Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
August 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Trusting a Data Scientist
A Challenge: Just because a study contains numbers or big data or statistics does not mean it is correct. So you should not completely trust any scientist for business purpose. Results from science should be carefully applied…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Civilizing Customer Behavior
In the HBR Blog Network: An anonymous, large network of commenters can lead to some nasty and self serving behavior. We all read customer reviews with an element of skepticism about their motivation. Always interestingMichael…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Introducing the GHC13 Communities Committee
Did you know that the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing has a strong online presence? From Tweeting to blogging to note taking, we've got you covered. Whether you're an attendee who hasn't figured out how to beRosario…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Data Management Platform Vendors
Examining the breadth of Data Activation: The Data Management PlatformOne vendor, BlueKai, defines DMP as:" ... A DMP is a centralized data management platform that allows you to create target audiences based on a combination…
From Computational Complexity
The Dream
I have this theory that everybody's notion of "recent history" starts not from their memories but from their birth date. Case in point: Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. The first major event of my then very young life came…
From Schneier on Security
Evading Internet Censorship
This research project by Brandon Wiley -- the tool is called "Dust" -- looks really interesting. Here's the description of his Defcon talk:
Abstract: The greatest danger to free speech on the Internet today is filtering of…From My Biased Coin
Back
I haven't posted for a while, primarily because I started by sabbatical by going to Copenhagen for most of August. I was primarily visiting the IT University of Copenhagen, thanks to the outstanding hospitality of Rasmus Pagh…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Why Girls Don’t Go Into Computer Science (Infographic)
June Lin from Play-I sent me this infographic which I found interesting enough to share. Play-i is building educational, programmable robots for kids. Not sure when they were available but I signed up for email news.
From Putting People First
Exploring the use of tablets in educational settings
MindShift, a service by KQED and NPR, has published a four-part series to explore the four dimensions of using tablets in educational settings, examining how teachers can take students on a journey from (1) consumption of media…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Nokia Looks at the Connected Car
In GigaOM: Not unexpected, though I was a little surprised seeing Nokia here. A good overview of that this might look like: " ... Nokia believes its can use its role as the auto industry’s mapmaker as a launchpad into theRumors…
From Schneier on Security
More on NSA Data Collection
There's an article from Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that gives more details about the NSA's data collection efforts.
The system has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic in the hunt for foreign intelligence…From The Eponymous Pickle
McDonald's and Augmented Reality
A good description of how McDonald's is using mobile augmented reality for corporate sustainability PR and positioning in Europe using games. Via Metaio. " ... The new augmented reality app, "McMission" McDonald's Germany, is…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Seeking Photo Collages
In Fast Company: Linea Photosharing. A great idea, simple design, a sort of Facebook without all the other complexity. I also often used images to record and present ideas in business, where what I really needed was a simple…
From The Computing Community Consortium Blog
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy seeking Undergraduate and Graduate Student Interns
The Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently accepting applications for its Spring 2014 Internship Program. The application deadline is 11:59pm Friday, October 4, 2013. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Defaults in Data Visualization
An article in Junk Charts talks about hating the defaults in data visualization packages. Well, you should at least consider what the defaults are and be sure they are reasonable for your purpose. Thoughful piece.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Next Big Thing in Design
Design has recently been brought to my close attention. Tim Brown writes about his book in Linkedin: " ... In my book, Change By Design, I chronicle the end of Design with a capital “D” and the rise of “design thinking,” aSee…
From Schneier on Security
Detaining David Miranda
Last Sunday, David Miranda was detained while changing planes at London Heathrow Airport by British authorities for nine hours under a controversial British law -- the maximum time allowable without making an arrest. There has…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing Starting Again
I’m a big fan of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing program. This program recognizes high school young women for their interest and aptitude in technology. Aspirations in Computing currently offers over 300K in scholarships…
From Putting People First
Designing for transparency and the myth of the modern interface
UX consultant Thomas Wendt argues that the arguments in favor of invisible interfaces are making a few key mistakes, namely: Many are assuming that invisibility equates to seamless user experience There is an assumption that…
From Computer Science Teachers Association
Greece Proposing Giant Step Backward
Anyone who has followed the international news for the last couple of years has likely heard of the ongoing economic crisis in Greece. Only now, however, are we hearing about how that crisis is directly impacting education in…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Designing an Intro to CS for Non-Majors: Starting With the Objectives
I have been working on my course design for my introductory computer science class for non-majors. It is taught in Processing and covers all the basics of programming and computational problem solving. I have been keeping the…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
USPTO Software Partnership Meeting on October 17
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will hold a Software Partnership Meeting on October 17, 2013, at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law in Berkeley, California to provide a forum for the software and high-tech communities…
From Schneier on Security
Protecting Against Leakers
Ever since Edward Snowden walked out of a National Security Agency facility in May with electronic copies of thousands of classified documents, the finger-pointing has concentrated on government's security failures. Yet the debacle…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Retailing, Brands and Consumer Experience
In the coming weeks I will be passing along some of the excellent work by correspondent Phil Hendrix. Here is a set of slides on Retailing, Brands and the Consumer Experience (slides; excerpts from presentation to Clorox iConnect…
From The Eponymous Pickle
BI Falling Short
In the Forrester Blog: On alternate points of view, and ultimately adaptive intelligence. Intelligence, must almost by definition, be adaptive to new contexts. Else it soon becomes less than intelligent. When you build such…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Gaze Tracking with Glass
Google patent that looks at this. Is gaze tracking here the same as eye tracking? " .... As proposed by Google, the system would track the eye movements of users of a Google Glass-like product, specifically a “head mountedThere…
From BLOG@CACM
Privacy and Google Glass
Why has there been so much negative sentiment about Google Glass in the press regarding privacy? This article looks at privacy from two different perspectives, and looks at what lessons can be drawn.
From Computational Complexity
What are Galois Games?
How are math concepts named?
From Schneier on Security
"The Next Generation Communications Privacy Act"
Orin Kerr envisions what the ECPA should look like today:
Abstract: In 1986, Congress enacted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to regulate government access to Internet communications and records. ECPA is widely…From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 26 August 2013
School started for me last week. I showed off some sample Kinect apps to most of my classes. For some it was to talk about human computer interaction. For others is was to give them some ideas for projects later in the semester…