Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2012
From ACM Opinion
Silicon Valley Needs to End Its Snobbery About Computer Science Degrees
I don't have a computer science degree. There, I said it. At too many companies around Silicon Valley that would make me unemployable.
From ACM Opinion
I (robot) Thee Wed
It's hard to think of a more attention-grabbing title than "Robots, Men, and Sex Tourism"—especially in the academic world.
From ACM Opinion
Is This Data Scientist a Consumer's Best Friend?
In Oren Etzioni's world, telling you where to buy a product is so 20 years ago.
From ACM Opinion
How a Private Data Market Could Ruin Facebook
To justify its sky-high valuation, Facebook will have to increase its profit per user at rates that seem unlikely, even by the most generous predictions.
From ACM Opinion
The Flight From Conversation
We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.
From ACM TechNews
The Distro Interview: Microsoft Principal Researcher Bill Buxton
"The pursuit of ever more 'natural' ways of interacting with systems" is a key focus at Microsoft, according to Microsoft Research human-computer interaction researcher Bill Buxton.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Death of DRM Would Be Good News for Readers, Writers, and Publishers
At the end of April, Tor Books, the world's largest science fiction publisher, and its UK sister company, Tor UK, announced that they would be eliminating digital rights management (DRM) from all of their ebooks by the summer…
From ACM Opinion
Google's Sebastian Thrun: 3 Visions in the 'age of Disruption'
Today we drive cars, shell out enormous sums for higher education, and navigate the world with electronics that demand the unwavering attention of our ears, eyes, hands, and feet.
From ACM Opinion
Andrew (bunnie) Huang on The End of Chumby, New Adventures
One of my heroes and friends happens to be one in the same person, Andrew (bunnie) Huang. Bunnie tirelessly helps makers, businesses, and the world-at-large with his skills and openness.
From ACM Opinion
How and Why You Should Do Data Journalism
One of the big areas of focus for technology companies over the past year has been "big data"—in other words, the idea that there can be a lot of value in finding patterns in the massive quantities of user data and other information…
From ACM Opinion
When Will This Low-Innovation Internet Era End?
It's an age of unprecedented, staggering technological change. Business models are being transformed, lives are being upended, vast new horizons of possibility opened up.
From ACM Opinion
The Call of the Future
In 2009, the United States crossed a digital Rubicon: For the first time, the amount of data sent with mobile devices exceeded the sum of transmitted voice data.
From ACM Opinion
Is It Time To Stop Trusting Google?
Was Google's snooping on home Wi-Fi users the work of a rogue software engineer? Was it a deliberate corporate strategy? Was it simply an honest-to-goodness mistake?
From ACM Opinion
Following the Breadcrumbs on the Data-Sharing Trail
Would you like to donate to the Obama campaign? Sign up for a college course? Or maybe subscribe to Architectural Digest?
From Communications of the ACM
Programming the Global Brain
Considering how we can improve our understanding and utilization of the emerging human-computer network constituting the global brain.
From Communications of the ACM
The Future of the Past
Reflections on the changing face of the history of computing.
From Communications of the ACM
Programming Goes Back to School
Broadening participation by integrating game design into middle school curricula. View a video featuring author Alexander Repenning about using games to introduce teachers and students to programming.
From Communications of the ACM
Digitization and Copyright: Some Recent Evidence from Music
Examining the effects of stealing on producers and consumers.
From Communications of the ACM
Crossing the Software Education Chasm
An Agile approach that exploits cloud computing.
From Communications of the ACM
Design For Symbiosis
Promoting more harmonious paths for technological innovators and expressive creators in the Internet age.