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As the logo above indicates, our World Congress/ISSS 2000 meeting has been designated an official Toronto Millennium Celebration event. The event will be publicized by the City of Toronto.

The schedule of activities at the meeting will be very full. To allow more time for informal discussion and interaction, we are encouraging speakers, SIG Chairs and panel Chairs to arrange for breakfast, lunch and dinner discussion groups around the topics related to their program activities. To facilitate these discussions, we will also ask our speakers to provide handouts, summaries and discussion questions for their talks. We will also arrange for special tables in the cafeteria.

With the help of the Rogers Communications Center and the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at Ryerson, we are hopeful that we will be able to arrange for remote participation in our meeting from several other countries. We will post updates on our website as these plans develop.

To repeat, the Proceedings for the combined World Congress and ISSS meetings, including formal papers, poster summaries and summaries of keynote and plenary speeches, will be provided to attendees at registration in the form of a CD-ROM. Computer workstations will be available on campus for reading this material, if desired. Hard copy printouts of the Proceedings, or individual papers, can be arranged (at extra cost) at registration.

Although most of the activities at the meeting will be included in the registration fee, it should be emphasized that some of our events will involve extra charges, including: (1) Room accommodations; (2) Some of the various workshops/mini-courses; (3) Tickets for lunches and dinners on campus; (4) The banquet on Friday (July 21st); (6) The public lecture on Friday evening after the banquet.

FIRST A REMINDER: The due date for paper and poster proposals/abstracts is
December 1. We urge you to consult with the relevant Special Integration
Group (SIG) or Co-Host panel chairs beforehand, if possible.

* We have added a symposium on "Resources and the Environment in the New Millennium."

* There will also be a symposium on "Capitalism in the 21st Century: The Challenge of Sustainability."

* Other special symposia, previously announced, include: "The Lessons of Y2K," "The Art and Science of Forecasting in the Age of Global Warming," "Healthy Communities in a Healthy World," "Re-thinking Human Rights and
Global Responsibilities in the New Millennium," and "Thermoeconomics: Beyond the Second Law."

* Inspired by a lively on-line discussion about basic "systems principles," Prof. Hector Sabelli has offered to organize a special "round table" panel on the subject during the World Congress, with a second panel scheduled during
the ISSS portion of the week's events. For further information, contact Prof. Sabelli: hsabelli@rpslmc.edu

* An additional, three-hour workshop will be offered on the Sunday afternoon prior to the conference, on "Integrative Study." The workshop will be conducted by Prof. Joseph Engelberg of the Office of Integrative Studies
at the College of Medicine, University of Kentucky. It will include an introduction to integrative study, an exploration of the underlying principles and dynamics of integrative systems and a detailed case-study to observe and analyze the process in action. For further information, contact Prof. Engelberg at: engelber@MIS.net

* Other workshops and mini-courses, previously announced, include: "A Comprehensive Introduction to the Systems Sciences" (Sunday afternoon), "The Natural Sciences and Doing Systems Research" (Saturday, July 22), "The 'Stealth' Systems Science Curriculum" (date to be announced), and "Understanding Complexity Through Systems Modelling" (Thursday evening).

* Ryerson has informed us that they will have a block of overnight accommodations reserved on-campus for early arrivals on Saturday, July 15th. If you would like to attend the Sunday mini- course or workshop, or register
early and take advantage of Saturday-night-stay excursion fares, you should mark the 15th in the accommodation section of your registration forms. The extra payment for the 15th will be collected on site. You may also want to
keep in mind that the ISSS portion of the week's activities will continue through Saturday, July 22nd. Ryerson will have accommodations available for that night as well.

* We are tentatively planning for a series of dinner-hour showings of video-taped interviews with a number of our distinguished former ISSS Presidents. Box dinners will also be provided if you purchase dinner tickets when you register. (The meal prices on campus are quite reasonable.)

* Due to a crowded plenary/symposium schedule and the need to accommodate the plenary presentations by our various co-host organizations, floor discussion will not be possible immediately after each keynote/plenary or
symposium presentation. In an effort to compensate, we are planning for a set of informal lunches or dinners with each of our keynote/symposium speakers at designated tables in the Ryerson cafeterias, or nearby. Again,
lunch and dinner tickets can be purchased along with your registration. There will also be opportunities for informal discussions with the co-host plenary speakers at the scheduled evening co-host workshop/discussion sessions.

