Unlike many of the sciences, where experimentation and theory go hand-in-hand, computer science generally has taken a different approach, viewing theory as the driving force and experimentation too often as a postscript. But there is a growing faction of CS researchers working to change that modus operandi, calling for higher visibility for experimental computer science […]
Diane Crawford
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It was only a matter of time before outsourcing branched off in so many directions it would turn back on itself. Where industry was once motivated to move production or support operations to vendors many time zones away in order to cut costs, a new trend is fast emerging that promotes such opportunities much closer […]
Silicon-based technology has dominated the computing field since its inception, but changes are afoot. In recent years a swell of new computing paradigms have emerged, and while all are very different and all in their infancy, all are decidedly silicon-free. This month’s special section examines the current state of several of these non-traditional computing paradigms, […]
It’s a long-standing e-commerce conundrum: knowing that consumers value a personalized online experience yet not knowing how to convince them to provide the information that makes it possible to give them that personalized touch. Alfred Kobsa, a computer science professor at the University of California, Irvine, tackles this quandary in this month’s cover story. Privacy […]
The time has come to take computer games seriously, really seriously, says Michael Zyda, professor of engineering practice at the University of Southern California where he is director of the USC GamePipe Laboratory. Zyda is one of the leading voices in a growing band of academic and industry researchers calling for the creation of a […]
Sometimes the best way to beat the competition is to join it, at least when it comes to networking similar functions to work collectively rather than separately. Scientists, engineers, and IT and telecommunications experts have been working—collectively—to harness the power of business networks, embedded with intelligence, to coordinate business processes running on diverse business platforms. […]
Anniversaries are a time to reflect on past achievements and ponder future goals. On the occasion of ACM’s 50 anniversary in 1997, we recognized the Association’s potential role in steering the next 50 years of computing. Now, as ACM approaches its 60th year, we go back to the beginning and trace those founding days: the […]
As much as the idea of abstraction concerns the simplification of the complex, for some it is often a concept simply too complex to grasp. The cover image, for example, is a simple oval shape with a few shadowy indentations. No specific details are necessary; the owl is clearly apparent without them. In a field […]
The ferocious effects of Mother Nature, most notably in the form of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami, have motivated a growing legion of practitioners and researchers to rethink, and react, to the role IT plays and should play to enhance emergency response and crisis management. Natural disasters—hurricanes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and more—can have […]
It’s a cyberspace cat-and-mouse game with billions at stake and billions more spent in intercepting and eradicating spam. No sooner does a new crop of anti-spam solutions hit the market than spammers find new ways to defeat them. There appeared to be a global reprieve of sorts about 18 months ago that experts credited to […]
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