On September 4, the detractors sent a petition to the E-mail message boards of the United States' largest university computer science departments. The message brands the NRC report as "misleading and even harmful as an agenda for future research." It asks those with similar feelings to "join in requesting the report's withdrawal."
However, NRC chairman Frank Press refuses to consider any major changes in the report, entitled Computing the Future: A Broader Agenda for Computer Science and Engineering. The document, released July 13, was produced by NRC's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) to define the priorities and policies the field needs in order to successfully enter the 21st century.
The conflict began as sharp disagreements were voiced concerning the report's three focal points.
Computing the Future asserts that sustaining the field's core research agenda over the long term depends upon strengthening the theoretical and experimental science base--generally rooted in ...
