ternational speech processing conference in Korea. I am therefore coming to this task with an international perspective. The international profile of ASSTA has been significant from the first when we consistently invited two overseas luminaries to our biennial conference and in so doing attracted

"The international profile of ASSTA has been significant from the first..."

In the last newsletter I raised the matter of the relationship of our association with the community of users and potential users of speech technology, and the business community that directly supplies that technology.  Since that time, this new dimension has been advanced by the appointment of Dr Clive Summerfield as an executive project officer with an agreed brief to research and recommend to the association on how we should proceed. Clive is a long-term member of the association and was a co-founder of Syrinx Speech Systems (now Sayso!). We look forward to receiving his report in a few weeks time.
Another area of potential new relationship for our association is with sister associations around the world and with the, now global, International Speech Communication Association (ISCA). I write this column in France en route to the Eurospeech conference in Aalborg, Denmark, following an in

significant numbers of overseas delegates. However, our world is moving on and recently your executive has been discussing how our relationships with such other societies both international and national, could possibly develop.
We have included some questions in the recently circulated membership survey that will inform us of the scientific perspectives of our members beyond our own Association. These relate to journals read and conferences attended.  We hope to use this information to help us chart a course in the area of relationships with other associations that will be of a kind and in a direction that will create benefits for  all members.  We are being cautious in this area as we greatly value the heri

(Continued on page 9)