Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
A Smart Business Notebook Network
In FastCompany: As a long time user of Evernote, this was interesting. Pointing towards the Moleskin physical notebook. So not paperless. Had been unaware of the former version of this. " ... The two companies have partnered…
From Schneier on Security
Tails
Nice article on the Tails stateless operating system. I use it. Initially I would boot my regular computer with Tails on a USB stick, but I went out and bought a remaindered computer from Best Buy for $250 and now use that...…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Negative Questions Managers Should Ask
In the HBR Blog (Registration required): The kind of questions that a good manager should ask, and most do. Still it is one of those things that is worth repeating. It is relatively rare to ask the negative question, posed…
From CERIAS Blog
A Special Opportunity to Support CERIAS
Purdue University is a land-grant university, founded in 1869. As a land-grant university, our focus has always been on service to the public good — providing excellent education and research results for the betterment of the…
From CERIAS Blog
A Special Opportunity to Support CERIAS
Purdue University is a land-grant university, founded in 1869. As a land-grant university, our focus has always been on service to the public good — providing excellent education and research results for the betterment of the…
From CERIAS Blog
A Special Opportunity to Support CERIAS
Purdue University is a land-grant university, founded in 1869. As a land-grant university, our focus has always been on service to the public good — providing excellent education and research results for the betterment of the…
From CERIAS Blog
A Special Opportunity to Support CERIAS
Purdue University is a land-grant university, founded in 1869. As a land-grant university, our focus has always been on service to the public good — providing excellent education and research results for the betterment of the…
From Computational Complexity
Should you reveal a P = NP algorithm?
What would you do if you could prove that P=NP with a time-complexity of n2 or better... moreover, would you publish it?There are all these statements of the good that could come of it. But how would the government…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Experfy Big Data Consulting
Received a note from Harvard Innovation Lab. Regarding Experfy, which was new to me. Interesting, taking a closer look.Big Data Consulting Marketplace in Harvard Innovation Lab Invites Applications ... Experfy is a consulting…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Intro to Unstructured Data
Good short piece on the increasingly important topic, by Radhika Subramanian. The article also points to a free eBook on the topic. Have not looked at that yet. Its also important to understand two conundrums on this. One…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Analytic Methods and Massive Data
What are the limitations of analytic methods against increasingly massive amounts of data? A Linkedin Discussion of interest.
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
The More Variables, the Better?
Ideas from algebraic geometry and arithmetic complexity Hyman Bass is a professor of both mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Michigan, after a long and storied career at Columbia University. He was one…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
The More Variables, the Better?
Ideas from algebraic geometry and arithmetic complexity Hyman Bass is a professor of both mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Michigan, after a long and storied career at Columbia University. He was one…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Open Source Coq Wins ACM Software System Award
ACM today selected open source Coq as the recipient of the ACM Software System Award for its influential and critical role as a primary programming and certification tool. Coq is a software tool for the interactive development…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award Winners – Robert D. Blumofe and Charles E. Leiserson
The Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award honors specific theoretical accomplishments that significantly affect the practice of computing. Paris Kanellakis was a leader in theoretical computer science. ACM today recognized…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award Winner – Pedro Felipe Felzenszwalb
The Grace Murray Hopper Award recognizes the outstanding young computer professional of the year. Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was a computer pioneer who developed the first computer compiler and whose work led to the…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award – Susan H. Rodger
The Karlstrom Award recognizes educators who advanced new teaching methodologies; effected new curriculum development in Computer Science and Engineering; or contributed to ACM’s educational mission. ACM today recognized Susan…
From The Eponymous Pickle
HR Strategy. Hiring Specialties or Growing Them?
In CWorld. Self serving yes, but an alternate strategy for lack of specific IT skills. Instead of hiring college trained people, probably younger people. Hire older skilled people and train them intensely in the specialty…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
MIT’s Alex Pentland on Big Data in The New York Times
In an article published on The New York Times’ website yesterday, the newspaper’s technology writer Steve Lohr discusses Alex Pentland’s new book, “Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread – The Lesson From a New Science.” Pentland…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On Metadata Introduction
Been examining the state of metadata, here is a book with good background, if not completely up to date. Mostly document oriented. A good example where on line resources can be useful. Metadata: For Information Management …
From The Eponymous Pickle
Police Robotics
In Time: With video. An old idea, but here apparently a commercial available system. I always ask, how are these different from a remote movable camera? How much autonomy is involved? A number of relevant sensors are included…
From Schneier on Security
Book Title
I previously posted that I am writing a book on security and power. Here are some title suggestions: Permanent Record: The Hidden Battles to Capture Your Data and Control Your World Hunt and Gather: The Hidden Battles to Capture…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Capturing Ambient Intelligence
In CWorld: Related to other work recently posted on. Had not heard the term 'ambient intelligence' used before, but it fits. An interesting step by Microsoft. Again, its about sensors, data and delivering intelligent"…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Deep Learning Innovation from Mobile Sensors
Out of Research at Purdue: Interative contextual learning and reasoning is a powerful concept that will radically change how we use computing. It will bring sensors to many new environments. And analytics to the data gathered…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Culture and Business Sphere Focus
In Ars Technica: The idea of a 'data culture' is something that Microsoft is promoting heavily. " ... Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was in San Francisco today to talk about data and Microsoft's data platform. Nadella repeatedly…
From BLOG@CACM
Those Who Say Code Does Not Matter
Often, you will be told programming languages do not matter much. It is a pretty general rule that people arguing language does not matter are simply trying to justify their own choice of language.
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Texas SBOE Requires Districts to Offer Two Computer Science Courses
This blog piece is reposted with permission from the TCEA Advocacy Network Blog. Please see http://tceaadvocacy.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/texas-sboe-requires-districts-to-offer-two-computer-science-courses/ for the original blog…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Using Mind Maps to Support Exit Interviews
We suggested this, but it was never widely utilized. In Biggerplate. A good case study of the idea. The question that always came up: Does the additional complexity add knowledge to the result? Or is it just the equivalent…
From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Value of Social Data: Gnip Acquisition
In AdAge: " In Gnip Buy, Twitter Grabs Control of Key Data Middleman ...The Acquisition is Yet Another Indicator of the Value Corporations and Investors See in Social Data ... " Data has value that is driven by analytical…
From BLOG@CACM
The Danger of Requiring Computer Science in K-12 Schools
We are not ready to make CS a requirement for all children in the U.S., even if that's where we want to be one day.