* We have added another co-host group to the more than 20 that are already signed up to participate in the World Congress. (A few other additions are still in process.) The new co-host is the General Evolution Research Group
(GERG). Founder Ervin Laszlo will be the plenary speaker on GERG's behalf. The contact person is David Loye: loye@partnershipway.org

* The mailing address for our Program Coordinator, Jennifer Wilby, was inadvertently left out of our Call for Participation. It is: 59 Browning Road, Pocklington, York YO42 2GN, England. Her e-mail, again, is:
jmwilby@dial.pipex.com

* In order to accommodate to our new CD-ROM Proceedings format and conform more closely with the style of our journal, Jennifer has asked for the following additions to our paper guidelines: (1) use 12 point type throughout; (2) major headings should be in upper case; (3) figure captions should be in bold face; (4) table captions should be in bold face and inserted BELOW the table; (5) titles listed in the references should be in italics, not underlined; (6) references should have a half-inch hanging indent and there should be no extra lines between references.

* John van Gigch, Chairperson of the "Modelling and Meta-modelling" Special Integration Group (SIG) has a new e-mail address: vangeditor@aol.com

* We regret to announce that two of our tentative keynote speakers have informed us that they will be unable to come to Toronto: Ilya Prigogine and Edward O. Wilson. Some others are still pending.

* A reminder to Canadians that they are urged to register before December 31, when the fee in Canadian dollars will be adjusted to accord more closely with the current exchange rate.

Update - World Congress of the Systems Sciences (Feburary 15 2000)

· Conference Papers Are Due April 1st, with revisions completed by the May 1st deadline. (For details, see our "Call for Participation" or our website: www.isss.org/2000meet/2000annu.htm

· Format abstracts for the printed program, plus registration fees are also due April 1st. Papers/abstracts cannot be included in the program or Proceedings unless registration fees are paid.

· Accommodations. We have reserved large blocks of rooms at Ryerson's Pittman Hall (singles) and the I.C.C. (single or double at the same rate). However, these are limited. We can't guarantee space. You should include accommodation fees with your registration material. We have also reserved room blocks at three local hotels. Reservations there must be made separately. Further away from the campus, low-cost bed and breakfast accommodations may also be obtained through the Downtown Bed and Breakfast Association (416) 368-1420.

CONFERENCE UPDATES:

Three more co-host groups have been added:

1) The "Research Committee on Sociocybernetics" of the International Sociological Association (contact: Professor Felix Geyer, geyer@xs4all.nl);
2) The "Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull (U.K.) (contact: Dr. Gerald Midgely, G.R.Midgley@hubs.hull.ac.uk);
3) The "Systems Discipline" group at the Open University (U.K.) (contact: Professor Graham Paton, G.Paton@open.ac.uk )

A Special Symposium on "The Art and Science of Forecasting in the Age of Global Warming," organized by former ISSS President Hal Linstone (Editor of the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change) will include Associate Editor Nebojsa Nakicenovic (of IIASA), and Editorial Advisory Board members Joseph F. Coates (of Coates & Jarratt, Inc., Washington, D.C.) and Don E. Kash (Hazel Chair of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy, George Mason University).

These will be a special roundtable panel on "The Biological Sciences as Systems Sciences." Tentatively the panel will include Professor Tony Trewavas (University of Edinburgh) as Chair, plus keynote speakers David Sloan Wilson (SUNY Binghamton), Eörs Szathmary (Collegium Budapest) and past ISSS President Len Troncale. All are biologists.

There are plans for dinner-hour showings of videotaped interviews with many of the major contributors to the systems science movement over the years. Box dinners will be provided to attendees, with signups at registration. For more information, contact Allenna Leonard: Allenna@IBM.net

"The Network for Ecosystem Health and Sustainability" (NESH) will be sponsoring a set of 4 workshop sessions during the ISSS portion of the meeting. NESH is also planning to form a new Special Integration Group (SIG) within ISSS. Contact Professor Nina-Marie Lister at the School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson Polytechnic University: nmlister@acs.ryerson.ca

The "Council on Global Issues" will be sponsoring a plenary symposium on "A Systemic View of Global Governance," organized by Professor Helmut (Ken) Burkhardt of Ryerson Polytechnic University (also our local organizer). This will be in lieu of the symposium on "Rethinking Rights and Responsibilities."

