, Problems and Potentials of Networking, Privacy versus Freedom of

Information, Acquisition and Preservation, and Software Analysis of Non-Rectan-
gular Files. In addition, workshops will be offered and action group meetings
will be held. Although panelists have been designated for each session, the

sessions have not been closed. Individuals interested in presenting a paper at

any of the sessions should send the proposed title with a 100 word abstract to

Carolyn Geda. Please note that individuals who were following the original pro-
gram theme and who anticipated doing a formal presentation within an Action
Group should submit their paper to the Chairperson. The schedule for the panels,
workshops and action group meetings will be sent to lASSIST members with confer-
ence registration forms during November. Please note that the conference will

terminate on Saturday, February 11, 1978. Additional information on the February
meetings is contained in the lASSIST Newsletter section on "Upcoming Meetings."

The panels for the lASSIST sessions at the International Sociological Associ-
ation World Congress are Privacy versus Freedom of Information (chairperson Guido
Martinotti), Issues in Comparative Data and Research (chairperson Elliott Avedon),
and Research Problems Associated with Complex Data Bases (chairperson John De

Vries). Individuals interested in presenting a paper should contact the chair-
person as soon as possible. Information on the availability of charter flights

will be sent to lASSIST members in the near future.

This issue of the Newsletter completes the first volume and also contains
an index for the four issues in this volume. The first volume has been edited

and produced by Alice Robbin, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The effort she

has devoted to the Newsletter has been widely recognized and appreciated. She
will remain affiliated with the Newsletter in an ex officio capacity. Articles
and notices to be included in the Newsletter should continue to be sent to her.

The lASSIST Newsletter will move to Western Kentucky University where Thomas

Madron, Academic Computing and Research Services, will assume the role of edi-
tor.

A nominating committee will be appointed shortly to prepare a slate for

the election of the Steering Committee members. If you are interested in serving

on this committee or on the Steering Committee or wish to recommend other indi-

viduals or nominations, please forward the names to Carolyn Geda.