Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Questions for the C-Suite
The earliest experiences I had with the global enterprise were working directly with the CEO. He had built a system that ran on an early desktop, I helped with its expansion. In that early work I learned that even back then…
From Putting People First
The changing nature of service and experience design
The ubiquitous nature of smart products and smart systems underscores the fact that the definitions of “service design” and “experience design” are becoming moving targets. Many products are becoming services and experiences…
From Putting People First
The intersection of UX, CX & corporate strategy: The holy grail for 21st century business?
Chris Allen (CUA – HFI US Sales Director Eastern Region; Global Accounts Director) went to the UX STRAT Conference in Atlanta and came back with one big question: How do we as business leaders leverage the best techniques and…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CSEdWeek poster featuring Susan Wojcicki, Google
Passing this along from the CSTA announcement mailing list. It surprises me that women in the computer field were not more willing to take part in this effort by code.org. And disappoints. Perhaps there is more to it then I know…
From The Eponymous Pickle
iBeacon for Retailers at Macy's
In TechCrunch: I Had known that Macy's had been doing work with Shopkick for some time. I have the App on my iPhone. A favorite experimental topic in our innovation centers. " ... When Apple, with much fanfare, announced…
From The Eponymous Pickle
PR Firms and the Wikipedia
In CIO Today: I remember being part of a team to decide how we should react to the Wikipedia. Issue warnings to our employees not to edit it? When 'public interest' groups clearly would. Or have a PR firm propose edits? Where…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Impact of Simulation
Using Simulation: Well yes, based upon my background I am a big believer. It is an essential approach of business analytics. It was the first analytical technique I used, to understand how defense systems would react in…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Finding Patterns In Ancient Objects
Ancient mathematical objects can still contain secrets Recreational Mathematics source David Singmaster is a mathematician who is now retired from London South Bank University, England, but he is not British—he was born in the…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Update: Acquisti speaking at Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour
On Monday, November 25, 2013, Alessandro Acquisti from Carnegie Mellon University will present at the next Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour (WATCH), a series of thought-provoking talks by innovative thinkers with ideas…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
We Need a Grant Program for Teachers to Attend the CSTA Conference
I had a thought spawned by a comment on a recent blog post and some conversations I have had recently. I wish there was a grant program to give attendance funding (basic travel and expenses) for teachers to attend the CSTA Annual…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Changing the World One Step at a Time: Introducing CS in the Middle School
I've taught middle school for fifteen years. Every year, after the students have graduated and moved on to high school, most of them return to thank me. Normally, my current students do not make an effort to thank me or acknowledge…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Why One PhD Student in Psychology Learned Python
I posted a few testimonials about why arts and social science needs code last week. I have a new one from a PhD student in psychology here at Carleton, and since it's such a good one I made a new post for it.Chunyun Ma, PhDWhy…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Internet of Things and Ubiquitous Sensing
In Computing Now: Mentions my colleague and IOT pioneer Kevin Ashton. Start of a series that will address many of the aspects and issues in the Internet of Things. Something to watch closely for many reasons." ... A pillar…
From Putting People First
Teens in the digital age
Two talks on teens in the digital age: The App Generation: identity, intimacy and imagination in the digital era (video – 21:18) Talk at The RSA, London, UK – October 2, 2013 Today’s young people have grown up almost totally…
From BLOG@CACM
A Summit on Computing Education in South Carolina
A summit of legislators, business leaders, officials from the Department of Education, and teachers convenes in South Carolina to advance computing education in the state.
From Schneier on Security
How to Avoid Getting Arrested
The tips are more psychological than security.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
The Problem With i
I had an interesting problem from a student the other day. He was working his way though an array in a couple of places and one of them was doing something wrong. It was tricky because most of what was happening was correct but…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wearables Reshaping the Enterprise
In ComputerWorld: Interesting questions are raised here. " ... Wearables will reshape the way enterprises work ... And enterprises could be the real growth area for wearable computing... Though wearable computing receives…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Auction Technology
Have now been involved in several projects that dealt with auction technology and related decision and classification methods. Both for supply side material acquisition and for classic 'auctions' via auction houses and interactive…
From Computational Complexity
The New Patrons
A few centuries ago if you wanted to do science and not independently wealthy you needed help. Most of the important astronomers and natural philosophers (as well as artists) in the 16th and 17th centuries depended on the patronage…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Positive Human Emotion
In The Edge: We looked at emotion as a signal for understanding how people reacted to product, marketing interaction and use. As part of our 'cognitive council' efforts. Not sure how this relates directly, but am passing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Delivers Costco
In Wired: A competitive action with Amazon for the Holidays. Another example of supply chain players connecting directly to the consumer ..." Google’s stated aim is to bring you the world’s information. Now it will also bring…
From Apophenia
Upcoming Email Sabbatical: December 13-January 10
It’s about that time of the year for me. The time when I escape from the digital world into the wilderness in order to refresh. As many of you know, I am a firm believer in the power of vacations. Not to escape work, but to enable…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Global C-Suite Study
In the process of studying the IBM: Customer-activated Enterprise Insights from the Global C-suite Study ... Attending a conference call today about its findings. I will write about it in more detail later this week. How…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Reducing Customer Defections
In the HBS: On reducing customer defections. A classic case for quantitative analysis using classification methods. " ... Companies can't afford to lose hard-won customers, but in truth some are more important to keep than…
From BLOG@CACM
Building a Computationally-Literate Workforce
Students must leave their formal training ready to take up the state of the practice in fields that routinely use computational tools, and ready to advance the state of the practice in fields that have been slower to adopt. While…
From Putting People First
Talks and presentations from UX Australia
UX Australia 2013, a 4-day user experience design conference that took place in Melbourne at the end of August, has posted a lot of presentation slides and audio recordings on its site. Here a (small personal) selection: Agile…
From BLOG@CACM
Building the HPC Community, Shaping Early Careers
The SC conference series provides a valuable opportunity each year to shape early research careers in an event where the whole community meets to exchange news, build collaborations, define research directions, and learn about…
From Schneier on Security
Fokirtor
Fokirtor is a Linux Trojan that exfiltrates traffic by inserting it into SSH connections. It looks very well-designed and -constructed.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
CSTA 2014 Board of Directors Nominations Open
Since this past summer I have been a member of the CSTA Board of Directors (thanks again to all of you who voted for me). It’s been an interesting and rewarding experience for me so far. I’ve worked on the Equity Committee…