Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Implications of Mobile Replacing Desktop
If we start asking employees to bring their own devices, that will increasingly be a mobile device. What are the general implications of this direction? Security, application distribution and device capabilities are just a few…
From The Eponymous Pickle
When Cars Talk
The broad idea is machine to machine communication. Here the example used is how cars on the street will talk to each other and react to data in their environment. The analytics for the idea can be taken further. How can any…
From Schneier on Security
Mail Cover
From a FOIAed Department of Transportation document on investigative techniques:
A "mail cover" is the process by which the U.S. Postal Service records any data appearing on the outside cover of any class of mail, sealed or …From Putting People First
UXPA’s latest User Experience Magazine is freely available online
User Experience is the quarterly magazine of the UXPA, the User Experience Professional Association. From now on, each new issue is available online, in a responsive design so that you can read it on the desktop, tablet or handheld…
From Putting People First
Jake Barton of Local Projects wins USA’s National Award for Interaction Design
We at Experientia have always admired the work of Jake Barton and his company Local Projects, for the way that they have deeply woven people’s narration and storytelling into the design of interactive installations and museums…
From Putting People First
How do you interview an interview specialist?
Ethnography Matters took on a difficult challenge with this interview of Steve Portigal about his new book “Interviewing Users“. EM: In your 18 years in this business, what has been some of the biggest shifts that you have witnessed…
From Putting People First
‘Open Data’ brings potential and perils for governments
Governments and public officials are rushing to embrace the concept of Open Data, throwing open the vast panoply of publicly collected information for the digitally savvy to mine and exploit, writes Ben Rooney in the Wall Street…
From Putting People First
How GE uses data visualization to tell complex stories
GE, perhaps more than any other major company, is dedicated to the use of data visualization as a key part of its marketing and communications efforts. Stemming from last month’s Insight Center on visualizing data, Gretchen Gavett…
From Putting People First
Libraries: a canvas for creating meaningful UX
Amanda L. Goodman is the User Experience Librarian at Darien Library in Connecticut. In this article for UX Magazine, she writes about her experience as a librarian in the USA: “Across the country, libraries are providing services…
From The Eponymous Pickle
D-Wave and Quantum Computing
In the NYT: Mentioned it here a number of times that we have had some encounters with the folks from D-Wave. Seems they are getting some better press these days, with evidence that what they are building is quantum and very…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
My Beautiful GRAND Conference Poster
I'm a strong believer in creating conference posters that look good. If they have a striking resemblance to printed papers, in my opinion something has gone really wrong. With that said, I have to say I had a lot of fun designing…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Linkedin Contacts
I loaded up Linkedin's new Contacts App. A very simple idea. It combines streams from Linkedin, your phone contacts, mail contacts, calendars, Evernote, etc. Then you use the contact-centric list which includes how you interacted…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Top Ten Global Brands
An overview of global brand choices. Expected ones like Coke. Colgate, Nescafe and Pepsi. Less known in the US, but common brand globally Maggi. A brand from my former enterprise comes in 7th: Pantene.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Optimizing Packaging
In CGT, an overview of the characteristics that make a difference in packaging. From Manufacturing to Supply Chain to Shelf. " ... With stores stocking innumerable branded and private label competitors in every category,…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Three Computer Scientists Elected to National Academy of Sciences
The CCC congratulates three computer scientists recently elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences: Naomi Halas, Juris Hartmanis, and Éva Tardos. Last week, 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries…
From Computational Complexity
GPU Computing
Back around 1980, I used to write computer games for the Apple II. Plotting a point on the Apple II screen required dividing by 7, a lengthy process for the 6502 microprocessor. Asking around, we learned how to make divisionGraphics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Smarter Productivity in the Modern Office
A very good Wharton article on the measurement of productivity in the current world of knowledge workers. I have lived through this age, and have many times seen the attempts at using old metrics fail. Shortly after the emergence…
From Schneier on Security
The <i>Economist</i> on Guantanamo
Maybe the tide is turning:
America is in a hole. The last response of the blowhards and cowards who have put it there is always: "So what would you do: set them free?" Our answer remains, yes. There is clearly a risk that some…From The Eponymous Pickle
Google Brain and the New AI
In Wired: Neuro artificial intelligence? " ... The idea arises from experiments suggesting that the portion of your brain dedicated to processing sound from your ears could also handle sight for your eyes. This is possibleAbout…
From Geeking with Greg
Blogging is dead, but have we fixed anything?
Google Reader is shutting down, but most people moved on long ago. Blogging is dead. To the extent that it lives, it is dominated by professional journalists, writers backed by major organizations, or has transformed into microblogging…
From Schneier on Security
Reidentifying Anonymous Data
Latanya Sweeney has demonstrated how easy it can be to identify people from their birth date, gender, and zip code. The anonymous data she reidentified happened to be DNA data, but that's not relevant to her methods or results…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Unilever Mobile in Retail
In Mobile Marketer: Quite an interesting experiment. Note the scanning of the QR code and the building of a mobile database for future use. Data mining is an obvious next step. " ... Unilever has teamed up with a SouthernThe…
From Putting People First
Interviewing Users book – Special offers for Putting People First readers
A few weeks ago, I announced Interviewing Users, the new book by Steve Portigal published by Rosenfeld Media. It is now available for purchase, both in print and in digital version. Steve and his publisher provide Putting People…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Quantified Self
Stephen Wolfram talks about his approach to personal analytics. Based on the quantified self. Something I have also done over the years, but very selectively. " ... The creator of the Wolfram Alpha search engine explainsConsider…
From The Eponymous Pickle
And Google at 15
Another surprising anniversary to me, Google at 15. I have remarked about those of Web Pages(20) and Linkedin (10). The small numbers still amaze me. I do remember when Google came out. At the time, AltaVista ruled. There…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Knowledge Management for Expertise Location
Thinking broadly, all data use and leverage is about knowledge management. This article surveys what companies are doing in particular for expertise location with knowledge management tools. We tried that, with partial success…
From The Eponymous Pickle
HiPerGator
A classmate points out a link to new supercomputer work at an Alma Mater of mine.
From Schneier on Security
Evacuation Alerts at the Airport
Last week, an employee error caused the monitors at LAX to display a building evacuation order:
At a little before 9:47 p.m., the message read: "An emergency has been declared in the terminal. Please evacuate." An airport police…From The Eponymous Pickle
Invisibility Cloaks
In GigaOM: This topic sounds like one of those weird science things that are probably most suited to military stealth applications. With memories of Claude Rains and The Invisible Man film. But it turns out we had an actual…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Visualization–can you see it in your head?
I had dinner tonight with several computer science professors. The topic of conversation turned to the question of “can everyone learn to program?” One professor is pretty sure the answer is no. He believes that some people just…