To advise the IMU on aspects of its operations related to information and communication, including technical, legal and financial implications, and keep it informed of new developments.
To review the development of electronic information, communication, publication, instruction, and archiving so as to keep the IMU abreast of current and emerging issues.
To advise the IMU about potential opportunities to endorse standards and articulate best practice recommendations on issues related to the field, as well as potential opportunities to foster the growth and development of electronic infrastructure.
The Internet, and the World Wide Web (WWW), have transformed mathematical communication in at least as great a way as the introduction of journals. This transformation affects all disciplines, and many of the resulting commercial pressures are beyond the control of mathematicians. Nevertheless mathematics, by its intrinsic nature and world-wide scope, has to develop a particular approach to this new situation. Changes have occurred very rapidly, and the some of the habits of mathematicians — such as citation conventions, ways of building reputation, and for many mathematicians, very significant matters like promotion and working conditions — are still evolving in respond to continuing changes. The IMU's Executive Committee therefore formed the Committee on Electronic Information and Communication (CEIC) in 1998 to watch these developments, to advise the EC, and through it the IMU and mathematicians generally, about these trends, and to find the best ways of evolving practice to adapt to these changes.