Editorial Pointers

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 visionaries who believed in its future, the early conferences and SIGs that set its course, and the Association’s role in molding computer science education. Most important is the value of keeping a record, allowing us to dream how far we can go by learning how far we’ve come.

This month’s special section was inspired by the exhaustive archival work of ACM’s History Committee, established in 2003 to preserve and interpret the history of ACM and its role in the development of computer science. Co-chairs David S. Wise and Richard Snodgrass reached out to a community of historians, archivists, and early ACM pioneers and volunteers to contribute their memories, findings, and accounts. Wise served as guest editor for this effort, guiding the authors through months of preparation in documenting ACM’s past as a way of contributing to its future, as well as the future of information technology. We are indebted to the ACM History Committee, as well as to the authors and reviewers participating in this effort. Moreover, the section—and more—is available for free online.

Also in this issue, Matthew McBride examines the often misunderstood role of software architect. Obrenovi et al. discuss the fundamental connection between multimodal interface design and universal accessibility. Da Silva and De Lucena explore the challenges of modeling multi-agent systems. He et al. share their experience accessing material from the “deep” Web. And Da Cunha and Greathead wonder if personality traits explain why some programmers are better at debugging and code review than others.

In “Technical Opinion,” Geoffrey Goodell and Paul Syverson examine the architectural dangers, policy risks, costs, and benefits of using network location in fraud detection and abuse prevention. And in keeping with the historic spirit this month, Stephen B. Jenkins offers a poetic ode to the “Ancyent Programmer,” tracing his own programming history—in verse—in this month’s “Viewpoint.”

Diane Crawford
Editor