Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2012
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Indie Game: The Movie
I am very grateful that I will (hopefully) be lucky enough to see my vision for my Gram's House game developed professionally with research grants. After watching Indie Game: The Movie, this sentiment has only increased. Though…
From BLOG@CACM
Exciting 'Big Data' Medical Applications
A quick look at two exciting medical applications of big data analysis.
From The Noisy Channel
CIKM 2012: Notes from a Conference in Paradise
The moment I learned that CIKM 2012 would be held in Maui, I knew I had to be there. Having co-organized the CIKM 2011 industry event, I had enough karma to be invited as part of this year’s industry event, representing LinkedIn…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Miriah Meyer Named a 2013 TED Fellow
Every year since 2007, The TED Fellows program has recognized young innovators from around the globe for their “insightful, bold ideas that have the potential to influence our world.” Last week, Miriah Meyer, one of our 2009…
From Schneier on Security
Encryption in Cloud Computing
This article makes the important argument that encryption -- where the user and not the cloud provider holds the keys -- is critical to protect cloud data. The problem is, it upsets cloud providers' business models:
In part…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 12 November 2012
I spent a little time tweaking this blog layout last week. Just trying to make it look a little less cookie cutter. I also wanted to add the share buttons at the end of each post to make it easier for you to share posts via Facebook…
From updated sporadically at best
Simple Advice for Being Effective in School
As a result of hijacking a few recitations in MIT's 6.005: Software Construction course to evangelize Scala, I have come into contact with numerous undergraduates. Engaging with these students, I have realized how much moreShow…
From The Noisy Channel
Data By The People, For The People
I was fortunate this year not only to be able to attend the 21st ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM 2012) in Maui, but also to be invited as part of this year’s industry event, representing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Drawing Together
David Sibbet, on the use of visualization capabilities with groups, as demonstrated by a mentor and friend at TED. "... It's a simple, inviting, clear demonstration of why visualizing in groups is so much fun and so helpful.…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Examination of Computers in 1984
I remember thinking about the advances in computing that year, and how the forecast of dire changes did not occur. This article surveys computing, hardware and software of that day. Suggesting that human progress is about ideas…
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Tablet is not a Book, Yet
In UX Magazine: A complaint that reading a book on a tablet is not the same as reading a physical book. I have thought that for some time, and in general only read a book on a tablet when I need to do a quick scan, rather"…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Rewarding Responsible Innovation
Had never heard it expressed quite this this way. So what is responsible innovation? " ... We are talking about ethics, in that ethics is responsibility-taking for future consequences of present actions. One problem is that…
From My Biased Coin
More from Simons Institute
Alistair Sinclair asked me to post the following. For #2; note that those with existing postdoc positions are eligible (the Simons people hope they'll be able to arrange a one-semester leave); positions are valid up to 6 years…
From Computational Complexity
Fifty Years of Computational Complexity
From Juris Hartmanis’ Observations About the Development of Theoretical Computer Science on the research leading to his seminal 1965 paper On the Computational Complexity of Algorithms with Richard Stearns. Only in early November…
From Putting People First
Finally a serious research study on tablet use in schools
Although there are many tablet deployments in schools worldwide, there is a glaring lack of serious research on what actually happens in the classrooms with these devices. In fact, there is so far no aggregated evidence that…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
“Whole Systems, Whole Students”
At last week’s meeting of the Council of the Computing Community Consortium – held at Microsoft Research in Redmond WA – UC Berkeley’s Eric Brewer gave an inspirational presentation about the ability of students to design and…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
I Can't Cook, But I Can Teach CS
Almost everyone I know can cook. And what I mean by cooking, is that they can make themselves some semblance of a balanced meal that tastes good. I, on the other hand, am completely useless in the kitchen. I think cooking …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Giving Customers the Mobility to Play
I have had the need to give mobility payment options to customers. As a result have needed to examine options that are available, and I now tried several, which are examined here. This is an option which will continue to grow…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Facebook as an Offline Retail Tool
In Adage: A replacement to the common circular? " ... studies have indicated that online posts can have a huge impact on consumer action away from the platform. This correlation, along with Facebook's commitment to new and…
From Putting People First
A tablet still is not a book … not yet
Dan Turner discusses why the experience of reading a book on tablets (iPads in particular) is a chore rather than a delight. In a long article for UX Magazine, he discusses a number of reasons, often related to usability and…
From Putting People First
More NEXT Service Design videos
Last week I posted links to a few videos from NEXT Service Design, the European conference for designing digital services, which took place on 8 October in Berlin. In addition to the presentations by Alexander Baumgart and Pedro…
From The Eponymous Pickle
High Performance Computing in the Cloud
Featured in CN Computing Now: " ... High performance computing is no longer limited to those who own supercomputers. HPC's democratization has been driven particularly by cloud computing, which has given scientists access…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Printing Rocket Parts
Colleague Walter Riker points me to this SciAM article about the 3D printing of rocket parts. Another move forward.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Neuromarketing Code of Ethics
An intriguing neuromarketing code of ethics. " ... Neuromarketing Science & Business Association (NMSBA) has launched today (9th November 2012) a Neuromarketing Code of Ethics. This is a first step towards adopting international…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Ink as a Condiment
Burger King introduces a black burger with ketchup that includes squid ink. Only in Japan, of course.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
The Myth of The All-nighter
All-nighters, those storied tales of spending all night in the computer lab or the library trying to meet a school deadline, came up in a Facebook conversation the other day. I remember those days myself. Something of a badge…
From Schneier on Security
How To Tell if Your Hotel Guest Is a Terrorist
From the Department of Homeland Security, a handy list of 19 suspicious behaviors that could indicate that a hotel guest is actually a terrorist.
I myself have done several of these.
More generally, this is another exampleIf…From My Biased Coin
Posts from FOCS (Part 3)
Continuing posts from FOCS, with several guest-writers and guest-editor Justin Thaler.[Editor: This is Part 3 in our series of posts covering FOCS 2012. Part 4 will be coming in the next couple of days, and there might or might…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Seeking Nominations for the 2013 Women of Vision Awards
I serve on the Advisory Board of the Anita Borg Institute, an organization focused on increasing women's participation in the technology workforce --- as technologists, and as technical leaders. One important aspect of our work…
From Wild WebMink
Finessing Stallman’s Pragmatism
Not a title that you might expect to see, but Richard Stallman has indeed posted a pragmatic proposal for dealing with software patents – to limit enforceability of patents against software running on a general-purpose computer…