The Ph.D. Grind: Lead From Below
A common question faced by young professionals is, "How can I implement my own creative initiatives when I am at the very bottom of an established hierarchy?"
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Research {Preposition} Infrastructure
Computing research and advanced computing infrastructure–each is dependent on the other in a myriad of subtle and complex ways, yet each is profoundly different in culture, process, skills and metrics. As the scale, scope and influence of computing grow ever larger, each needs to understand the constraints and needs of the other.
The Moral and Legal Responsibilities When Teaching Computing
Do we have moral and even legal requirements to teach computing well and equitably?
It is interesting to note that a substantial subset of the computer science community has redefined their research agenda to fit under the marketing banner of "Big Data."
Nomenclaturing: Let’s Ture to the Max!
Christos Papadimitriou's recently published reminiscences include the fascinating story of how he learned about Turing Machines: As a bored undergraduate in a Greek university, he happened to see the definition buried within an article about pattern recognition, and he was immediately entranced.
When Is User-Centered Design Selfish?
User-centered design is now firmly established within HCI research. It is commonly praised for democratising system development and empowering users. But is this always the case? This article raises some ethical questions surrounding the involvement of certain vulnerable user groups in user-centered design.
All Hands on Deck! Scaling K-12 Computer Science Education
Announcing ACM's new project developed in parntership with NSF, Google, Microsoft, CSTA and NCWIT to study the elements and capacity for scaling K-12 computer science education.
Designing APIs For Mobile Performance Best Practices
While there are many ways of tackling these unique obstacles of mobile performance, this article is largely focused on things that can be done from an API, or backend service, to improve the performance (or the perception thereof) of mobile clients. The article is focused on 2 main parts:
1. Minimizing network connections and the need to transmit data – efficient media handling, effective caching, and employing longer data-oriented operations with fewer connections.
2. Sending the "right" data across the network – designing APIs to return only the data that is needed/requested, and optimizing for the various types of forms of mobile devices.
Incremental Research vs. Paradigm-Shift Mania
Bertrand Meyer asks why too many research agencies seem obsessed with funding only groundbreaking projects.
The Ph.D. Grind: Main Grinds and Side Grinds
In this first CACM blog post, I introduce myself and make the case for why side projects can benefit both Ph.D. students and their professors.
Using Advanced Placement Computer Science as a Measure of Broadening Participation
We have a goal to broaden participation in computing with more women and under-represented minorities. It's useful to compare participation and performance in compating education between states. There are dramatic differences.
Computer Science Jobs and Education: Presentation Slides
Many of you have expressed the desire for a simple slide deck that you can use in various contexts to make the case for the need for increased computing enrollments in universities and K-12. We have one for you.
Machine Learning and Algorithms; Agile Development
John Langford poses questions about the direction of research for machine learning and algorithms. Ruben Ortega shares lessons about agile development practices like Scrum.
When it comes to big data, one of the greatest things we can do as computer scientists creating products is to distill all the information down to what is important. Of course, the challenge with these sorts of problems always lies in the details. This article goes into a few of the challenges associated with applying data mining to product reviews.
Should Computer Scientists Change How They Publish?
One of the most popular panels at Snowbird was "Publication Models in Computing Research: Is a Change Needed? Are We Ready for a Change?"
Worked Examples For Learning Programming: Choosing Better or Choosing MOOC
I'm teaching on study abroad, which means small classes, intense interaction, and the opportunity to try something new. We can choose to make higher education better, like this. Or we could choose MOOC's.
Conferences vs. Journals in Computer Science: An Alternative Perspective from Education
What if computer science conferences required proposals for presentations and then selected some for consideration in journals and book chapters?
Data Mining the Web Via Crawling
This post focuses on the data collection via crawling the web, by covering some of the challenges around collecting and discovering new content via a web crawler.
Scientific discovery games are an exciting new approach to solving thorny scientific problems using contributions from a distributed group of non-expert humans. The approach has been successful in the domain of biochemistry, but can it also be used in other domains? This article discusses challenges in a current project where we are attempting to get humans to solve problems in hair curling-ly complex quantum information processing by playing a game inside a Perspex hamster ball.
John L. Hennessy on ‘the Coming Tsunami in Educational Technology’
Stanford president John L. Hennessy delivered a provocative keynote speech, "The Coming Tsunami in Educational Technology," about the uncertain future of higher education at CRA's Snowbird conference.
The higher education community is abuzz with debates regarding massive open online courses (MOOCs). This feels like a time of profound change, when the confluence of technologies, social expectations and economic pressures will reshape elements of our university structures.
CS and Popular Culture; Learning From Console Games
Mark Guzdial writes about why computer science should permeate popular culture. Judy Robertson discusses the educational benefits of using console games in the classroom.
‘Girls Can’t Program in Their Heads’: Gender and Games in the Computing Classroom
An overview discussion of the probems surrounding computing education in UK schools, particularly lack of participation in CS by girls. It is partly based on empirical data over several years, and partly my own speculation.
Preparing Computing Students For the Designer Role
The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predictions for the next 10 years predicts lower-than-average growth in programming jobs, but dramatic growth in designer jobs. What are the implications for what and how we teach?
Shape the Future of Computing
ACM encourages its members to take a direct hand in shaping the future of the association. There are more ways than ever to get involved.
Get InvolvedCommunications of the ACM (CACM) is now a fully Open Access publication.
By opening CACM to the world, we hope to increase engagement among the broader computer science community and encourage non-members to discover the rich resources ACM has to offer.
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