Communications of the ACM
CACM online
The Print-Web Partnership Turns the Page
The relationship between Communications' Web site and its print forefather is entering a new era this month with the debut of the blog@CACM. In this issue (p. 10), you'll find excerpts from essays published online at http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm, plus some recent online reader comments. The reason we've chosen to publish select blogs each month is simple: Communications' expert bloggers write valuable posts and Communications' credo is to disseminate valuable information that advances the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. Readers have noticed the high quality of these blogs, making them, as well as our syndicated blogs (http://cacm.acm.org/blogs), some of the site's most popular sections.
The blog@CACM also gives the online Communications a unique bonus: a commenting feature that enables sometimes extensive discussions of industry issues, which is, of course, the beauty of blogs. The back-and-forth exchanges and clarification of blog posts and other site content create a round-the-clock equivalent of the Greek forum.
The magazine's blog pages might change over time as we learn readers' preferences: be they more or fewer posts, shorter or longer excerpts, with or without related comments. For now we're marking the beginning of a productive relationship between print and online outlets.
Exploring the Relevant Past
Clicking through the magazine archive (http://cacm.acm.org/magazines) is a pleasure similar to paging through an old photo album. There are familiar names and familiar topics. Most striking is the prescience and enduring relevance of many articles. Peruse the decades and see the early work of future A.M. Turing Award winners and industry icons. Read about the computer industry's manpower shortage concerns in "U.S. Productivity in Crisis" (June 1981). China's growing prowess is the subject of "Computer Technology in Communist China" in September 1966. Steve Jobs, then with NeXT Inc., describes the importance of user interfaces and user apps in April 1989. And that's just scratching the surface.
The magazine's covers followed their own trends. The blue-and-white period in the 1960s transformed into the stark blue-and-black period in the 1970s, that gave way to full-color illustrations by the 1980s.
There's mystery as well. Why was Miss U.S.A. on the June 1965 cover of Communications?
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