In the foreword to this volume of conference proceedings for IFIP
Working Group 8.4, it is appropriate to review the wider organization to
which the Working Group belongs. The International Federation of
Information Processing (IFIP) is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella
organization for national societies working in the field of information
processing that was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO.
IFIP's mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical
organization which encourages and assists in the development,
exploitation and application of Information Technology for the benefit
of all people. At the heart of IFIP lie its Technical Committees that,
between them, count on the active participation of some two thousand
people world-wide. These Groups work in a variety of ways to share
experience and to develop their specialised knowledge. Technical
Committees include: TC 1. Foundations of Computer Science; TC 2:
Software: Theory and Practice; TC 3: Education; TC 6: Communication
Systems; TC 7: System Modelling and Optimization; TC 9: Relationship
between Computers and Society; TC 11: Security and Protection in
Information Processing Systems; TC 12: Artificial Intelligence and TC
13: Human-Computer Interaction. The IFIP website www.ifip.org) has
further details. Technical Committee 8 (TC8) is concerned with
Information Systems in organisations. Within TC8 there are different
Working Groups focusing on particular aspects of Information Systems.