The relationship between Communications’ Web site and its print forefather is entering a new era this month with the debut of the blog@CACM.
In this issue (p. 10), you’ll find excerpts from essays published online at http://cacm.acm.org/ blogs/blog-cacm, plus some recent online reader comments. The reason we’ve chosen to publish select blogs each month is simple: Communications’ expert bloggers write valuable posts and Communications’ credo is to disseminate valuable information that advances the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. Readers have noticed the high quality of these blogs, making them, as well as our syndicated blogs (http://cacm. acm.org/blogs), some of the site’s most popular sections.
VeLoSo WinS
SiGaRt a WaRD
manuela a. Veloso, a professor
of computer science at Carnegie
mellon University, received
the 2009 autonomous agents
research award from sIgar T.
“professor Veloso’s research is
particularly noteworthy for its
focus on the effective construction
of teams of robot agents, where
cognition, perception and action
are seamlessly integrated to
address planning, execution
and learning tasks,” noted the
sIgar T award citation.
The blog@CACM also gives the online Communications a unique bonus: a commenting feature that enables sometimes extensive discussions of industry issues, which is, of course, the beauty of blogs. The back-and-forth exchanges and clarification of blog posts and other site content create a round-the-clock equivalent of the Greek forum.
The magazine’s blog pages might change over time as we learn readers’ preferences: be they more or fewer posts, shorter or longer excerpts, with or without related comments. For now we’re marking the beginning of a productive relationship between print and online outlets.
m YeRS ReceiVeS
SiGPLan a WaRD
andrew C. myers, a professor
of computer science at Cornell
University, won an award for
the most Influential popl
paper presented at the popl
symposium held 10 years prior
to the award year. In its award
announcement, the judges noted
that myers’ 1999 paper, JFlow:
Practical Mostly-Static Information
Flow Control, “demonstrated
the practicality of using static
information flow analysis to
protect privacy and preserve
integrity by giving an efficient
information flow type checker for
an extension of the widely used
Java language.”
exploring the Relevant Past
Clicking through the magazine archive (http:// cacm.acm.org/magazines) is a pleasure similar to paging through an old photo album. There are familiar names and familiar topics. Most striking is the prescience and enduring relevance of many articles. Peruse the decades and see the early work of future A.M. Turing Award winners and industry icons. Read about the computer industry’s manpower shortage concerns in “U.S. Productivity in Crisis” (June 1981). China’s growing prowess is the
subject of “Computer Technology in Communist China” in September 1966. Steve Jobs, then with NeXT Inc., describes the importance of user interfaces and user apps in April 1989. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The magazine’s covers followed their own trends. The blue-and-white period in the 1960s transformed into the stark blue-and-black period in the 1970s, that gave way to full-color illustrations by the 1980s.
There’s mystery as well. Why was Miss U.S.A. on the June 1965 cover of Communications?
conStantine WinS
SteVenS a WaRD
aCm Fellow larry Constantine,
director of the laboratory
for Usage-Centered software
engineering at the University of
madeira, is this year’s recipient
of the stevens award. The award,
managed by the reengineering
Forum, recognizes “outstanding
contributions to the literature or
practice of methods for software
and systems development.”
GRace hoPPeR ceLeBRation of Women in comPutinG The 9th annual grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing will take place from september 30 to october 3, 2009 in Tucson, aZ. This year’s theme, “Creating Technology for social good,” recognizes the significant role women play in defining technology used to solve social issues. scholarship applications are now being accepted; the deadline is may 27.
References:
http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm
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