Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2010
From Putting People First
The tension between user-centered design and e-government services
Nalini Kotamraju, assistant professor at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, gave a talk yesterday at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society on the lack of user centricity in e-government services…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Funding Opportunities for Ed Tech
The Department of Education
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Work Where You Work Best
Summers can be a bit lonely at universities. Without the hustle and bustle of thousands of undergrads to keep things looking and feeling busy, and with many faculty working from home or taking vacations, the halls can seem awfully…
From The Eponymous Pickle
What Do People Want on Smartphones?
In Progressive Grocer: What information do people want on their smartphones. This is mostly a fairly obvious survey, with a much too small sample, that is still worth a look. And futher summary of the outcome here.
From Schneier on Security
DNSSEC Root Key Split Among Seven People
The DNSSEC root key has been divided among seven people:
Part of ICANN's security scheme is the Domain Name System Security, a security protocol that ensures Web sites are registered and "signed" (this is the security measure…From The Eponymous Pickle
Retail Geek
Just discovered through some Twitter messages The Retail Geek Blog. I have acted in that capacity at times. Welcome.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mapping the Brain's Networks
Remarkable overview of work by IBM scientists on mapping the major networks in the brain. With some great visualizations. The most comprehensive work yet in understanding how it all fits together. It makes me realize both…
From Putting People First
Rem Koolhaas, the Hermitage and the design of innovative experiences
On the way to celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2014, the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg (formerly the Winter Palace of the Russian czars) hired legendary architect Rem Koolhaas to modernize the art museum experience for…
From The Noisy Channel
SIGIR 2010: Day 3 Industry Track Afternoon Sessions
While the SIGIR 2010 Industry Track keynotes had the highest-profile speakers, the rest of the day assembled an impressive line-up: The new frontiers of Web search: going beyond the 10 blue links Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Andrei Broder…
From Putting People First
Cory Doctorow on curated computing
Cory Doctorow, the Canadian blogger, journalist and science-fiction author, argues in The Guardian that curated computing is no substitute for the personal and handmade. Although bespoke computing experiences promise a pipe dream…
From Putting People First
Time to break the cyber-utopian myth
Who do you read and associate with online? Ethan Zuckerman argues in this Guardian video that cultural and linguistic barriers stand in the way of our using the internet to tackle global issues.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Amazon Sells Groceries in the UK
In Businessweek: Amazon sells groceries online in the UK. " ... has launched a grocery website in Britain, offering customers products from companies including Kraft, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble. In a move that increases competition…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
EdChat Education Discussions on Twitter
Have you ever wondered what good Twitter was for educators? Well #EdChat is one thing that is very useful. And pretty interesting as well. EdChat is an informal interactive (VERY interactive) discussion by people interested in…
From Schneier on Security
Pork-Filled Counter-Islamic Bomb Device
Okay, this is just weird:
Mark S. Price, a specialist in public security, and his privately held company, Paradise Lost Antiterrorism Network of America (www.plan-a.us), have recently applied to the United States Patent and …From Computational Complexity
This Post is Quite Different then Any You've Every Read!
I recently a letter from WETA (public TV) which I quote from: This letter is quite different from any we've ever sent to you. For years we wrote to you about WETA's great programs and the need they filled in your life. Today…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Wrong Price Penalties
In StoreFrontBackTalk, an article on some recent large penalties due to incorrect price postings at Sears. You will recall we did a number of studies of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) that were meant to address exactly thissee…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Getting Strategic Transparency
On linking transparency and accountability, in particular about using our increasingly sensor-rich world. in the HBR: " ... Whether morbidly curious or voyeuristically intrigued, millions of people worldwide have accessed the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Insects and Robot Design
In the CACM: Insects that inspire robot design. Not a new thing. Useful but sometimes overemphasized. Airplanes are not based on the design of birds. Natural inspired design is best used as one of a number of options.
From BLOG@CACM
What Do Scientists and Engineers Need to Know About Computer Science?
As computational science and engineering becomes more common, it becomes important to ask what should all scientists and engineers know about computer science to be effective.
From Wild WebMink
links for 2010-07-27
EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers Congratulations to the EFF on this victory for digital liberty. We mustn't over-state the victory, however. The DMCA is still an unnecessarily…
From Schneier on Security
WPA Cracking in the Cloud
It's a service:
The mechanism used involves captured network traffic, which is uploaded to the WPA Cracker service and subjected to an intensive brute force cracking effort. As advertised on the site, what would be a five-day…From BLOG@CACM
Computer Science Left out of National Academies Report
The new draft framework from the National Research Council on "science, engineering, and technology" makes no mention of computer science.
From My Biased Coin
Teaching Time Conflicts
As the semester ominously approaches, we've noticed that we're facing a number of class time-slot collisions in computer science.This is unsurprising. Until recently, we've been fairly ad hoc in assigning class times; for the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Mind Melds as Measures
From Wired, this is interesting ... with perhaps some lessons to neuromarketing. A stronger mild meld might be the connection between two speakers, rather than just between a person and some form of media. Determining the strength…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
PLDI
The Computing Community Consortium is interested in stimulating the development of new research visions and challenges in computing research. Recently, the CCC has begun collaborating with conferences in computer science and…
From Schneier on Security
1921 Book on Profiling
Here's a book from 1921 on how to profile people.
From Computational Complexity
A Seventh Mil. Problem
Richard Lipton had a wonderful post asking for a seventh Millennium Prize now that Poincare's conjecture has been solved. I posted a suggestion on his blog but got no comments. I'll expand on it and see if I get any comments…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
New Portfolio
I finally have a new portfolio!When I made the original website, I was in fourth year and expecting to work for industry. But now that I'm in grad school and looking toward a career in academia, the content just didn't suitphotography…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Selling Body Wash
A very good Ad-Age case study on changes in body wash sales after the much talked about the very viral old spice videos and related social networking plays. It reminded me of some of the conclusions of correspondent Byron Sharp…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of July 26
July 27
Hearing:
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on consumer online privacy. 2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Building
July 28
Hearing:
The Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee…