Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2014
From The Eponymous Pickle
Navigating the Future, Today
Sorry I saw this very late, someone should have sent it to me! On a TED talk by Christopher Ahlberg, who worked with us on the question of how to understand and time map the future, based on our knowledge of the past. I regret…
From Geeking with Greg
The problem with personalized education
Personalized education has had some spectacular failures lately, in large part due to how tone-deaf the backers have been to the needs of teachers, parents, and students. The right way to do personalization is to prove you're…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Building Google's Quantum Computer.
Google has been working on the idea for some time, including testing the D-Wave computer mentioned here a number of times. Now some interesting details about the quest in Wired. This could result in new advances in analytics…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Preferences for Autonomous Control
Some research that seems to indicate how people think about robots that take control. We will ultimately have to deal with these questions." ... If a company wants humans and robots to work more seamlessly together, they need…
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
Hill Tech Happenings, Week of September 8
Congress has returned from recess, so hearings have resumed. September 9 Hearing: The Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies of the House Homeland Security Committee and the Subcommittee…
From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Cool New Science Show for Kids on TVO
I recently checked out the pilot episode for a new science show that premiered on TVO called Annedroids. Although I found one of the characters overly annoying, I was definitely a fan of the android creator Anne. The show nicely…
From Schneier on Security
iPhone Payment Security
Apple is including some sort of automatic credit-card payment system with the iPhone 6. They're using some security feature of the phone and system to negotiate a cheaper transaction fee. Basically, there are two kinds of credit…
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Interesting Links 8 September 2014
Busy busy last week. I feel like I am getting back into the rhythm of school but grading takes up a good bit of time. As it always does. Still enjoying working with my students though. This week the post ends with a couple of…
From Putting People First
Experientia @ Epic 2014: focusing on relationships and values
It’s that time of year again, when ethnography professionals come together to exchange knowledge, discuss ideas, and share experiences about the practice of ethnography in the business world. EPIC 2014 kicked off yesterday (Sept…
From Putting People First
How to see into the future
Billions of dollars are spent on experts who claim they can forecast what’s around the corner, in business, finance and economics. Most of them get it wrong. Now a groundbreaking study has unlocked the secret: it IS possible…
From Putting People First
11 reasons computers can’t understand or solve our problems without human judgement
It is true that our ability to collect, analyse and interpret data about the world has advanced to an astonishing degree in recent years, writes Rick Robinson, Executive Architect at IBM specialising in emerging technologies…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Stress Detection from Google Glass
In Engadget: Saw similar work at MIT in previous years, and tested the use of affective sensors attached to glasses to detect emotional reaction to product in context. An early neuroscience application.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Disney Magic via Big Data and MagicBand
Interesting examples of a company providing magic via big data. Disney, quite an entertainment colossus now, is known for leveraging emerging technology. Only one example:" ... Enter: The MagicBand. It's the magic potion, so…
From My Biased Coin
Teaching Sorting
For many years now, while teaching the introductory Algorithms and Data Structures, I have told students that we won't be starting with (or really covering) sorting and searching, because it's boring. While that description…
From The Eponymous Pickle
End of Build it Yourself Software
In GigaOM: This has been happening for a long time, but recent excursions through enterprise halls show this is becoming more true. Much less is being purpose built. Yet if you look at what is actually done, what people…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Advisory System for Recipes
Bon Appetit articles on the use of advisory systems to build or enhance food recipes. Including a number of actual recipes created this way. Are the creative? How would creativity be built into the problem. Still awaiting…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Linkedin Retiring InMaps
We were exposed to this tool some time ago as a means to gain insight into corporate structure. Now Linkedin is retiring it. Would like to hear of cases where it was used practically by organizations, beyond simple curiosity…
From Putting People First
Nudging and behavioral regulation gaining interest across Europe
Behavioral regulation is afoot in Europe and is drawing the interest of a growing number of OECD countries. Professor Alberto Alemanno has just posted a brief overview of what happened over the last few months: In late June,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Updating Our Address in the Galaxy
I like to know my address. GPS now provides me with one accurate location metric. Now Nature reports on another measure: " ... Earth's new address: 'Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea' ... Analysis of galaxies shows local supercluster…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Resources for Cognitive App Development
Have been exploring in more depth some of the detail behind IBM Watson/Cognitive. Particularly interested in how this differs from work we did in the 90s in the field of what we then called 'expert systems', a practically oriented…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Capturing Sentiment from Financial News
From the ACM: Talk on determining sentiment and prediction from text analysis in financial news. This requires filling out a registration. " ... Can the choice of words and tone used by the authors of financial news articles…
From The Eponymous Pickle
How Retail Hacking Works: Danger at Point of Sale
A very instructive piece in the Cisco Blog about how retail hacking at point of sale works, and how it can be addressed. Must reading. " ... With the announcement that yet another major retailer has allegedly been breached…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Interview with Jim Goodnight
An interview in Forbes with SAS data guru and founder Jim Goodnight. Met him a number of times during their work with our enterprise, always interesting. Some useful strategic insight.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Digital Transforming Retail
How digital is transforming retail: The view from eBayDoes mobile commerce spell the end of traditional stores? In this series of short videos, Devin Wenig, the president of eBay Marketplaces, explains the impact of digitization…
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Book by One Squid-Obsessed Person About Another
Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer, by Matthew Gavin Frank. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered....
From U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM
NIST Second Privacy Engineering Workshop on September 15-16 in San Jose
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), in coordination with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), will host the Second Privacy Engineering Workshop on September 15-16 in San Jose,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Auctioneers Join Forces
More in the auction management space. Which has many interesting ontological implications. " ... Six leading regional auction houses have joined forces to launch the online bidding platform Bidsquare.com. The firms, which…
From The Eponymous Pickle
McKinsey on the Next 50 Years
A new collection of articles from McKinsey. Just starting to take a look at this. For example: " ... Management intuition for the next 50 years ... The collision of technological disruption, rapid emerging-markets growth,…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Making up Identities
In Wired: Thoughts on what leads people to change their identity, and the implications. " ... Sockpuppetry—using false identities for deception—is centuries old, but the advent of the web has made creating sockpuppets, and falling…
From Putting People First
Defining user experience strategy
UX strategy isn’t the blueprint, canvas, or definition you use. UX strategy is about the conversations you have and the alignment you achieve, writes Austin Govella, Experience Director with Avanade. As you start hacking your…