Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2010
From Putting People First
The interviews of l
The bilingual (Fr/En) research journal CADI of the highly respected design school L’
From The Eponymous Pickle
Too Much Online Training?
This short piece questions the over-use of online training. I was involved with an analysis of face-to-face vs online methods and in-person was clearly better. Yes, it depends much on the quality of both, the difference in cost…
From Schneier on Security
ICPP Pre-Trial Settlement Scam
Nasty scam, where the user is pressured into accepting a "pre-trial settlement" for copyright violations. The level of detail is impressive.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
US Imagine Cup Winners
Today after keynote presentations by James Cameron (who praised Microsoft Research for helping them create a digital asset management system that made Avatar possible), Craig Mundie, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer…
From Putting People First
Guidebook on climate communications and behavioral change
To address global warming there must be a shift in thinking and behavior that motivates people and organizations to engage in emissions reductions and climate preparedness activities and support new policies. Mounting evidence…
From Putting People First
Eight interaction design and architecture videos
The disciplines of interaction design and architecture share a number of common traits
From Putting People First
Interactions Magazine
The latest issue of Interactions Magazine is about the spread of design into new areas, write editor Jon Kolko: “The process of design is spreading into new areas of society and business, and as it does, our work gets more complicated…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of April 26
April 28
Markup:
The House Science and Technology Committee will mark up a reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Building
From The Eponymous Pickle
New Findings on Blog Readership
There have been a number of reports that both blog reading and writing have decreased among younger age groups. Twitter and other social media largely being blamed. Some contradictory results reported.
From Schneier on Security
Punishing Security Breaches
The editor of the Freakonomics blog asked me to write about this topic. The idea was that they would get several opinions, and publish them all. They spiked the story, but I already wrote my piece. So here it is.
In deciding…From Computational Complexity
Google VS Experts VS readers VS Bing
If you want to find something out you can ask Google, ask an expert, or (if you have a blog) ask your readers. Google is the most common; however, there are times when asking an expert or your readers does better. In my last…
From Putting People First
How print dominates newspaper website design
In his presentation at this weekend’s Internional Symposium on Online Journalism, Nuno Vargas of the University of Barcelona (Spain) talked about how news and information is graphically presented online. His paper discusses whether…
From Apophenia
Harassment by Q&A: Initial Thoughts on Formspring.me
(This was written for the Digital Media and Learning Project.) Questions-and-answers have played a central role in digital bonding since the early days of Usenet. Teenagers have consistently co-opted quizzes and surveys and…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Windows Phone 7 Rockstar Award
If you have been reading my blog (or following on Twitter @AlfredTwo) you have been reading about the US Imagine Cup finals. Hopefully you have found some interesting things and maybe becoming interested in getting involved if…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Stephen Hawking and Aliens
I saw the first few episodes of the Stephen Hawking Discovery Channel series on the Universe . One of the things he has received much publicity about is his advice not to talk to aliens. I have an academic background and still…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Religion and the Brain
In Mind Hacks, a short description and links to new fmri study of religion and the brain. You may recall that Martin Lindstrom also included a set of studies based on his analyses of the biometrics of religious leaders in his…
From BLOG@CACM
What Security Advice Should We Give?
Are people being rational when they ignore the security advice we give them? If so, what advice should we give them that they would not ignore?
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Finalists for the US Imagine Cup 2010
Don
From The Eponymous Pickle
Addressing Innovation and Productivity
I have mentioned KYield a number of times here. Here an overview of what they are about. I am on their advisory board.Semantic Solution for Challenges Facing Modern OrganizationsKyield is a semantic enterprise system designed…
From The Eponymous Pickle
TIBCO Spotfire 3.1
I see that the new version of Spotfire has increased emphasis on predictive analytics.-
From Wild WebMink
? Grow Roots In Season
XOOPS loss is the wider community's lesson.
From BLOG@CACM
Personal Factories
Since several years ago, with the beginning of nanoscience, the idea having of micro factories, like household microwave ovens, is floating in the air.
From Putting People First
Dan Ariely on predicting the irrational
Tom H. C. Anderson, founder and managing partner of Anderson Analytics, discuss the book “Predictably Irrational” and the field of market research with behavioural economist Dan Ariely. Dan is also professor of Behavioral Economics…
From Putting People First
Brains, behaviour and design
Over the past few decades, researchers have codified many of the patterns that describe why people behave irrationally. As researchers, how can we be on the lookout for these patterns of behavior when we go into the field? As…
From The Eponymous Pickle
How Brands Grow: The Book
Correspondent Byron Sharp. Professor at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, University of South Australia, has a new book out: How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know. Here is the book's web site. I have mentioned the Ehrenberg…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Ham Radio Still Growing
To my surprise, in Slashdot, report on the growth of Ham radio. It doesn't require connectivity and in disasters, providing there is a power source, will still work.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Full Day One for US Imagine Cup Finals
At 8AM this morning, judging for the US Imagine Cup finals began. Ten software design and ten game design teams each had 50 minutes to
From Wild WebMink
? Saturday Hybrids
Listen to excellent dance-trance dub with us this weekend.
From Putting People First
Toward a read/write urbanism
What might we gain, asks Adam Greenfield, if we begin to conceive of cities, for some limited purposes anyway, as software under active development? What if we imagined that the citizen-responsiveness system we
From Putting People First
The imitation economy
Innovation is overrated, writes Drake Bennett in the Boston Globe. It’s time to appreciate the power of the copycat. “Invaluable though innovation may be, our relentless focus on it may be obscuring the value of its much-maligned…