Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) was chartered in the postwar United States, which was just beginning to realize the vast potential for data storage and retrieval and for information processing represented. Most of the first generation of so-called computing machinery had been created in highly secret military research facilities as part of the Allied war effort. The ACM offered an international forum where professionals in a wide range of computer related fields could network, sharing both information and ideas. Few fields in the last century have evolved as rapidly as the computer sciences. Devices and software quickly become obsolete as more efficient technology emerges. To keep pace with that kind of rapid development, the ACM provides the opportunity for professionals and students, researchers and educators, information technology specialists, and computer programmers to exchange valuable information in the often frenetic and volatile environment of the digital age.

Background

It is a measure of the tectonic impact of computers in the later half of the twentieth century that the membership roster of an organization dedicated to the field would grow from just over 150 charter members at its inception in 1947, and those working solely in the East Coast technology corridor from Boston to Washington, to more than 110,000 members internationally within just fifty years. Although the theoretical models of data compilation and storage through complex machinery had been advanced at the turn of the twentieth century, the campaign to thwart Nazi Germany had put the tremendous resources of Allied governments at the disposal of some of the best mathematical and engineering minds of the era. By the end of the war, both government and businesses were drawn to the potential peacetime uses of computing technology.

Communication—specifically how to link the considerable international interest in computer development with the technicians, engineers, mathematicians, and logicians who would be needed to actually create the field of computer science—was itself a technological as well as logistical challenge. That mission centered the agenda of the founding members of the ACM, and since its beginnings in New York City, ACM has dedicated itself to communication efforts, compiling a massive digital library of years-worth of cutting-edge computer research and resources. Rather than foster the often guarded and proprietary approach to scientific and technological research, the ACM stressed the exchange of information, developing a wide range of conference-styled seminars and (eventually) webinars dedicated to the open and free exchange of information. The ACM dedicated itself to furthering the field by investing its considerable resources in developing new generations of computer scientists. The organization sponsors a range of university programs on hundreds of college campuses worldwide, and it maintains a career center website that tracks career opportunities around the world.

ACM Today

But the ACM is dedicated to more than information archiving, career development, and networking. It has sought to be at the forefront of issues generated by computer use. The ACM developed what it calls Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that investigate different (and often controversial) areas of real-world computer science application across the ever-increasing, wide reach of computer technology. The topics have included data communication, that is how to advance software speaking to and with other software; security in the era of corporate hacking and targeted "hacktivism"; knowledge discovery and data mining; the ethical and societal impacts of computers; management information systems; software engineering; operating systems; and artificial intelligence, the latter of which had proliferated in the digital world by the 2020s.

The principal network of communication within the ACM is the broad reach of digital newsletters and journals. The organization sponsors several publications, most notably its bellwether publication, the refereed journal Communications of the ACM, started in the 1950s. But perhaps the ACM’s most notable contribution to raise awareness of the major achievements of a field where the best minds seldom achieve celebrity is to establish a series of prestigious (and lucrative) awards to recognize outstanding work in the field, including outstanding young researchers; outstanding educators in both secondary and college levels; and businesses that support state-of-the-art computer science development. The association’s Turing Award has been dubbed the Nobel Prize in computer science. Named for the mathematician and computing pioneer Alan Turing, whose encryption machine is widely considered the first modern computer, the award and its one million dollar prize is awarded annually to recognize lifetime achievement in the field.

Bibliography

"About the ACM Organization." Association for Computing Machinery, www.acm.org/about-acm/about-the-acm-organization. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.

Campbell-Kelly, Martin. Computer: A History of the Information Machine. Westview, 2013.

Ceruzzi, Paul E. Computing: A Concise History. MIT P, 2012.

Frauenfelder, Mark. The Computer: An Illustrated History from its Origins to the Present Day. Carlton, 2013.

Gleick, James. The Information Age: A History, A Theory, A Flood. Vintage, 2012.

Isaacson, Walter. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. Simon, 2015.

John R. White Interview. Interview by Arthur L. Norberg. Association for Computing Machinery, 2009, dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1141880.1854012. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.

Kruzi, Paul. A History of Modern Computing. MIT P, 2003.