What Is a Good Recommendation Algorithm?
Someone may win the one million dollar Netflix Prize soon. Will the winning algorithm produce movie recommendations that people like?
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Social Wavicles and Personalized Flows
The wavicle nature of our social existence provides a lens for understanding social filtering and its successes. Still, this doesn't quite get us to truly effective information flow for the person.
The Importance of Programming in Introductory Computing Courses
Why not teach introductory courses without programming? Here are three good reasons to use programming to introduce computing.
Privacy As… Sharing More Information?
When I first started working in the area of personal privacy I had what I would call a conventional view on privacy, which is how to minimize the flow of information going out about them. I reasoned that people were private individuals, wanted protection from interruptions, and wanted a lot of control and feedback about what was shared.
Connecting the Two Ends: Mobile Clouds
In 1959, the colorful and brilliant physicist, Richard Feynman, gave a seminal lecture to the American Physical Society entitled, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," in which he considered the implications of matter manipulation at the atomic scale – a vision of then future nanotechnology. In computing, we also have plenty of room at the bottom, paradoxically enabled by plenty of room at the top. I speak, of course, of the transformative power of our now ubiquitous mobile devices and rich sensor/actuator networks (smart dust) coupled with the capabilities of immense cloud data centers. These two extremes of the modern computing scale are reshaping our society in deep and profound ways.
Canaima, Venezuela’s Linux Distro Venezuela Ii
Second part of Venezuela open source experience, this time a short talk about Canaima, the linux debian distro for public entities .
DBMSs For Science Applications: A Possible Solution
Quite a few scientists who deal with the processing and storage of large amounts of data are unhappy with relational DBMSs. Here are several reasons why—and a possible solution.
It's been a while since several Latin countries decided to start programs to deliver computers and to connect all public schools to the Internet providing access to technological resources to children through several initiatives.
Open Source in Latin America -Venezuela I
An introduction to open source and its applications in South America.
I recently saw a Google Android phone at HotMobile 2009 and was intrigued by the drawing-based authentication mechanism built in. Basically, there's a 3x3 grid of dots, and to log in, you simply use your finger and draw a pattern across these dots, using each dot at most once.
Three Misconceptions About Human-Computer Interaction
Three misconceptions about the field of human-computer interaction, as observed by an AI researcher turned HCI researcher in a large corporate research lab
Making the Case For an ACM Fellow
Every year there are surely some qualified candidates for ACM Fellow who are rejected because their nomination and endorsements do not make the case as effectively as possible. Here are some ways to make a strong case.
Pipelining, Computing Innovation And Economic Growth
In this economic downturn, as everyone looks with a wary eye at discretionary spending, it is instructive to consider the role of computing technology and innovation in our global economy.
We are facing an increasing number of security failures, not because of problems with encryption algorithms, network protocols, or system implementations, but rather due to problems with the user interfaces of computer systems and the people that use those systems.
The United States certainly needs more and better computing educators, but that alone may not be enough to turn around declining enrollments in computing.
A Simple View of the Budget Process
An abstract view of how NSF gets its money, in the context of the federal budget process.
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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