RSSeNEWS to be determined...

The RSS/ASA joint venture Significance is to be launched to North American readers on 1 August at this year's Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM) in Vancouver, the theme of which is 'Statistics: the Key to Innovation'.

These annual meetings, held jointly with Canadian, Chinese and Indian associations, are huge and attract around 6,000 delegates. Significance's September issue, the first of those that ASA members will receive, has been published in time for the meeting.

The Significance session, chaired by Nicola Emmerson of the RSS, will last two hours. Ron Wasserstein, CEO of the ASA, and Julian Champkin, the magazine’s editor, will briefly introduce Significance and its aims, style and contents. Then, as at RSS conferences, the session will be given over to some of the authors who have written for it.

Karen Baab will speak on the Hobbit-man fossils of Flores, (December 2009); this was one of the most popular pieces in Significance, having been quoted or reproduced in more than 400 newspaper or magazines worldwide, which gained valuable exposure for the magazine and for statistics.

She will be followed by two authors from the March 2010 edition. Gerald Nelson, will speak on world food production in the wake of climate change, and Jonathan Gilligan will discuss whether individual actions can significantly reduce greenhouse emissions.  The whole event promises to be well-attended, and should introduce many more readers, and potential writers, to the magazine.

The JSM, which has been held annually since 1974, is conducted jointly by the American Statistical Association (ASA), the International Biometric Society (ENAR and WNAR), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), and the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC). JSM activities include oral presentations, panel sessions, poster presentations, continuing education courses, exhibit hall (with state-of-the-art statistical products and opportunities), career placement service, society and section business meetings, committee meetings, social activities, and networking opportunities.