Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
October 2011
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Where does innovation comes from?
I just finished Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. Because I am an overly pessimistic individual, I expected to hate the book. I loved the book. I should point out where I read the book, because context is important in this case…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Web Services Choreographies
This concept was new to me. An outline article currently in Computing Now: " ... researchers have looked at service composition from two complementary points of view: service orchestration and choreography. Although several…
From Computational Complexity
If you find a mistake in someone elses paper you should....
What do you do if you read a paper or book and find mistakes in it? My first impulse is to say: Email the author. Always be polite and admit (which is true) that you may be misunderstanding something. A few thoughts:
If you…From The Eponymous Pickle
Windows in Your Stuff
In ReadWriteWeb on Are You Ready for Windows in Your Things? " ... Microsoft is launching exactly that - a kind of consumer awareness campaign around the emergence of Windows as a real platform inside not just PCs or servers…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NSF Launching
At 11am EDT today, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Subra Suresh — joined by numerous U.S. and international researchers, government officials, and National Academy of Sciences President Ralph Cicerone — will launch…
From Schneier on Security
Insider Attack Against Diebold Voting Machines
This is both news and not news:
Indeed, the Argonne team's attack required no modification, reprogramming, or even knowledge, of the voting machine's proprietary source code. It was carried out by inserting a piece of inexpensive…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Conversations in Kodu
Recently the Kodu team announced a new version of Kodu and a new Kodu Community Website. You can read a lot of the details at Announcing the Kodu v1.2 and the Kodu Community Website The expanded community web site is pretty cool…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Growing Trust
In August USACM submitted comments on the draft green paper
From The Eponymous Pickle
Innovation Inspired by Nature
Bio-mimicry is innovation inspired by nature. We explored it to broaden the potential solutions to difficult problems we encountered. A good introduction here. Sometimes I think the method is overplayed, but it is worth examination…
From Schneier on Security
Security Cartoon
Nice cartoon on the problems of content filtering.
From Putting People First
New Master in UX in Rome, Italy
The La Sapienza University in Rome is organising the first User Experience Master for students who already have a previous degree. Although a highly laudable initiative, this part-time programme points to an important gap, since…
From The Eponymous Pickle
P&G and Innovation
In the local press: P&G's CEO Bob McDonald gives an urgent call to action to improve innovation. Particularly speaks to the local culture of innovation. I agree, fresh innovation culture is sorely needed.
From Putting People First
Investigating the experience of love for products
“Shoes, cars and other love stories: Investigating the experience of love for products is the title of the doctoral dissertation (and a book!) by Beatriz Russo Rodrigues (Brazil) at the Technical University of Delft in The Netherlands…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wharton on Kindle vs iPad
Short piece on the match up. The economics of the price and the channel implications will make a difference.
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
NASA to Run International Space Apps Challenge
Late last month, NASA announced that it plans to run an International Space Apps Challenge in 2012, bringing together officials from international space agencies, scientists, and citizens in an effort to use
From Schneier on Security
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. The website has some sample things you can do to to celebrate, but they're all pretty boring. Surely we can do better. Post…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Quality of Testing and Quality of Code
I see a good number of Tweets in my Twitter stream that just flash by without leaving any impression. Chatty comments between people I barely know (if at all), links to things that don
From Wild WebMink
? LibreOffice Is One
I seem to have been using it for ever, but LibreOffice is actually just one year old. I’ve written a sketch of its story and a first-year evaluation over on ComputerWorldUK.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Financial Times Tablet Edition
I used to often read the Financial Times when I was in the enterprise. Liked the quirkiness of their coverage. I recently rediscovered it and they have created a new tablet edition for the iPad. Very nicely done in compact…
From CERIAS Blog
Gene Schultz, R. I. P.
Sunday, October 2nd, Earl Eugene Schultz, Jr. passed away. Gene probably had suffered an unrecognized stroke about two weeks earlier, and a week later fell down a long escalator at the Minneapolis municipal airport. He was given…
From Wild WebMink
? Birthday Treats
On its first birthday, LibreOffice has reason to celebrate After a year of work, the extensive global LibreOffice community is now showing signs of the strength and maturity the open source world needs. Monthly releases, open…
From The Eponymous Pickle
AdWeek Exploration of Neuromarketing
A good general exploration of neuromarketing by AdWeek. Primarly about fMRI and which supports its further exploration and combining with classical market research techniques.
From The Eponymous Pickle
KYield Facebook Page
Kyield, with which I am aligned, has a Facebook page here. " ... Kyield is an enterprise software company that revolutionizes the digital work environment through superior data governance, advanced analytics, and more accurate…
From Schneier on Security
Isaac Asimov on Security Theater
A great find:
In his 1956 short story, "Let's Get Together," Isaac Asimov describes security measures proposed to counter a terrorist threat: "Consider further that this news will leak out as more and more people become involved…From The Eponymous Pickle
Where to Begin with Predictive Analytics
A good general article on the topic by James Taylor. " ... Discover the problems that will show the greatest return on an investment ... Yet most companies are just getting started with predictive analytics. In fact, most have…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Notes on 'Experiencing Stories with/in Digital Games' Colloquium
You've probably heard it before: we've got a long way to go in finding artful ways to meld great storytelling with the traditional mechanics of digital games. Being a computer scientist, I usually see the attempts of improving…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
The Value of a Local CSTA Chapter
I teach in a rural high school where I am the only person to teach computer science as well as computer technologies. Collaborating with others within my building isn't something that I am able to accomplish because I feel sometimes…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Maslow's Shoppers
From the Hub via Walter Riker. " ... Digital Media Strategies must satisfy a hierarchy of needs and values ... Much has been said and written about the distinction between consumers and shoppers. We
From The Eponymous Pickle
Making Companies Think Long Term
Roger Martin of the Rotman School of Management. writes on the topic, an interesting financial take on this very old problem.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Signage Resources
Correspondent Keith Kelsen has passed along several resources: " ... Here are my top 10 trends for digital signage that I write every year for the industry: And another interesting article on cool use with the video clip at…