Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
March 2020
From Putting People First
Special issue on digital ethnography
This special issue of the Journal of Digital Social Research collects the confessions of five digital ethnographers laying bare their methodological failures, disciplinary posturing, and ethical dilemmas.
From Computational Complexity
Logic examples for your Discrete Math class
(I injured my hand about a month ago so I have had a hard time typing. That is why
I have not blogged for a while. I'm better now but still slow. This is a post I prepared
a while back.)
Here are some examples of English…
From insideHPC
Supermicro announces Pole-mounted Ruggedized Servers for AI on the Edge
Today Supermicro announced first-to-market IP65 enclosure-based servers for 5G RAN, AI inferencing, and other edge-focused applications based on Intel Xeon D and 2nd Gen Intel Xeon processors and broad configuration options.
…
From BLOG@CACM
How Does a Pantograph Work?
Pantographs have been widely used for centuries; for example, in surveying and embroidery. With these devices, drawings can be enlarged and reduced.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Robots Learning
Impressed with what is going on behind the scenes at Google, ultimately having systems that will learn about their contexts, both physical and logical.
Google algorithm lets robots teach themselves to walk
It's a milestone in
By…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Crowdsourcing Ethical Machines
Qute a remarkable piece, ultimately technical but a good proposal for getting at the problem of exploring 'ethics' in machines. Can machines be more or less ethical than people can?
Crowdsourcing Moral Machines
By Edmond Awad,…
From insideHPC
GPCNeT or GPCNoT?
In this special guest feature, Gilad Shainer from Mellanox Technologies writes that the new GPCNeT benchmark is actually a measure of relative performance under load rather than a measure of absolute performance. "When it comes…
From Schneier on Security
Facebook's Download-Your-Data Tool Is Incomplete
Privacy International has the details: Key facts: Despite Facebook claim, "Download Your Information" doesn't provide users with a list of all advertisers who uploaded a list with their personal data. As a user this means you…
From Putting People First
[Book] The Power of Not Thinking
The Power of Not Thinking: How Our Bodies Learn and Why We Should Trust Themby Simon Roberts535 publishersApril 2020, 336 pages Have you ever held out your hand to try and remember your PIN? Or acted out a golf stroke before…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Transforming Organizations
My own observation is that this is very haphazardly done. This piece looks at key variables. But how do you make sure these variables are addressed, measured and adapted? You need a Model to guide you.
What does it take toMcKinsey…
From insideHPC
Advanced Clustering now offering Intel Cascade Lake Refresh Processors
Today Advanced Clustering Technologies announced that the company is now integrating Intel’s new Cascade Lake Refresh (CLX-R) processor into its line of HPC ACTblade and ACTserv clusters and ACTstation workstations. "Pricing
…
From Putting People First
Video interviews on the history of design between the Dotcom Crash and the rise of machine intelligence
Transformations in design practice between the Dotcom Crash and the rise of machine intelligence
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Assistants in Healthcare
Much work to be done on voice solutions to health problems. The infrastructure is growing.
Industry Voices—Is Dr. Alexa ready to see you now? in FierceHealthcare by Robin Cavanaugh
Smart speakers have become a ubiquitous part…
From insideHPC
Breakthrough Coronavirus Research Results in New Map to Support Vaccine Design
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the National Institutes of Health have made a critical breakthrough toward developing a vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus by creating the first 3D atomic scale map of…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Causal Monitoring for Distributed Systems: IOT Solutions
Spent some time looking at monitoring and troubleshooting systems, with the obvious need to infer causation. Here an intro to 'Pivot Tracing', a means of causal monitoring I had not heard of. Would seem to be very useful…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nordic Countries get 900K Smart Speakers
It seems Amazon has only a small part of this market. Google assistant has the advantage of much more translation and localization of language. Important if these devices form the future basis of human assistance capabilities…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ingestible Medical Devices
Abilities to ingest and then remove devices readily.
Ingestible medical devices can be broken down with light
New light-sensitive material could eliminate some of the endoscopic procedures needed to remove gastrointestinal devices…
From Putting People First
Why facts don’t change our minds
Humans’ biggest advantage over other species is our ability to coöperate.
From Putting People First
Post-it note city
A visit to the smart-city-in-progress at Sidewalk Toronto prompts questions about what it means to “participate” in civic design.