BLOG@CACM

The Chaos of the Internet as an External Brain; and More

Jun 1 2010

From the early days of computers, people have speculated that computers would be used to supplement our intelligence. In the last decades, most of the work toward this dream has been in the form of trying to build artificial intelligence.

Greg Linden, Ed H. Chi, and Mark Guzdial

Computers, Freedom, and Privacy in a Networked Society: June 15-18, in San Jose and Cyberspace

May 21 2010

With Facebook privacy on the cover of Time magazine and Google being investigated in Europe and the US after admitting that they collected information from home wifi networks, it’s a perfect lead-in to the 20th annual ACM conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy.

Jon Pincus

How Many Computers Will You Own?

May 20 2010

How many computing devices will you have in ten years? Two? Six? Just one?

Greg Linden

Albion College Eliminates Computer Science

May 20 2010

Albion College decides to eliminate the computer science major due to budget cuts and low enrollment, because it's not really part of 21st century work.

Mark Guzdial

The Complicated Issues of Computing Education in Qatar

May 19 2010

The ACM Education Board visited Qatar at the beginning of May. At Qatar University, 70% of the students in CS are women, and those we met are hungry to produce innovative technology. But are there jobs for them?

Mark Guzdial

On FIFA World Cup 2010: Football and Internet in Latin America

May 17 2010

Quick view on how the FIFA Football World Cup will affect Internet in Latin America.

Choosing Successful Research

Drummond Ltd. Systems engineer Carlos A. Brewer R.

May 15 2010

How to choose research projects that are more likely to be successful.

Tessa Lau

Malvertisements Growing as Online Security Threat

May 11 2010

Malvertisements are attempts to inject malware and scareware into advertisements, leveraging the reach that advertising networks have. This blog entry examines some of the issues involved in this growing threat.

Jason Hong

HCI

May 11 2010

Successful Software Platforms Are the Byproducts of Successful Businesses

Startups need their current business to be successful and self-sustaining before they place serious effort in building a general software platform.

Ruben Ortega

On Social Networks, Political Campaigns and Threats

May 6 2010

Brief discussion on how social networks are now the battlefield of political campaigns, death threats and more.

NSF Funding Advice; 21st Century Innovation

May 1 2010

Jeannette M. Wing shares useful suggestions for department heads. Daniel Reed discusses the importance of synergy among computing specialists and generalists.

Jeannette M. Wing and Daniel Reed

What Security Advice Should We Give?

Apr 25 2010

Are people being rational when they ignore the security advice we give them? If so, what advice should we give them that they would not ignore?

Greg Linden

Security and Privacy

Apr 25 2010

Personal Factories

Since several years ago, with the beginning of nanoscience, the idea having of micro factories, like household microwave ovens, is floating in the air.

Consumerization of IT and Research

Apr 24 2010

When a corporate, government, or university IT department of the 1970s debated an upgrade to its IBM S/370 mainframes, it is doubtful that the IT director was in any way influenced by the computing experiences or opinions of their teenage children.

Daniel Reed

Turns out That Brain Training Games Don’t Work

Apr 23 2010

A brief article pointing to a new large scale study published in Nature about the effect of brain training games.

Judy Robertson

Robots After Roomba: The Ethics of Electronic Companions

Apr 16 2010

As robots become woven into the fabric of daily life, what ethical issues will the world face?

Erika S. Poole

World of Warcraft-Playing Professors

Apr 16 2010

Are academics taking serious games too seriously?

Judy Robertson

What Makes a Good HCI Systems Paper?

Apr 16 2010

Proposing a standard for reviewing HCI systems papers.

Tessa Lau

HCI

Apr 15 2010

Social Media and the Twitter Backchannel at CHI2010

A marked difference at CHI 2010 compared to last year is the amount of research around social media and the use of social media during the conference. These practices are enabling the conference to be less about one-to-many lectures on the latest research and more about peer-to-peer interactions.

Ed H. Chi

Data and Information

Apr 15 2010

CHI 2010: User Interfaces Learn a Thing or Two

The 2010 conference in Human Factors in Computing Systems has seen a noticeable uptick in projects on and engagement with machine learning.

Michael Bernstein

CHI 2010 Opening Plenary: Thinking About Messy Futures

Apr 13 2010

"Messy Futures: Culture, Technology and Research" was the title of Genevieve Bell’s opening plenary speech at CHI 2010, and it gave attendees a plethora of facts and ideas to consider—or reconsider.

Jack Rosenberger

HCI

Apr 12 2010

Encouraging Girls to Study Geeky Subjects (part 2): Programmable Bracelets

Some thoughts about novel ways to attract girls to study computing: e-textiles and computational crafts.

Judy Robertson

Education

Apr 11 2010

Internet Information Freedom Revisited.

Many countries have started to control access to information on Internet for their citizens, most famous case being China, but Latin America does not escape this situation.