Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2011
From Putting People First
The problem with design education
University industrial design programs are usually cloistered in schools of art or architecture, and students in such programs are rarely required to study science or technology. That bothers Don Norman, former head of research…
From Wild WebMink
? Google Cuts Off Travellers
Usually when I want to illustrate the capricious and arbitrary nature of cloud-provided services, I use other examples. But today Google has shown me that they simply can’t be trusted to provide a service one relies upon. They…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Leading the Learning Function
Have started reading in the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) Blog. The post How do you lead the learning function is a good start. Largely agree, as long as it is understood that learning comes from all parts of the organization…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Social Media Relationship to Mass Media
Intriguing points about the relationship of social media to mass media. " ... Study Shows How Social Media Amplifies Mass Media ... Social media is touted by many as a way to get around the gatekeepers of media, the traditional…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Last Minute Preparations for our Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering
Tomorrow is our second annual Carleton Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering, hosted by CU-WISE. This is an event I came up with last year after attending Grace Hopper. I wanted to emphasize women "doing stuff" rather…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Message from Patrice Gans
Hello, My name is Patrice Gans. I'm running for the position of K-8 Representative on the CSTA Board of Directors and would like to introduce myself and ask for your support. I currently teach K-8 technology and computer science…
From Schneier on Security
Epsilon Hack
I have no idea why the Epsilon hack is getting so much press.
Yes, millions of names and e-mail addresses might have been stolen. Yes, other customer information might have been stolen, too. Yes, this personal information …From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Wireless Research for Intelligent Transport
On the heels of a speech by President Obama last week touting a public-private partnership seeking to “help large fleets reduce diesel and gasoline use by incorporating electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and fuel-saving measures”…
From Computational Complexity
A New Proof of the Nondeterministic Time Hierarchy
From The Eponymous Pickle
Is there a Digital Right to be Forgotten?
Recently mentioned the issue of the long term ownership of data. Was directed to this Fast Company article about varying laws that touched on this, notably the difference between laws in the US versus EU Now we are seeing…
From Schneier on Security
Reducing Bribery by Legalizing the Giving of Bribes
Here's some very clever thinking from India's chief economic adviser. In order to reduce bribery, he proposes legalizing the giving of bribes:
Under the current law, discussed in some detail in the next section, once a bribe…From The Eponymous Pickle
Mobile Payments Changing
In Forrester: Mobile payments enter a disruptive phase. A Rapidly changing area with acquisitions and big players working the space. " ... A recent article in The Wall Street Journal mentioned that Google could team up with…
From Wild WebMink
? Spin-Policy-Defense
Increasing Mozilla Focus on Messaging and Communications on the Web: Re-integration of Mozilla Messaging While it’s not instantly obvious from Mitchell’s blog posting, which verges on concealment in plain sight, the deal here…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Interactive Voice Response
Newly introduced to: Newfound Technologies, known for their work in Interactive Voice Response. (IVR) application development. Providing knowledge remotely is important in a number of industries. As most of us know, this is…
From Putting People First
Storytelling and destination development
The study “Storytelling and Destination Development” by the Nordic Innovation Centre set out to scrutinize the possibilities and drawbacks of using storytelling as a means of developing and marketing Nordic tourism destinations…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
After The APCS Exam
The Advanced Placement Computer Science exam is just about a month away. While for most schools this is far from the end of the school year for many AP students it feels like they should be done. After all what more to an APThere…
From My Biased Coin
Did the NSF Just Do Something Really Stupid Misguided?
To begin, as I always do when I write about the NSF, let me start by saying that I love the NSF, and I greatly appreciate all the research funding they give me. (And all the rest of all those scientists out there too. But mostly…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
How information technology is really built
One of my favorite stories is how Greg Linden invented the famous Amazon recommender system, after after being forbidden to do so. The story is fantastic because what Greg did is contrary to everything textbooks say about good…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Billion Prices Project
Just brought to my attention the Billion Prices Project at MIT, designed to track and analyze inflation rates worldwide.
From Wild WebMink
? Tune In
@webminkSimon Phipps Just confirmed I'll co-host this Wed on FLOSS Weekly: David Wheeler – Open Source Software at the US Dept of Defence, http://twit.tv/floss 11 minutes ago via webReplyRetweetFavorite
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
A Role for Artificial Intelligence in Sustainable Design
The following is a special contribution to this blog from Doug Fisher (Vanderbilt University) and Mary Lou Maher (University of Maryland, College Park), who recently co-organized the AAAI 2011 Spring Symposium on Artificial Intelligence…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Do You Have a "Split Personality" in Your CS Classroom
Sometimes it feels like you are up against a brick wall. Your own principal threatens to cancel your AP CS course due to low enrollment and budgetary restrictions. It's funny (or not) how the enrollment minimum keeps increasing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
The Retailer: Supply Chain's Last Mile
Upcoming, I plan to attend:The Department of Operations & Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati
From The Eponymous Pickle
Facial EMG
A short descriptive piece by Roger Dooley on FMG (Facial Myography) for neuromarketing applications.
From Putting People First
The fall and rise of user experience
UX designer Cennydd Bowles has posted the transcript of his closing plenary at the IA Summit 2011 in Denver, Colorado. “Although there’s still a substantial gap between aspiration and execution, business leaders are at least…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Becoming Customer Centric
Good piece in SASCom on Becoming a customer centric company - the new imperative. Excellent blog in general, give it a follow.
From Schneier on Security
Ebook Fraud
Interesting post -- and discussion -- on Making Light about ebook fraud. Currently there are two types of fraud. The first is content farming, discussed in these two interesting blog posts. People are creating automatically…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of April 4
April 6
Hearing:
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. 10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Building
The Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet of the…From Wild WebMink
? Closed-Attacked-Open
Nokia says about Symbian: “We’re Open”. The New License Shows Otherwise. This looks bad. Not only has Nokia closed the source code to Symbian, it is pretending there’s no problem. I really hope they fix this fast. RSA: Anatomy…
From The Eponymous Pickle
M-Commerce Opportunities
In E-Commerce Times: Excellent post on the opportunities that exist in our always connected times with mobile commerce. Notably for my interests: " ... In-Store Shopping Applications: Mobile devices can become "virtual salespeople"…