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The article reports that at the invitation of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Association for Computing Machinery has recently cosponsored a three-and-one-half day technical conference in Tokyo, in conjunction with Commerce's six-day exhibition of U.S. computer equipment. Computer '70 and the Computer '70 Colloquium, as the show and conference were called, were held at Tokyo's Harumi Pier, from October 12-14, 1970. Over 19,000 members of Japan's data processing community queued up to view at the open admission exhibition the products of 65 U.S. manufacturers. In addition, over 350 persons, most in key managerial and research positions, attended the Colloquium where, to defray expenses, attendance was on a fee basis--about $100 for the full conference and $25 for one day. Also participating in the seven half-day sessions were 27 U.S. computing experts and 10 leading Japanese professionals, whose papers were presented simultaneously in English and Japanese. The timeliness of the topics and the caliber of the participants can be recognized from the program.

The article focuses on the objectives of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for 1970. The ACM's literature is its most basic service to its members. Not every ACM member attends chapter meetings regularly; only a fraction of the members attend national conferences. But every member regularly receives the ACM publications. It is suggested that a fair fraction of the issues for the next two years be assigned to the largest and most active Special Interest Groups (SIG). Each designated SIG would be responsible for selecting and obtaining subject matter for one such special issue. The process of organizing the technical program for national conferences needs overhauling. The "call for papers" philosophy too often results in mish-mash sessions. Panel sessions can be simply excuses for delivering full papers--which escape refereeing and do not appear in the proceedings. The Professional Development program has had a very successful first year. It has brought high quality technical seminars to many cities throughout the country. It needs continued support, so as to offer more subjects in more cities. How can the ACM better serve the business data processing community, which represents over one-half of the computer field, for this the ACM needs a much more vigorous program addressed to supporting the technical competence of these people.

The article offers news briefs on issues regarding the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The ACM Communications Student Editorial Committee received more than 50 intentions to submit papers. The report "Computers and Crisis," edited by R. W. Bemer, a volume representing the edited sessions of ACM 70 has been released. The 1970 annual issue of "Bibliography and Subject Index of Computing Literature" of the ACM is available to subscribers.