The Internet’s roots may be planted firmly in U.S. soil, but its branches now embrace the world, connecting cultures and, thus, reordering our sociological structure on the grandest scale of all. We’re only just beginning to sense the potency of this phenomenon. Indeed, by the time you finish this month’s special section, I’m sure you’ll […]
June 1999 - Vol. 42 No. 6
Features
At major U.S. corporations last year, there was a 43% chance—up sharply from 35% in 1997—employers monitored workers’ email files, voice mail, computer files, phone calls or other work-related activities, according to the American Management Association (AMA). Polling 1,054 human resource managers, the New-York-based AMA said the sample mirrored its corporate membership of 10,000 organizations […]
Practical Programmer: Is Criticism of Computing Academe Inevitably Divisive?
I was talking to a computer science professor the other day, expressing some of the same opinions that I tend to share in this column—a belief in software practice and practitioners, a concern for some of the directions being taken in computing academe, and a particular concern for what I call the "communication chasm" that […]
International Perspectives: Software Strategies in Developing Countries
Globalization touches everything these days, and software is no exception. It’s big business in developing countries (DCs),1 from the headline-grabbing software factories of Bangalore to the back-street database designers of Nairobi. And no wonder: many of these countries have cheap, talented labor that finds an easy route into a business that is labor-intensive, has relatively […]
Robert Glass’s "Practical Programmer" column (Apr. 1999, p. 17), passed over some intangibles in his discussion of software inspections—specifically, some of the pros and cons of scheduling group review meetings vs. individual reviews. Though meetings incur extra overhead, they produce benefits such as inspection visibility, mentoring opportunities, and communication opportunities. Individual reviews mean less visibility, […]
Viewpoint: Information in the Information Age
The information age is characterized by the free flow of information made possible by computer networks. Information products and services account for a large part of the information in these networks. As a rule of thumb, information products and services are those that are knowledge-based, and can largely be delivered on paper. Examples include financial […]
From the President: Melissa’s Message
If you’ve spent the last several months in the Galapagos Islands, you may not have heard of the Melissa virus. As the rest of us now know, Melissa is designed to let itself replicate exponentially by exploiting the ability of Microsoft Word to run macro attachments, a known security risk. While Melissa caused some sites […]
Emerging Internet Infrastructures Worldwide
The rise of Internet communications also means confrontation with the established politico-economic-telecom order.
The Internet in Developing Countries
Access means much higher user fees and costs to ISPs for connecting to the global Net, and geographic dispersion limited to a few big cities.
Moving Toward a Non–U.S.-Centric International Internet
New high-capacity links in Europe and Asia could represent the beginning of the end of the rest of the world's having to send its Internet traffic through U.S.-based networks.
Commentary: ICANN and Internet Regulation
Enough credibility to regulate the root server databases of the most important communications medium of the 21st century?
China’s State-Coordinated Internet Infrastructure
How can the government use the Internet to promote economic development while maintaining its political and economic control?
Building India’s National Internet Backbone
The government wants it to link the country's huge rural population, as well as its own district offices and new private ISPs, to the Web and the world.
The Wireless Local Loop in Developing Regions
Why data communications should be part of the basic service when building new wireless voice networks in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Lessons from Haiti’s Internet Development
The country's expanding Internet sector has largely bypassed the government's telephone monopoly, and outpaced regulatory reform, due largely to the innovative use of wireless technologies.
Enlightening the effects and implications of nearly infinite bandwidth.
-Using Autonomous Robotics to Teach Science and Engineering
Learning critical thinking and interdisciplinary teamwork by building your own animal.
Today's university is at a turning point, and turn it must. The time has come to recognize that education is a business and students are the customers.
Considerations For an Effective Telecommunications-use Policy
Creating effective use through effective policy.
Combining advanced analytical tools with human intuition increases insight into problems.
Changes in ACM’s Revised Copyright Policy
A helpful introduction to the new additions and alterations to this pioneering policy, particularly since the advent of digital libraries.
Technical Opinion: Does Data Traffic Exceed Voice Traffic?
If it doesn't, today's megamergers may be tomorrow's megalosses.
As we approach January 1, 2000, considerable uncertainty continues; optimists predict only minor problems; pessimists claim that the effects will be far-reaching.
