Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
KNIME Analytics
Brought to my attention, have not looked at closely, but one of a large number of packages available today.KNIME - Professional Open-Source SoftwareKNIME is a user-friendly graphical workbench for the entire analysis process:…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Geeks Pick Nits Even On Jokes
I posted this following image on my Facebook page.
Comments came immediately. First one was something like “only one step?” Another said the method should be called inside a loop. Another suggested a more involved loop.
while…From Computational Complexity
Need some book reviewed- faster than usual
I have been the SIGACT NEWS book review editor since 1997. I have tried to get about 10 books reviewed per column. I have succeeded- perhaps too well! I have gotten so many reviews out that I only have six reviews left. I DO…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Maximum Flow
In CACM: Maximum flow algorithms in a network under under constraint are a classical application of mathematical programming. It has many applications. This article covers advances in the methods. Can also be used strategically…
From Putting People First
HeadCon ’13: What’s new in social science?
In July, 2013, Edge invited a group of social scientists to participate in an Edge Seminar at Eastover Farm focusing on the state of the art of what the social sciences have to tell us about human nature, entitled “HeadCon ’13…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
Smart America Expo Showcases Cyber Physical Systems Projects
Last month, 24 teams from around the country convened in Washington, D.C. to showcase their work in Cyber-Physical Systems at the Smart America Expo. The demonstrations showcased ways that the these projects and others in the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Defining Digital Shoppers
Interesting statistics in Retail Wire. " ... Ernst & Young and Havas Worldwide are just two of numerous firms attempting to classify the still-emerging digital consumer in recently published reports. What questions are most important…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Pageviews Dead?
It is suggested in Smart Data Collective. Engagement has always been king. Well not really engagements, but purchases. Pageviews are easily measured, and though always suspect in direct value, can be useful. Views are the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Innovation Idea Prioritization
Some simple ideas to address the portfolio of innovation ideas. In particular I don't see this done very often at startups, where it is assumed that you can just internalize the ideas and keep their value and risks straight.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digitizing Consumer Decision Journeys
In McKinsey: It's back to understanding the decision process. " ... Many of the executives we speak with in banking, retail, and other sectors are still struggling to devise the perfect cross-channel experiences for their customers…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Whack A Mole Project
I’ve done variations in Whack A Mole over there years. I did a Whack Something Game for Windows Phone 7 some years ago for example. But somehow I put it aside and didn’t think about it when I was teaching the last year and aWhat…
From Putting People First
Persona Power
Article by Shlomo Goltz on “integrating the hero’s journey as part of the user-centered design process”: “There are many prominent and outspoken members of the design community, such as Steve Portigal and Jason Fried, who feel…
From The Eponymous Pickle
IBM and Apple Partnership and the IOT
In CWorld: An angle that I had not considered, but the connection makes sense. It also strengthens the connection to enterprise sources of big data. The partnership announced last week isn't just about selling more iPhones.…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Taking a Deeper Dive in Splunk
Mentioned to me some time ago, as an interesting solution, now taking a deeper dive. See Splunk.com ... Will follow with some impressions. See the elevator control analytics example previously mentioned." .... Splunk is an…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Millennials and Food Shopping
In Smartblogs. How will they be won over? " ... Millennials are much like the young versions of previous generations, except they grew up in a digital age and lived through the Great Recession, circumstances that affect the…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Importance of Emotional Machines
Facebook AI director Yann LeCun on the importance of emotional machines " ... “Emotions are often the result of predicting a likely outcome. For example, fear comes when we are predicting that something bad (or unknown) isInteresting…
From Schneier on Security
Security Vulnerability in the Tails OS
I'd like more information on this....
From The Eponymous Pickle
Network as Nervous System
A reasonable analogy for digital enterprise. And Analytics should be the brain, placing the network n contexts to gather as much useful data as possible. " ... Business and network strategies will become more integrated as…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Evaluating the Concept of Web Rank
Simple game based demonstration video about how search and in particular how web sites can be evaluated via their interconnections with hyperlinks. Good to show kids, but also for adults to demonstrate how math about probabilities…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Scalable Programming Projects
One of the things I look for in a project is that it is extensible. That means that a reasonable and simple version can be done but that students who want to do more or who want to challenge themselves can make a very special…
From The Eponymous Pickle
July August Analytics Magazine
July August 2014 Analytics MagazineWhy Do Analytics Projects Fail? by Haluk Demirkan and Bulent DalNot just another IT project: Key considerations for deep analytics on big data, learning and insights.Real-Time Text Analytics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Dysfunctional Teams and Healthy Ecosystems
In FastCompany: An interesting view. Somewhat over segmented. Have seen some of these examples. It then suggests healthier ecosystems. Good idea, but also harder to implement in many cultures. Ans where are the rewards…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Augmented Collaboration: Cisco Spring Roll
Some of this discovered rather late, but Cisco provides new a prototype of collaboration features for its Telepresence brand. Called Spring Roll. Eweek discusses. And a demonstration. Collaborative and interactive sharing…
From Schneier on Security
Securing the Nest Thermostat
A group of hackers are using a vulnerability in the Next thermostat to secure it against Nest's remote data collection....
From Computational Complexity
The Burden of Large Enrollments
This week I'm at the CRA Snowbird conference, the biennial meeting of CS chairs and other leaders in the field. In 2012 many of the discussion focused on MOOCS. This year the challenge facing most CS chairs are booming enrollments…
From Daniel Lemire's Blog
Potentially bogus freelancing advice
For nearly 20 years, I have been freelancing: selling my skills as a free agent. I do very little freelancing these days, but I still regularly give advice to students and colleagues. Is it wise? I let you be the judge: here…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Analytics Ranked High in C-Suite
In Research Mag: " ... 56% of consumer goods and retail business leaders cite data analytics as being important to their firm’s strategy, according to a recent survey.This makes it the highest-ranked strategic area in the…
From Putting People First
Call to bring refugee-led innovation into humanitarian work
The humanitarian sector must lift barriers to user-led innovation by refugee communities if it is to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world, says a new report, Humanitarian Innovation: The State of the Art, published by…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
One semi colon away from disaster
At a recent workshop Alexander Repenning said that sometimes teaching programming is “one semi colon away from disaster.” How true that is. Minor syntax issues, especially when dealing with beginners, can make a program lookLast…
From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Shifts In Algorithm Design
How to find approximate page rank fast, among other things Jennifer Chayes is the current director of a research lab in Cambridge—that is Cambridge Massachusetts—for a company called Microsoft. She is famous for her own work…