I was recently asked: how do I keep current on the latest trends and developments in IT? The short answer: ACM.
Technical folks can be the worst marketers, and that’s probably why the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is not as well known in the general IT community as it should be. This is the best professional society to support IT that I know of, and membership brings you lots of benefits:
- Great magazine
- iPad application to access an extensive library of books and literature
- Weekly newsletter: ACM TechNews
- Weekly newsletter: ACM CareerNews
- Weekly newsletter ACM LearningCenter
To be fair, I think the organization struggles with one challenge: it tries to reach the complete IT audience, from the academic scholars that research if P=NP, to the compiler designers, to everyday IT guys like me. This shows in their monthly magazine, which might have little to appeal to your tastes. But this is more than compensated for, by the library and specific topical newsletters.
Summary: If you want to stay current in IT topics, I highly recommend you consider membership in the ACM.
You can find out more about the ACM at their webpage.