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A Bulletin of Newsletter, published quarterly, should include announcements 
of coming activities, reports of recent activities, and all items of general 
news interest. Wide distribution could be accomplished by having each national 
society mail copies to its members along with other mailings. 
The funding of these publications and the machinery for producing them pre- 
sent not only problems, but also opportunities. Publications, properly managed, 
can be a source of substantial revenue. The production problem can be solved 
by assigning the various facets to the national society most interested in each 
phase (e.g. the host society for the next Congress might produce the Bulletin). 
If we begin to install a logical publications policy now, the pieces should 
all be in place long before the year 2000. 
! : 
The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) is the 
renowned and respected organization that affords a means of communication among 
scientists all over the world who utilize the disciplines of photogrammetry 
and remote sensing. The principal medium through which such worldwide communica- 
tion operates is the array of publications produced by the society. If the so- 
ciety is to maintain its pre-eminence as the center for international exchange 
of ideas, its publication program must be tuned to the current needsof the member 
societies and individual practitioners. 
Recognizing these needs and the importance of a carefully managed publications 
program, the ISPRS Council, meeting in Hamburg in July 1980, recommended the 
formation of a Publications Policy Committee "to exercise continued supervision 
of the publications issued by the Society." The recommendation was presented 
in Hamburg to the General Assembly which approved the formation of the committee. 
Son thereafter, PresidentDoyle appointed Morris Thompson (USA) as chairman of 
the Publications Policy Committee, with Jürgen Bothmer (FRG), Giovanna Togliatti 
(Italy), and Anton van der Weele (Netherlands) serving as members. 
Present Publications Program 
The first task faced by the Publications Policy Committee was to review the 
existing publications program and assess its strengths and weaknesses. At the 
present time, the society's publications are in three categories: 
1. Photogrammetria, the official journal of ISPRS, containing "original studies 
and comprehensive reviews in the broad field of aerial survey...also, reports 
on congresses and information about the activities of ISPRS." 
2. Archives of the International Congress on Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 
the multi-part, odd-numbered volumes of reports and technical papers pre- 
sented at each quadrennial congress of the society. Since 1976, the Archives 
have also included, in even-numbered volumes, the Proceedings of commission- 
sponsored symposia and speciality conferences held between the quadrennial 
congress. Prior to 1976 the proceedings of these symposia and conferences 
were published as separate volumes by the host national society or in the 
journal of the host society. 
3. Ciculars and. announcements concerning congresses, commission programs, 
and special conferences. 
As we examine these three categories, we will see that although these publica- 
tions have provided useful services, they have serious shortcomings that should 
be addressed with a view to developing a suitable publications policy. 
Thompson 2