SciVee.com, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the latest in a growing number of video-sharing startups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves working in the lab or delivering lectures. The media outlet encourages scholars with new research papers to make short videos, or pubcasts, highlighting their key points. The Associated Press reports fans of […]
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SIGs Announce Candidates For Election
In accordance with ACM Bylaw 6, the following SIGs will hold elections in 2008: SIGCAS; SIGGRAPH; SIGSIM, and SIGUCCS. ACM Policy and Procedures require that those SIGs holding elections notify their membership of candidates for elected offices. Here is a list of SIGs that have submitted their slate of candidates. Additional information will appear in […]
In recent months we have celebrated ACM’s 60th Anniversary and the 50th Anniversary of its flagship publication, Communications of the ACM. Both events signify the enduring role ACM has played as the conduit for the world’s educators, researchers, and professionals to share their common computing interests, inspire new innovation, and reveal their latest research. Indeed, […]
A Conversation with Jason Hoffman
Jason Hoffman has a Ph.D. in molecular pathology, but to him the transition between the biological sciences and his current role as CTO of Joyent was completely natural: "Fundamentally, what I've always been is a systems scientist, meaning that whether I was studying metabolism or diseases of metabolism or cancer or computer systems or anything else, a system is a system," says Hoffman. He draws on this broad systems background in the work he does at Joyent providing scalable infrastructure for Web applications. Joyent's cloud-computing infrastructure has become the foundation for many of the increasingly popular applications developed to feed into the social-networking site Facebook.com.
As it happens much of the world’s Internet and telephone traffic is routed through switching points within the U.S., where, under legislation introduced in October, the U.S. National Security Agency will be free to continue tapping it. Wired reports the so-called RESTORE Act (as in Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act […]
Nominees For Elections and Report of the ACM Nominating Committee
In accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws of the ACM, the Nominating Committee hereby submits the following slate of nominees for ACM’s officers. In addition to the officers of the ACM, six Members at Large will be elected. The names of the candidates for each office are presented in random order below: President (7/1/086/30/10): Wendy […]
The percentage of patents filed by foreigners living in the U.S. has tripled in the last decade, yet the tight cap on permanent visas may force entrepreneurs back home to create rival companies in China, India, and elsewhere. The Associated Press reports that researchers from Harvard, Duke, and New York University have published an analysis […]
Psychologists are experimenting with virtual reality-based therapy to treat U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). VR therapy, they find, provides methods for re-creating visual, auditory, and thermal cues to set the stage for treatment of veterans suffering from the disorder, which often causes nightmares and flashbacks. The Associated […]
A team of roboticists are using the lessons of 1930s physiologist Nikolai Bernstein to build the world’s fastest walking robot. BBC News reports Runbot, a self-learning, dynamic robot, is helping scientists unravel the mystery of walking. The small, bipod robot can move at speeds of more than three leg lengths per second, slightly slower than […]
Evolving the ACM Journal Distribution Program
ACM’s Digital Library (DL) has become an enormously effective mechanism for the distribution of research articles and related material in the field of computing. The DL’s wide availability and associated facilities have greatly reduced the need, and demand, for producing research publications in print. Thus, ACM has been working to position its publications program to […]
MIT researchers made a 60-watt light bulb glow by sending it energy wirelessly from a device seven feet away. Experts call it the first step in a future in which cell phones and other gadgets get juice as needed without being plugged in first. The breakthrough, reports the Boston Globe, is called WiTricity. While the […]
Call For Nominations For ACM General Election
The ACM Nominating Committee is preparing to nominate candidates for the officers of ACM: President, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer; and five Members at Large. Suggestions for candidates are solicited. Names should be sent by November 5, 2007 to the Nominating Committee Chair, c/o Pat Ryan, Chief Operating Officer, ACM, 2 Penn Plaza, Suite 701, New York, NY […]
The U.S. Department of Defense is using some of the nation’s top technology venture capitalists and strategists to help it tap innovations from tiny start-up companies that have not traditionally been a part of the military’s vast supply chain. The New York Times reports the program provides a regular exchange of ideas and meetings among […]
A team of 18 mathematicians and computer scientists have mapped one of the most complex objects in mathematics—E8—shown here in an eight-dimensional form projected onto two dimensions. The monstrous computer-based calculation has rekindled researchers’ hopes of solving a longstanding problem among mathematicians, reports Scientific American. The team’s calculation, which took four years to prepare and […]
Princeton professor Andrew Appel recently purchased five Sequoia e-voting machines from a government auction site for $82; now he and his students are dissecting the machines to determine just how tamper-proof they really are. Wired reports the team is reverse engineering the software embedded in the machines’ ROM chips to check for security holes. Appel […]
SIGCOMM’s Archaeological Journey Into Networking’s Past
Documenting the technical history of a SIG is indeed a priceless resource.
Edmund Berkeley and the Origins of ACM
A fascination with computing machinery, and a desire to explore this emerging field with mathematicians, engineers, computer manufacturers, and others, inspired E.C. Berkeley to help create a hub for these common interests to connect.
ACM Established to Develop Communication About Computing
Sixty years ago most computer scientists worked in a vacuum, unaware of the projects their peers around the U.S. were exploring. Sharing research was key to furthering the field, most agreed, but what vehicle could best serve as a conduit for communication?
Tracing the early days of ACM—its landmark accomplishments, its challenges, its goals—in celebration of its first 60 years.
From a small group of like-minded scientists drawn to the dynamics of computer-generated images to a driving force in computer graphics bringing together thousands from around the world, SIGGRAPH continues to chart the course for this diverse and ever-changing field.
A History of the History of Programming Languages
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."---Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, Feb. 15, 1676
Sources For ACM History: What, Where, Why
ACM has developed a rich and varied history over its first six decades. Preserving that history in an open and plentiful archive is key to helping future historians tell the ACM story.
Not Only Digital: A Review of ACM's Early Involvement with Analog Computing Technology
When analog and digital were in flux, ACM provided a forum—as well as publications and conferences—to explore both sides.
The ACM and IEEE-CS Guidelines For Undergraduate CS Education
ACM curriculum recommendations have been instrumental over the last 40 years in defining what is taught at educational institutions around the world.
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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