Not that many years ago international travel meant one was largely inaccessible to colleagues at home. Today, when my plane lands, I will turn on my smart phone, connect to the local GSM network and download queued messages. Now if I could just catch up on my email deluge.
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Saying Good-Bye to DBMSs, Designing Effective Interfaces
Michael Stonebraker discusses the problems with relational database management systems and possible solutions, and Jason Hong writes about interfaces and usable privacy and security.
Corporate showrooms offer floor after floor of lovable digital strangeness. It's easy to forget they're after your cash.
The rapid pace of technology means that there are solutions that worked well, but are now abandoned -- not always for technical reasons. Perceptions about a technology matter.
HCI research is moving out of the lab and onto the web. This new style of research -- Venture Research -- calls for a different set of skills and different metrics for success than traditional research.
Today's practice of a deadline-driven approach to research is potentially bad for our field. Instead, our focus should be on the quality of the research we do. And our goal should be on advancing the frontiers of science and engineering.
Technology and information are ominpresent in Tokyo, but nobody seems to notice; a look at the future of ultra-integrated high technology.
Increasingly, CS departments are moving to a programming language monoculture--it's C or C-derived languages throughout the curriculum. What are we losing out on?
Is Advertising Inherently Deceptive?
People dislike current advertising because it is often irrelevant and annoying. It would be good to make advertising more helpful, relevant, and useful to people. Is that possible?
What Does a Computer Scientist Do?
About a potentially radical redevelopment of the computing curriculum in Scotland
Impact, Not Indicators or Artifacts
It is worth remembering that our field grew from the confluence of mathematics, physics, electrical engineering, psychology, information theory and management and a host of other disciplines. The founders were radicals and iconoclasts, eschewing the extant culture of their disciplines because this new notion of computing was so pregnant with possibilities that could transform society and the nature of discovery.
How We Make Decisions About CS1
How do we decide what to put in our introductory courses, and for who, and using what language? My experience suggests that we make our decisions more on the basis of history, fads, and social pressure, than on what we believe is best for the students.
A brief description of a UK project which attempts to predict what society will be like in 30 years time.
Progress in Internet Networking in La
Access to the Internet has always been a problem in South America and especially in some areas where there is no infrastructure, but this is slowly changing.
"Castilla la Nueva" Colombia
Reflections on the the Japanese railyway system as a modern marvel of efficiency and infrastructure.
Is it time to capture the magic that attracted us into computer science in an essential course called Computing?
Jeannette M. Wing writes about the need for a comprehensive research agenda, Daniel Reed discusses high-performance computing, and Mark Guzdial shares insights about women in computing.
Bridging Cultures For Collaboration
All too often, our technical curricula fail to focus on the human aspect of cross-domain collaboration. Technical skills are necessary, but not sufficient. One must also understand and meld the disparate motivations of the collaborative team in a positive and productive way to achieve success.
Computer Science Outreach: Meeting the Kids Half-Way
Some thoughts on how to interest young people in computer science, based on some recent workshops.
No, We’re Not Losing Our Ability to Think Critically
A response to the July 2009 CACM article: "Are We Losing Our Ability to Think Critically?" In short: nope! There isn't much evidence to support this, so relax.
Correction and Updates on Role of APCS in Undergraduate Enrollment
The number of students taking the Advanced Placement Exam in Computer Science (APCS) is distressingly low. My earlier data were wrong, but even with these data, the bottom line remains that most students have no access to the APCS at all.
As we consider how to explain the necessity of long-term investment in science and technology research and development, as we teach a new generation of students, and as we seek to broaden the base of participation in computing, it behooves us to remember the small child in each of us, the one who watched in open mouthed wonder, who felt the chill run down their spine and sensed the passion of others who were committed to discovery.
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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