Communications of the ACM
The blog archive provides access to past blog postings from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2013
From The Eponymous Pickle
Scraping Tweets to Gather Data
In GigaOM: As one who frequently fumbles about for specific information in a Twitter stream, this looks good. " .... A new beta version of ScraperWiki makes it easy to relatively easy to scrape Twitter for certain phrases I
…From The Eponymous Pickle
PARC Future View
We visited them frequently in the early days of having an information technology research group. In recent years I have heard less from them. Here they are asked about their technological view of the future. No real surprises
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Mobile BI Applications
Key steps for Mobile BI applications, a process I am now studying. But it is not only about the devices to be used, but what the decision process is.
From The Eponymous Pickle
When Elevators Phone Home
In GigaOM: This has been described before as the internet of things. But what are the most interesting that this network can do, beyond the obvious? Networking intelligent, analytic things will likely be the next revolution
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Wikipedia Change Map
In ArsTechnica: An open source map of changes to the Wikipedia. Had we been successful in building an enterprise wikipedia inspired knowledge map, this could have show how innovation was being developed and spread. It could
…From Gödel's Lost Letter and P=NP
Advances on Group Isomorphism
Finally progress on this annoying problem David Rosenbaum is right now the world expert on one of my favorite problems, group isomorphism. He is a third-year PhD student at the University of Washington in Seattle under Paul Beame
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Origami and Math
In the BBC: Better Origami and the intricate relationship of form in nature and mathematics. " ... Paper folding isn’t just an art, it can help fit everything on spacecraft from solar panels to telescope mirrors. Two scientists
…From The Eponymous Pickle
On the Death of Statistical Practice
Excerpted from Steve Miller in Information Management:I’m still reeling from the provocative but important new book, “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How Live, Work and Think,” co-authored by Oxford professor Viktor
…From Putting People First
Mozilla’s new UX Quarterly
Mozilla’s user experience research and design team has just published the first Mozilla UX Quarterly. Crystal Beasley, Editor and Product Design Strategist, writes: “My hope is that this will be a tool to spread throughout the
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Accepting Mobile Payments
A good overview of mobile payment alternatives. I have utilized a few of these, as a person who takes this kind of payment infrequently.
From Schneier on Security
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Festival in Monterey
It's at the end of May. Note that it's being put on by the Calamari Entertainment Group.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.
From Schneier on Security
The <i>Onion</i> on Browser Security
Wise advice:
At Chase Bank, we recognize the value of online banking -- it’s quick, convenient, and available any time you need it. Unfortunately, though, the threats posed by malware and identity theft are very real and all…
From The Eponymous Pickle
Associative Memories for Complex Data
Saffron Technology provides a new whitepaper (some registration required). I worked with Saffron, and they have unique views of complex data that are worth examining. A Distributed Associative Memory Base for Natural Intelligence
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Gamification of Internal Process
Most examples of gamification have been external facing. Using them to improve engagement with a site, or increase loyalty. Have always been interested in how gamification can be used within a company to improve communications
…From Putting People First
Very successful launch of Experientia’s Talking Design lecture series
Click on image to view slideshow On Wednesday evening about 20 guests and 30 Experientia staff maxed out our little conference room to attend our very first Talking Design lecture and listen to Intel anthropologist Todd Harple
…From Computer Science Teacher – Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
How Many Fart Apps Do We Need
The satirical publication TheOnion released a fart application on GitHub. One can add it to their web page and people who visit it will hear fart sounds when they scroll on it. Sophomoric? Obviously. But as an advertising gimmick
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Implications of Mobile Replacing Desktop
If we start asking employees to bring their own devices, that will increasingly be a mobile device. What are the general implications of this direction? Security, application distribution and device capabilities are just a few
…From The Eponymous Pickle
When Cars Talk
The broad idea is machine to machine communication. Here the example used is how cars on the street will talk to each other and react to data in their environment. The analytics for the idea can be taken further. How can any
…From Schneier on Security
Mail Cover
From a FOIAed Department of Transportation document on investigative techniques:
A "mail cover" is the process by which the U.S. Postal Service records any data appearing on the outside cover of any class of mail, sealed or…
From Putting People First
UXPA’s latest User Experience Magazine is freely available online
User Experience is the quarterly magazine of the UXPA, the User Experience Professional Association. From now on, each new issue is available online, in a responsive design so that you can read it on the desktop, tablet or handheld
…From Putting People First
Jake Barton of Local Projects wins USA’s National Award for Interaction Design
We at Experientia have always admired the work of Jake Barton and his company Local Projects, for the way that they have deeply woven people’s narration and storytelling into the design of interactive installations and museums
…From Putting People First
How do you interview an interview specialist?
Ethnography Matters took on a difficult challenge with this interview of Steve Portigal about his new book “Interviewing Users“. EM: In your 18 years in this business, what has been some of the biggest shifts that you have witnessed
…From Putting People First
‘Open Data’ brings potential and perils for governments
Governments and public officials are rushing to embrace the concept of Open Data, throwing open the vast panoply of publicly collected information for the digitally savvy to mine and exploit, writes Ben Rooney in the Wall Street
…From Putting People First
How GE uses data visualization to tell complex stories
GE, perhaps more than any other major company, is dedicated to the use of data visualization as a key part of its marketing and communications efforts. Stemming from last month’s Insight Center on visualizing data, Gretchen Gavett
…From Putting People First
Libraries: a canvas for creating meaningful UX
Amanda L. Goodman is the User Experience Librarian at Darien Library in Connecticut. In this article for UX Magazine, she writes about her experience as a librarian in the USA: “Across the country, libraries are providing services
…From The Eponymous Pickle
D-Wave and Quantum Computing
In the NYT: Mentioned it here a number of times that we have had some encounters with the folks from D-Wave. Seems they are getting some better press these days, with evidence that what they are building is quantum and very
…From The Female Perspective of Computer Science
My Beautiful GRAND Conference Poster
I'm a strong believer in creating conference posters that look good. If they have a striking resemblance to printed papers, in my opinion something has gone really wrong. With that said, I have to say I had a lot of fun designing
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Linkedin Contacts
I loaded up Linkedin's new Contacts App. A very simple idea. It combines streams from Linkedin, your phone contacts, mail contacts, calendars, Evernote, etc. Then you use the contact-centric list which includes how you interacted
…From The Eponymous Pickle
Top Ten Global Brands
An overview of global brand choices. Expected ones like Coke. Colgate, Nescafe and Pepsi. Less known in the US, but common brand globally Maggi. A brand from my former enterprise comes in 7th: Pantene.
From The Eponymous Pickle
Optimizing Packaging
In CGT, an overview of the characteristics that make a difference in packaging. From Manufacturing to Supply Chain to Shelf. " ... With stores stocking innumerable branded and private label competitors in every category,
…