Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2013
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
BIG Projects
I’ve been trying some different things this year. One experiment was to assign my C# students (this is a second programming course for most of them) to modify a large project. OK maybe not large by professional standards but …
From Computational Complexity
The Golden Ticket
Today is the official publication date of my first book The Golden Ticket: P, NP and the Search for the Impossible by Princeton University Press, though the book has been available on Amazon and in some bookstores for a couple…
From The Eponymous Pickle
UC Analytics Summit 2013
" ... Analytics Summit 2013 will be held on May 31, 8:15AM-5:00PM at the University of Cincinnati. Analytics Summit 2013 is the premiere analytics event of the year sponsored by the Center for Business Analytics in the CarlThe…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Morphological Analysis for Wicked Problem Solving
A morphology is a set of structures that are used to define a category. It is often used in one of my interest areas: Botany. See the image on the right, where it defines leaf structures. It turns out that it can also be used…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Measuring Advertising
From the Penn Customer Analytics Initiative: Innovative Approaches to Measuring Advertising Effectivness. Includes some of my favorite topics, like emotional response measurement. On May 16.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Diagnosing Expression
In CACM: On diagnosing Depression. " ... Automatic systems that analyze gestures and facial expressions might improve the challenging task of diagnosing depression. One such system, SimSensei, is a digital avatar that interviews…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Interaction Between Robots and Jobs
Do robots net create or remove jobs? What are the classification of jobs that are lost and won? " ... A new class of industrial robot is appearing. These robots are smart, affordable, and safe enough to work alongside humans…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Because We Are a Community
I believe it is only human nature that, when something terrible happens at a distance from us, we immediately ask ourselves "Are our people there? Are they safe". Twice in the last few months, I've come to understand that because…
From Putting People First
Book: Hidden in Plain Sight (by Jan Chipchase)
Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Create Extraordinary Products for Tomorrow’s Customers by Jan Chipchase Harper Collins Publishers April 2013 256 pages (Amazon link) A global-innovation expert offers a new perspective on how consumers…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
USACM Comments on Ways to Improve Quality of Software-Related Patents
The ACM U.S. Public Policy Council submitted comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office yesterday in response to its request for recommendations on how the USPTO and the software community might “enhance the quality of…
From Schneier on Security
Initial Thoughts on the Boston Bombings
I rewrote my "refuse to be terrorized" essay for the Atlantic. David Rothkoph (author of the great book Power, Inc.) wrote something similar, and so did John Cole.
It's interesting to see how much more resonance this idea has…From The Eponymous Pickle
Ericcsson Acquires MS Mediaroom
Interesting because I have worked with variants of the media room idea for years. Much more at the link. " ... Mediaroom is the leading platform for video distribution deployed with the world's largest IPTV operators. This…
From Putting People First
Videos online of March 2013 Healthcare Experience Design conference
On March 25, the Healthcare Experience Design (HxD) conference took place in Boston. Speakers discussed how human centered design and design thinking can improve the quality of health service delivery and digital interactions…
From CERIAS Blog
Opening Keynote: Todd Gebhart, Co-President McAfee Inc. (Summary)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013 Summary by Gaspar Modelo-Howard
The Changing Security Landscape
Why do we, as cybersecurity professionals, go to work each day? Mr. Gebhart reflected on this question to start his presentation, suggesting…From Wild WebMink
OSI Open Source Community Summit
Reblogged from Meshed Insights & Knowledge: The License Clinic for US Federal Agencies is not the only new departure for the Open Source Initiative this May. OSI is also reaching out to a wide spectrum of open source communities…
From Schneier on Security
FBI and Cell Phone Surveillance
We're learning a lot about how the FBI eavesdrops on cell phones from a recent court battle.
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
2013 CSTA Annual Conference Keynote Speakers Announced
The Computer Science Teachers Association is proud to announce the keynotes for the 2013 CSTA Annual Conference (formerly known as the Computer Science & Information Technology (CS&IT) Conference).
Hadi Patrovi As the co-founder…From Wild WebMink
If you’re not paying, you’re the product
Thanks for the CC-BY, Geek & Poke
From Putting People First
iHub Nairobi welcomes Michele Visciola
Michele Visciola, Experientia’s president and user research director, will speak at Kenya’s iHub this week, on Friday 19th April. Michele is currently in Nairobi preparing research, and has been invited to be a guest speaker…
From The Eponymous Pickle
RFID System Tracks Shopper Flow
In RFID Journal : Have tested a number of related ideas. Notably much work by Herb Sorensen's group that was reported in his excellent book : Inside the Mind of the Shopper. (Image on the right his from his paper) " .…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Cisco and GMills Open Innovation
How Cisco and General Mills use Open Innovation. In APQC. Views based on physical and virtual site visits. Examples of how to bring in external innovation.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Solving the Problem of Customer Attacks II
Colleague, correspondent and former co-fellow of mine at SNCR Paul Gillin has written a book on customer attacks using social media. I posted about it once before and now continue my look at it:Attack of the Customers: Whyby…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
CCC Sponsoring Challenges and Visions Track at Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2013 Conference
The CCC is sponsoring another in its series of “Challenges and Visions” tracks as a Robotics Challenges and Vision workshop at the 9th Robotics: Science and Systems conference June 24 – 28, 2013, Technische Universität Berlin…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Do we lose intelligence and creativity as we grow older?
It was popular during the XXth century to say that most scientific discovery are done by young scientists (under 30). The implicit assumption was that the brain decayed over time, like an apple left to rot. The most recent research…
From Computational Complexity
Post Mordem on an April Fool's day joke
Recall that on April Fools Day I had a post about R(5) being discovered via a collaboration of Math and History. Many readers emailed me asking how many people were fooled (apparently they weren't!). I can't tell if it fooled…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 15 April 2013
Income taxes are due the end of the day today in the US. Thanks to computer software mine are done and in with a minimum of pain. It is amazing how much easier good software can make ones life. Of course software mistakes can…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Dieticians at the Supermarket
In AdAge: Good piece on another example of linking related expertise to the retail interaction. This may be an area where the personal touch could work well. The article has excellent detail.
From Putting People First
Report: People Powered Health
People Powered Health: Health For People, By People and With People by Matthew Horne, Halima Khan and Paul Corrigan April 2013 – 58 pages NESTA, UK This report, and the People Powered Health programme it’s part of, makes the…
From Putting People First
Right to erasure protects people’s freedom to forget the past, says expert
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger says the ability to forget our past, both on and offline, is an essential part of what makes us human. “The more I’ve worked on data protection over the past 20 years, the more I’ve realised that at the…
From Putting People First
Does design thinking address quick fixes at the expense of root causes?
Does design thinking address quick fixes at the expense of root causes, asks John Thackara, referring to “Why the d.school has its limits,” a provocative article in The Stanford Daily by Danny Buerkli, a Swiss Fulbright student…