Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2010
From Putting People First
Experientia
Over the last five years experience design consultancy Experientia has grown from new beginnings to a vibrant company with a large portfolio. To showcase our latest projects, ideas and methodologies, we have redesigned our website…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Lessons on Active Learning
On 2/18/2010 I went to a talk on getting students involved in classes even if there are 200 of them in the class. It was about active learning, and not surprisingly it used active learning during the talk. I really enjoyed …
From My Biased Coin
Congratulations to David Johnson, Knuth Prize Winner
I'm pleased to hear that David Johnson has won the Knuth Prize for "his contributions to theoretical and experimental analysis of algorithms." David has done a great many wonderful things, but I thought I'd highlight something…
From Computational Complexity
Can The Hill Cipher ever be used?
Alice and Bob want to sent a message so that even if Eve intercepts it, she cannot tell what it is. We will allow Alice and Bob a short private meeting to exchange information (or perhaps they will use RSA or Diffie-Helman for…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Implications of Mobile in Retail
Have been members of the non-profit GS1 for many years, download their new excellent 34-page paper on Mobile retail. Also had a conversation with Joe Horwood today who is responsible for their eCommunication and MobileCom group…
From The Eponymous Pickle
An Update on Google Knol
Around now since 2007, Google's Knol was described as a Wikipedia killer, but has seen little commentary for some time. I was surprised to see this article which reviews its progress, surveys what is there and does some volume…
From Schneier on Security
Tom Engelhardt on Fear on Terrorism
Nice essay.
Similar sentiment from Newsweek.
From BLOG@CACM
Presentations, Humor, and Memes
I have been reflecting on the nature of technical presentations. Public speaking can be great fun. When done well, it is a form of performance art. Enjoy it, and help your listeners enjoy it also!
From Putting People First
Changing environmental behaviour
Brook Lyndhurst, an independent research and strategy consultancy, based in London, UK, works on projects that are concerned with understanding, promoting and delivering sustainable development. A couple of their research reports…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
What does it mean to be a computer geek?
Well Barbie has a new career as a computer engineer. She looks pretty cool in her Binary patterned blouse, Bluetooth headset, net book and PDA. Well there is that unreal figure and hair as well. It is Barbie after all. Stacey…
From BLOG@CACM
How Do You Assess Computational Thinking?
There is a big buzz in the field about computational thinking just now. But what is it really? How do you assess it? I offer an initial assessment for a subset of these skills: all comments appreciated!
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Who the heck got Universities into the email business?
My current employer, UQAM, refuses to allow email forwarding. Students would rather forward their emails to their existing GMail accounts, for example. And the IT Department (the SITEL) agrees that it would have several benefits…
From Computational Complexity
Knuth Prize for 2009: David Johnson
Dave Johnson Won the KNUTH PRIZE for 2009: click here
I can't add much to the article linked to except to say that it is well deserved.
The Wikipedia entry on the Knuth Prize does not list him yet (March 2, 2010, 4:15PM…From The Eponymous Pickle
Mobile Apps Changing Retail
A good set of examples in Adage of smartphone Apps that could change retail. Nice breadth of examples, all worth a look, though I would add others. There is still a considerable distance to go. Only about 15% of consumers in'scanning…
From Putting People First
UK innovation policy should refocus on customers
UK Government innovation policy should be refocused to reflect the crucial role played by customers in stimulating and funding the development of new hi-tech companies, claims a major new report on the Cambridge hi-tech cluster…
From My Biased Coin
Teaching Bloom Filters
As I finished my lecture today for my undergraduate algorithms and data structures course, after spending about half an hour explaining Bloom filters and what they did, I couldn't help but wonder, yet again, why this incredibly…
From The Eponymous Pickle
What Facebook will Reveal about You
I used to advise people in the early days of the Web about the dangers of revealing too much online. Things have gone far beyond those early days, but it is always good to exercise caution. Here is another reason, much in the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Coupon Use Beats Newspapers
In Mediapost an intriguing post that further confirms the advance of the digital coupon. ' ... says the report, redemption values on its digital offering outstripped the increase in newspaper-based coupons by more than 10 to…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Apps for the Army Challenge
I worked for the DOD at the Pentagon years ago, they were a very innovative group, its good to see this kind of collaborative work going on. On Apps for the Army, much more information at the link. Via Robert Neilson. " ...Open…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Optimizing Your Enterprise
The current Baseline Mag has a lengthy article on Business intelligence and analytics, with some useful integrated case studies. ' ... In a world that
From Schneier on Security
More on the Al-Madhouh Assassination
Interesting essay by a former CIA field officer on the al-Mabhouh assassination:
The truth is that Mr. Mabhouh's assassination was conducted according to the book -- a military operation in which the environment is completely…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Say That Again in English
One of the first things I do in the morning is check Twitter. I start with my calendar and my email of course. You never know what your boss may have sent you overnight when they are three time zones away. But after that I look…
From Wild WebMink
Links Feed Turned Off
I've now turned off the automatic posting to this blog from Delicious. Daily links will now only appear over on my new subscribe to it!
From The Eponymous Pickle
Internet Grows as a News Source
Via Pew and Computerworld. The Internet is continuing to grow as a news source in the US.-
From The Eponymous Pickle
Statistics on the Smartphone
From correspondent Sy Truong, his newly developed paper on SAS and data Macros on the IPhone. I have used his IPhone App. He will present this at the upcoming SAS Global Forum conference. Sy is President, Meta-Xceed, Inc.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Eye Tracking Mobile Devices
Very interesting piece from the Tobii blog and download of an extensive white paper on the subject. Eye tracking the use of mobile devicesWith a worldwide increase in the number of mobile devices, interest in eye?tracking studies…
From Putting People First
New social innovation lab at Darden business school
(From a Darden press release) On March 19 the Darden School of Business [Charlottesville, VA, USA] and the Batten Institute [an academic research center of the business school] will launch Darden
From My Biased Coin
Stuff in press
The Economist has a special section this month devoted to The Data Deluge. (Much of it may still be behind their firewall.) Many computer scientists are quoted/named in the collection of articles, and it gives a nice overview…
From BLOG@CACM
Finding DARPA's 10 Red Balloons
Part 2: Launch Day. This is the story of the Georgia Tech team's experiences in the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition designed to see how online social networks could locate 10 red weather balloons moored throughout the …
From Computational Complexity
CCC 2010 papers posted (I know- Old News)
As Lance tweeted, the papers for CCC 2010 are posted here.