Several ISSS members are planning an informal daily breakfast roundtable from Monday through Saturday, from 7:15 to 8:25 am. Guidelines will be announced and on our website. Contact Sue Gabrielle for more information and to sign up at: sgabriele@gemslearning.com

A "Workshop on Evolutionary Systems Design" will be offered by Professor John Broadbent of the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology, Sydney Australia. It is being sponsored by the ISSS Special Integration Group on "Designing Educational Systems". Among other things Professor Broadbent is seeking to catalyze cooperative activities in this area. Contact Professor Broadbent at: John.Broadbent@uts.edu.au

There will be a moderated hands-on workshop featuring the "Global Systems Simulator" that allows participants to model the interplay between economic and ecological forces and constraints. For more information, contact Dr. John D. McRuer: mcruer@golden.net

Professor Yi Lin of the International Institute for General Systems Studies is organizing a special roundtable on "Challenges Facing General Systems in Practice." The roundtable will be related to a special issue of the new Journal of Applied Systems Studies edited by ISSS member Nikitas A. Assimakopoulos. Contact Professor Lin at: jeffrey.forrest@sru.edu

We are actively seeking "remote sites" in other counties, where groups of virtual participants will have the opportunity to view our plenary sessions, special symposia and selected panels.

Some interactive participation may also be possible. If you know anyone who might be interested in helping to organize a remote site, please refer him/her to our local organizer, Helmut (Ken) Burkhardt: Burkhard@acs.ryerson.com

UPDATE 6-20-00

A VERY FULL WEEK OF ACTIVITIES ARE SCHEDULED for the World Congress/ISSS
2000 -- 25 plenary speeches, 23 special symposium presentations, 101
"breakout" panels, 6 poster presentations, 11 workshops and a number of other
special events.

* PLEASE REGISTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, if you are coming to the conference
and if you have not already registered. Accommodations on campus, which are
quite nice and very economical, will no longer be available after June 30th.
Registration forms are located at our website:
www.isss.org/2000meet/2000anno.htm

*THE FINAL CONFERENCE SCHEDULE WILL BE POSTED at our website by Friday, June
30th, barring some last-minute problem.

*IF YOU ARRIVE AT RYERSON BEFORE REGISTRATION BEGINS, at 12 noon on Sunday,
July 16th in Room A-250, you may go directly to the registration desk for
Pittman Hall or the International Conference Center (ICC), if you are using
on-campus housing during the conference. A reminder: there will be a total
of four workshops and tutorials on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 1 p.m.

*IF YOU WILL BE MAKING A PRESENTATION WITH SPECIAL AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT
NEEDS, beyond an overhead projector, please contact us as soon as possible
at: WRLDISSS2K@aol.com We cannot assure that the needed equipment will be
available without advance notice.

* IF YOU ARE SENDING A COPY, OR COPIES, OF YOUR BOOK(S) to our local
organizer for the books display, do NOT place any value on your shipment, or
Canadian Customs will impose a charge, based on its value, that you will need
to reimburse to Prof. Burkhardt at the conference.

* FINALLY, THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW SCHEDULE CHANGES -- cancellations and
additions. John Holland and Thomas Sebeok will not be coming to the
conference. Additional speakers include Yaneer Bar-Yam of MIT and President
of the New England Complex Systems Institute, on the dynamics of complex
systems and complexity science, and Prof. Marcel Danesi, Director of the
Program in Semiotics and Communications Theory at the University of Toronto,
who will be speaking on semiotics. The well-known author Jeff Gates will be
unable to participate in the panel on "Capitalism in the 21st Century: The
Challenge of Sustainability." In his place will be Mike Jackson, Director of
the Business School at the University of Hull, President of the International
Federation for Systems Research and soon-to-be President-Elect of ISSS. Last,
with regrets, it has been necessary to cancel the concert following the
welcoming reception.

We are attaching a copy of our Press Release for the local news media, for
your information. We hope to see you in Toronto.

With best wishes,

Peter A. Corning
President, ISSS

CONTACT INFORMATION

Conference Organizer (Abstracts and Registration)

Program Coordinator (Papers/Presentations)

Poster Session Coordinator (Poster Displays)

Allenna Leonard
E-mail: Allenna@IBM.net