International Federation for Systems Research

IFSR Newsletter 2006 Vol. 24 No. 1 November
This year we celebrate the 25th Year of the IFSR Newsletter. It has accompanied the IFSR over all those years. It has reported about the ups and downs of the IFSR and of the systems sciences.
The Newsletter has sustained a remarkable stability of editors.
Editors of the IFSR Newsletter

1981 – 1984	Francis de Paula HANIKA
1985 – 1986	Robert TRAPPL
1986 – 1993	Stephen SOKOLOFF
1886 – 1995	Stephen SOKOLOFF and Gerhard CHROUST
1995 –	Gerhard CHROUST

A short history of the IFSR Newsletter

Number	Date
1	Autumn 1981	The first Newsletter is published. Editor-in-Chief is Francis de Paula Hanika. 4000 copies are printed and distributed to the member societies of the IFSR
11	Summer 1985	With the passing away of Francis Hanika, Robert Trappl becomes Editor-in-Chief
13	Summer 1986	Stephen Sokoloff becomes new Editor-in-Chief, a new layout is chosen
28	Autumn 1991	A new layout for the Newsletter is chosen, A yellow header band and a new font on the title page is chosen
	1992	Due to adverse circumstances no Newsletter appeared in this year
29	July 1993	The newly appointed secretary/treasurer of the IFSR, Gerhard Chroust joins Stephen Sokoloff as Co-editor. The newsletter is not type-set any more but produced
33	July 1994	The newsletter is also published via the newly established Web-site of the IFSR via desk-top publishing and only printed at the printers.
36	March 1995	Gerhard Chroust becomes the sole Editor in Chief. Part of the Newsletter edition is printed in the united States, and shipped from there to North and South America. Thanks to Gordon Rowland from Ithaca University
vol. 15 No. 1 (no. 40)	March 1996	The numbering scheme of the Newsletter is changed to a volume/issued system. At the same time the Newsletter is no longer type-set but produced via desk top publishing by Gerhard Chroust
vol. 18 no 3/4	Dec. 1999	The Newsletters for American distribution are printed at Ithaca College with the help of Gordon Rowland.
vol. 19, no 1	July 2000	A new layout is created, having considerable similarity with the layout of the Journal for System Research and Behavioral Science.
vol. 20, no 1	Sept 2001	A minor change in layout is done in order to bring the Newsletter to look like the publications of the IFSR (light brown cover)
vol. 21, no 1	Nov. 2003	Mass printing of the Newsletter is abolished, only a small quantity is printed for documentary purposes. Only 2 copies are sent to the member organisations, due to the availability of the Newsletter on the internet.
vol. 24, no. 1	Nov. 2006	The IFSR Newsletter is assigned a ISSN–number: 1818-0809 (print version) and ISSN 1818-0817 (online version)

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of IFSR
The celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the IFSR took place where it essentially all started: at the European Meeting of Cybernetics (EMCSR) and Systems Research in Vienna. IFSR’s presence at this Conference has tradition but for 2006 we planned for more. Already in Newsletter 23/1 (December 2005) we gave an account of IFSR’s 25 year history and showed some historical reminiscences:
On April 19, 2006 we devoted a whole day to the celebration. In order to preserve the event for posterity a television team was engaged who filmed (with 2 cameras) the whole day. It is planned to produce an approximate 1 hour DVD-video this recordings, but also to make (in limited numbers) the whole filmed (approximate 6 hours of film) available to interested person. Publication is planned for early 2007.
A whole day was devoted to the celebration. We show the invitation to the event, a short historical retrospective on the roots of the systems movement, followed by a PowerPoint presentation of the current status of the IFSR- Traditionally the IFSR sponsors the so-called Ashby-lecture, this year held by our new president (then still vice president) Matjaz Mulej.