Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Web of Things
In Computing Now: A good description and in particular view of its scope." .... The Internet of Things (IoT) is an extension to the current Internet that enables connections and communication among physical objects and devices…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Defining Datability
A term new to me: " ... Datability is the synthesis of big data and security, accountability and reliability. ... " And it is the focus topic of CeBIT 2014 (in Hannover, Germany, March 10 to 14, 2014).Today we have petabytes…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
White House Seeking Input For Its Big Data Review
Following on the announcement in January that the White House would be reviewing Big Data and its influence on privacy and the economy, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has been seeking input from the public…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Don't Bury Business Rules Management
Back in 2012 I wrote a post on Business Rules Management. This is related to work we had done with expert systems in the enterprise. Based on conversations I have now had, this rebranding of the former Ilog JRules capability…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Watch Talk – Increasing Trust in the E-Health Environment: Privacy Mechanisms and Policy Problems
On March 20 at noon EST, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host it’s next Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour (WATCH) talk. Maya Bernstein, from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will give a talk…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Risk Appetites and Management
A interesting item found lately. Currently working on a project that deals with risk portfolio in compliance related strategies. Knowledge@Wharton discusses related issues. " .... The issue of CEO pay and how to compensate…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Our Two FDG Papers On Games and Stories Are Now Online
Our two papers accepted to Foundations of Digital Games 2014 have been edited, improved, and uploaded. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them.A Framework for Coherent Emergent StoriesThis paper is based on my thesis work. The…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Big Surveillance Data
In Computing Now. Looked at several examples of how to use security camera input for other purposes.Surveillance Video: The Biggest Big Data"Big data continues to grow exponentially, and surveillance video has become the largest…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Resources for Learning Sorts
Sometimes one just doesn’t know what blog posts are going to take off. Last month I wrote a post called Sorting Isn’t Always Simple. It’s been by far the most read post of the last month or longer. Given that a lot of AP CS teachers…
From Putting People First
A UX view of the future of mobile networks and systems
The latest post of the User Experience Lab at Ericsson Research presents a UX view of the future of mobile networks and systems. “The “Remote Control over Mobile Networks” concept is one of several concepts that we have defined…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Grant Proposal Time and the Unexpected Benefits of CSTA Chapters
It is that time of year again. All across the country computer science faculty members are preparing to submit their grant proposals. This means that they are also sending requests to CSTA for involvement in their grants and …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Amazon and Books
Is Amazon good for Books? In the New Yorker. " ... In the era of the Kindle, a book costs the same price as a sandwich. Dennis Johnson, an independent publisher, says that “Amazon has successfully fostered the idea that a…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Collaboration Between CPG and Retail
Some fairy obvious observations, but still an interesting set of thoughts on the idea. Via Kalypso.What Is Collaborative Innovation?" ... Today’s industry leaders are competing to win with open innovation, working with many…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Future of Data Warehouses in Era of Big Data
A dated post, but of interest. If you read the Big Data literature, there is belief that predefined structure becomes less important in the future. " ... Many companies are saddled with data warehouses that weren’t designed…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Managing the Analytical Lifecycle
More from the machine learning meetings at UC a few weeks ago. SAS went over some interesting case studies I am now examining: Managing the Analytical Life Cycle for Continuous InnovationFrom Data to Decision, The following…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CISE AD Issues Letter to Community on FY 15 Budget Rollout
NSF/CISE Assistant Director Farnam Jahanian has issued the following letter to the community describing yesterday’s FY 2015 budget rollout: Dear Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Community, President Obama…
From BLOG@CACM
Grant Proposal Time and the Unexpected Benefits of CSTA Chapters
This piece explores the growing relationship between unversity computer science faculty and CSTA's regional chapters and highlights some unexpected mutual benefits.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Watson compared to Wolfram Alpha
Brought to my attention. A relatively old blog post comparing the operation of IBM's Watson and Wolfram Alpha for expert systems applications. Nicely portrayed also by some operational diagrams. Are they competitive? Worth…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Is AI Changing Business?
A piece in Smart Data Collective, makes some useful points. I think it is no longer a question. I was actively involved the last time we rode the AI hype in the late 1980s, We spent millions on it then, derived more millions…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Disney People Tracking
Have followed this since a visit to Labs a number of years ago. Tests have been underway since then, but now they appear to be pushing it ahead more generally. Disney bets big on visitor-tracking technology- MSN Money Molding…
From Writing
The Ultimate Guide to Getting Started with the Play Framework
Are you trying to get started with the Play Framework? Struggling to wrap your head around Futures, SBT, Scala, Functional Programming, or Iteratees? Then you've come to the right place.This post is a collection of the best resources…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of March 10
March 12 Hearing: The Senate Rules and Administration Committee will hold a hearing on election administration 9:45 a.m., 301 Russell Building The Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee of the House Armed…
From Putting People First
Observing the technologists
Nick Seaver, a PhD candidate in sociocultural anthropology at UC Irvine, makes the case for the importance of “studying up“: doing ethnographies not only of disempowered groups, but of groups who wield power in society, like…
From Computational Complexity
Why do we think P NE NP? (inspired by Scott's post)
Recently Scott Posted an excellent essay on reasons to think that P NE NP. This inspired me to post on the same topic. Inspired is probably the right word. Some of my post is copied and some of my post are my thoughts. A…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
How To Carry Fame
Long proofs are not always the most important results Michael Rabin is visiting Georgia Tech today and tomorrow to give a pair of distinguished lectures. Both of these will be on applications of cryptography. One is to help auctions…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
How To Carry Fame
Long proofs are not always the most important results Michael Rabin is visiting Georgia Tech today and tomorrow to give a pair of distinguished lectures. Both of these will be on applications of cryptography. One is to help auctions…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Elegance as a luxury
As a young student, I was undisciplined. Though I did well in mathematics, I often couldn’t be bothered to write down clean computations. I would do the work mostly in my head, and I would quickly jot down the answer. Such a…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 10 March 2014
I spent some time last week trying to keep up with what was happening in Austin Texas at SxSWedu and Atlanta Georgia with SIGCSE by watching Twitter. The good news is that I’m less upset about missing SxSWedu than I was before…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Have We Reached a Consensus on a National CS Curriculum?
Oh boy are things up in the air in the HS CS curriculum these days. While we have some great advice from the CSTA () the implementation of those suggestions are still left up to individual schools/districts/states. Still it is…
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Markets from iBeacons
From Business Insider: A new market, and is what Apple up to really different? " ... Beacons are a low-cost piece of hardware — small enough to attach to a wall or countertop— that utilize battery-friendly low-energy Bluetooth…