January 2004 - Vol. 47 No. 1

January 2004 issue cover image

Features

Opinion Editorial pointers Jan 1 2004

Editorial Pointers

We’ve devoted much coverage in this magazine to tracing the refinement and redesign of computer interfaces to achieve more fluid, natural forms of interaction with users (aka humans). The goal in all cases—regardless of the discipline—is always to move the technology closer to human-human forms of communication and interaction. This month we focus on a […]

Architecture and Hardware

News News track Jan 1 2004

An increasing number of users are listening to anti-piracy campaigns instead of music, according to survey results from the New York-based research firm, NPD Group. When it first began tracking music deletions last May, NPD found 606,000 U.S. households eliminated music stored on their PCs. Three months later, 1.4 million households deleted all music files […]

Computing Applications

Opinion Forum Jan 1 2004

Hans Moravec’s "Robots, After All" (Oct. 2003) seemed to me to be yet another version of "Someday computers will wake up," with the same intellectually faulty arguments and foundational quicksand AI has always suffered. It included a nice graphical depiction of the argument, plotting mental power and MIPS on the same scale, but it was […]

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Staying connected Jan 1 2004

Rfid: Is This Game of Tag Fair Play?

Tracking the circuitous tradeoffs of potential consumer benefit versus marketer intrusiveness.

Architecture and Hardware

Opinion The business of software Jan 1 2004

When Executives Code

Corporate executives are realizing that not only is managing software important, it is the essence of what they do.

Computing Applications

News Jan 1 2004

ACM Annual Report For Fy03

We ushered in FY03 with a series of priorities and projects in place and a determination to set ACM on a course to expand and enhance member satisfaction and improve its financial outlook. Now, as we usher in this new calendar year, I am most pleased to announce the Association not only realized many of […]

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

New multimodal interfaces are being built for strength. As the articles in this section attest, strength in a multimodal interface derives from a number of factors, including their compatibility with users’ abilities and existing work practices, and the flexibility these hybrid interfaces permit. The robustness of a multimodal interface also increases substantially as the number […]

Sharon Oviatt, Trevor Darrell, and Myron Flickner

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Multibiometric Systems

The latest research indicates using a combination of biometric avenues for human identification is more effective, and far more challenging.

Anil K. Jain and Arun Ross

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Tangible Multimodal Interfaces For Safety-Critical Applications

Designing effective digital systems in safety-critical arenas takes interfaces inspired by, or included in, the physical world.

Philip R. Cohen and David R. McGee

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Multimodal Conversational Systems For Automobiles

Currently available in-vehicle speech recognition systems are designed around a single-utterance-command paradigm [2], with as many as 200 commands1 that must be learned or referenced in a manual—an unpractical option while driving. The combination of a flexible dialogue-based speech system with a visual and haptic touch screen, while still an area of active research [1, […]

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Multimodal Processing By Finding Common Cause

Commonalities help answer many context-aware questions that arise in human-computer interaction.

Harriet J. Nock, Giridharan Iyengar, and Chalapathy Neti

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Guidelines For Multimodal -ser Interface Design

In today’s pursuit of more transparent, flexible, and efficient human-computer interaction, a growing interest in multimodal interface design has emerged [5]. The goals are twofold: to achieve an interaction closer to natural human-human communication, and to increase the robustness of the interaction by using redundant or complementary information. New interaction paradigms and guidelines are necessary […]

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Computer Vision in the Interface

There are still obstacles to achieving general, robust, high-performance computer vision systems. The last decade, however, has seen significant progress in vision technologies for human-computer interaction.

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist Jan 1 2004

Challenges in Adopting Speech Recognition

Although progress has been impressive, there are still several hurdles that speech recognition technology must clear before ubiquitous adoption can be realized. R&D in spontaneous and free-flowing speech style is critical to its success.

Li Deng and Xuedong Huang

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Managing Conflict in Software Testing

Conflict between software testers and developers is inevitable, but mindful managers minimize its effect on development projects through communication, mutual respect, even social interaction.

Cynthia F. Cohen, Stanley J. Birkin, Monica J. Garfield, and Harold W. Webb

Computing Applications

Practice Jan 1 2004

Effective Practices For It Skills Staffing

How to identify, hire, and keep prized IT professionals with the skills companies need most to compete in uncertain technological and business times.

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Understanding Meteor Burst Communications Technologies

Seeking to realize the potential of a reemergent communications capability.

B. Craig Cumberland, Joseph S. Valacich, and Leonard M. Jessup

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Network and Computing Research Infrastructure: Back to the Future

Return to the historical ARPANET and NSFNET model to support simultaneous application, computational, middleware, storage, and network research on the same experimental infrastructure.

Robert J. Aiken, Javad Boroumand, and Stephen Wolff

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Programming Languages and Gender

Comparing differences and similarities in programming language usage according to programmer gender.

Ronald Dattero and Stuart D. Galup

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Global Software Piracy Revisited

Determining why the roots of the disparity in national piracy levels lie beyond economics.

Seung Kyoon Shin, Ram D. Gopal, G. Lawrence Sanders, and Andrew B. Whinston

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Jan 1 2004

Trust-Building Measures: a Review of Consumer Health Portals

Health Web sites are employ a medley of trust-building approaches. But does a definitive formula exist for winning consumer trust?

Wenhong Luo and Mohammad Najdawi

Computing Applications

Opinion Inside risks Jan 1 2004

Believing in Myths

We love our myths. In fact, we get downright grumpy when they are challenged. Unfortunately, in order to make progress, we sometimes need to overcome our dearly held perceptions, confront reality, and try to come up with new approaches grounded in that reality. In computer security, we don’t do a particularly good job of that. […]

Marcus J. Ranum

Computing Applications

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