Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
December 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Looking at the Ink Blot Chart
In Junk Charts: Have never heard this term before. An example of the pretty chart, but with low density of actual information. Just a stacked bar chart. Nothing more to see, no additional enlightenment here, please move…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Why Innovation Programs Fail
In Innovation Excellence: The top reason, and based on my experience, I agree:"A lack of a feedback loop from decision-makers to participants is the most common contributor to the failure of an innovation program. Ensuring…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ratio of Spend to Sales
A relatively old story, brought to my attention by a recent startup involvement:" ... Booz & Company recently conducted the bi-annual refresh of its Customer Planning and Trade Spend study, surveying an extensive set of firms…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
PCAST Releases Cybersecurity Report
Following its November meeting, the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a letter report on cybersecurity. The report follows a classified briefing PCAST gave to the President back in February…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
If you are serious about climate change… stop attending conferences?
We know that spending energy tends to release carbon in the atmosphere. In turn this warms up the Earth in the long run. This change might be detrimental. Being an academic, I am surrounded by people who are seriously concerned…
From Schneier on Security
Evading Airport Security
The news is reporting about Evan Booth, who builds weaponry out of items you can buy after airport security. It's clever stuff.
It's not new, though. People have been explaining how to evade airport security for years.
Back…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) Looking for Partner Schools
TEALS is an interesting program started by a Microsoft employee some years ago. It taps the enthusiasm and expertise of industry professionals who work with classroom teachers to bring CS course into schools that would not otherwise…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Decision Modeling in Game Design
Of interest: "Decision Modeling and Optimization in Game Design, Part 1: IntroductionThis article is the first in an ongoing series on the application of decision modeling and optimization techniques to game design problems.…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Isomorphism Is Where It’s At
Isomorphism at the SODA 2014 conference Ronald Read and Derek Corneil are Canadian mathematicians and computer scientists. Read earned a PhD in Mathematics from the University of London in 1959, while Corneil was one of the inaugural…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Article on the “Legal Aspects of Interface Accessibility in the U.S.”
The December issue of the Communications of the ACM includes an article co-authored by USACM Accessibility Committee Chair Harry Hochheiser and committee member Jonathan Lazar on the “Legal Aspects of Interface Accessibility…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, 2013
Today, December 3, is the UN’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This year’s theme is “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all.” The UN says that more than 1 billion people,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Simulation and Training
The Office of Naval Research: We live in an era when we can virtualize most anything. Making it mimic real spaces, or realize something very abstract. Then we can engage with spaces, with real interfaces like in a flight simulator…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Announcing DyslexicGamemakers.com
Know any dyslexic students who are interested in creating video games and build some skills? They may find this announcement interesting.
We are proud to announce we are teaming up with Dyslexic Advantage to build Dyslexic…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Human Resource Analytics Defined
I have recently been looking back to my experience and then forward in what is being done today in Human Resources Analytics. I found the below useful quote in the just released text, by UC authors and others: Essentials…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Protracted Slowdown in Emerging Markets
In Bloomberg: Unilever CEO Polman says emerging market slowdown to last for years. " ... the economic slowdown in emerging markets is here to stay as many countries need to enact structural reforms to adjust to new conditions…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Sharp Rise of Human Resource Analytics
We used to do very few analytical decisions in Human resources. There were a few tests, a few hurdles to overcome, very loose impressions gained by short interactions with management. Choices made by reputations of attendedIn…
From Schneier on Security
Keeping Track of All the Snowden Documents
As more and more media outlets from all over the world continue to report on the Snowden documents, it's harder and harder to keep track of what has been released. The EFF, ACLU, and Cryptome are all trying.
None of them is…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
What Is Computer Science According To Search Engines
Inspired by an image I saw from a talk by Dr. Tom Crick (@DrTomCrick) I decided to see what the more popular search engines returned as search aids when a user entered the string “computer science is” and grab some screenshots…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Psych Statistics Wiki vs Wikipedia
I was recently asked to look at a number of online sites for introductory but practical resources on statistical methods. This made me look back at some of the ways we used Wikis to in the enterprise to integrate this kind of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Personalized Google Maps
In Google Operating System: You can now personalize your own Google Maps. First I thought, this is not new, but yes it is: " ... The most interesting thing about the new embeds? "This map is built for you. When you view this…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
CSTA as a Creator of Change Agents
CSTA has always been about creating change agents for CS education, that is, making every member a powerful force in getting things done. Summing up what various educator-leaders have accomplished over the past 10+ years would…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mapping Simplicity
Good overview of John Maeda's bookMind Mapping and Design Thinking ...In his excellent book "Laws of Simplicity" John Maeda, president of the Rhode Island School of Design, identified 10 laws for balancing simplicity and complexity…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
FTC Workshop on Digital “Native Advertising” on December 4, 2013
The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop titled, “Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content?,” on December 4, 2013, to explore the increasing trend of “native advertising.” The all-day workshop will feature remarks by FTC…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
DARPA announces two programs as part of White House BRAIN Initiative
On April 2, 2013, President Obama launched the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative as a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new…
From Schneier on Security
The TQP Patent
One of the things I do is expert witness work in patent litigations. Often, it's defending companies against patent trolls. One of the patents I have worked on for several defendants is owned by a company called TQP Development…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Real time Cloud Retail Data Analysis
This site was recently brought to my attention. I am currently in the process of helping a retail marketing operation better understand how well it is doing when doing promotions under varying conditions. IBM Digital Analytics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Become a Master of Creativity
In Linkedin: Looks to be of interest, though I have not read it yet. " .... by Andreas von der Heydt Country Manager Amazon BuyVIP, Leadership Coach, Founder ConsumerGoodsClub.comMasters of creativity are masters of creativity…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Real Value of Twitter for Brands
In Clickz: Good thoughts. " ... For brands, the key objective on all social platforms remains consumer engagement. Because content-focused social promotions are a perfect means for fuelling engagement -- and Twitter is an…
From Computational Complexity
Global Warming and the Axiom of Choice
Who was the first scientist to warn of Global Warning? These questions are complicated, but I would say it was Bing Crosby in a paper called White Christmas. Here are the first two lines: I'm dreaming of a white christmas Just…
From Schneier on Security
How Antivirus Companies Handle State-Sponsored Malware
Since we learned that the NSA has surreptitiously weakened Internet security so it could more easily eavesdrop, we've been wondering if it's done anything to antivirus products. Given that it engages in offensive cyberattacks…