in the virtual extension
DOI: 10.1145/1859204.1859207
in the Virtual Extension
To ensure the timely publication of articles, Communications created the Virtual Extension (VE)
to expand the page limitations of the print edition by bringing readers the same high-quality
articles in an online-only format. VE articles undergo the same rigorous review process as those
in the print edition and are accepted for publication on merit. The following synopses are from
articles now available in their entirety to ACM members via the Digital Library.
viewpoint
DOI: 10.1145/1859204.1859234
The Role of Conference
Publications in CS
Massimo Franceschet
The role of conference publications
in computer science is controversial.
Conferences have the undeniable
advantages of providing fast and regular
publication of papers and of bringing
researchers together by offering the
opportunity to present and discuss the
paper with peers. These peculiar features
of conferences are particularly important
because computer science is a relatively
young and fast-evolving discipline.
Recently, Communications published
a series of thought-provoking Viewpoint
columns and letters that swim against
the tide. These contributions highlight
many flaws of the conference system, in
particular when compared to archival
journals, and also suggest a game-based
solution to scale the academic publication
process to Internet scale. Some of the
mentioned flaws are: short time for
referees to review the papers, limited
number of pages for publication, limited
time for authors to polish the paper after
receiving comments from reviewers,
and overload of the best researchers
as reviewers in conference program
committees.
This article gives an alternative
view on this hot issue: the bibliometric
perspective. Bibliometrics has become
a standard tool of science policy and
research management in the last decades.
In particular, academic institutions
increasingly rely on bibliometric analysis
for making decisions regarding hiring,
promotion, tenure, and funding of
scholars. This article investigates the
frequency and impact of conference
publications in computer science as
compared with journal articles. The
set of computer science publications is
stratified by author, topic, and nation;
in particular, publications of the
most prolific, most popular, and most
prestigious scholars in computer science
are analyzed and evaluated.
contributed article
DOI: 10.1145/1859204.1859236
i T 2008: The history of
a new Computing Discipline
Barry Lunt, J. Ekstrom, Han Reichgelt,
Michael Bailey, and Richard LeBlanc
The early 1990s saw the emergence of
the Internet from the environs of the
technical cognoscenti into the dot-com
world with an interface for the masses. The
increased complexity and importance of
computing technologies for the success
of organizations and individuals led to a
growing need for professionals to select,
create, apply, integrate, and administer
an organizational IT infrastructure. The
skill sets needed for the new breed of
network and system administrators
were not provided by the computer
science programs of the time. Moreover,
information systems programs, with
the business education requirements of
their accreditation bodies, were equally
unwilling or unable to include the
technical depth required.
In response to this new educational
need, university programs arose that were
called Information Systems and Computer
Science, respectively, but were something
else entirely. These programs, and others
like them, sprung up independently
and spontaneously to satisfy the needs
of employers for workers with skills
in networks, distributed systems, and
beginning in the mid-1990s, the Web.
On the national level, the Computing
Sciences Accrediting Board was joining
with ABE T. Within ABET both the
newly formed Computing Accreditation
Commission and the Technology
Accreditation Commission had noticed
the emerging IT programs, and were
wondering under which commission
IT would best fit. It was in this lively
environment that a group was formed
that would guide IT through the period
of defining its own model curriculum, its
place with respect to the other computing
programs already extant, and its own
accreditation criteria.
contributed article
DOI: 10.1145/1859204.1859235
a Global Collaboration
to Deploy help to China
Ralph Morelli, Chamindra de Silva,
Trishan de Lanerolle, Rebecca Curzon,
and Xin Sheng Mao
On May 12, 2008, an earthquake
measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck
in Sichuan Province in southwestern
China, destroying homes, schools,
hospitals, roads, and vital power and
communication infrastructure. More
than 45 million people were affected—
tens of thousands were killed, hundreds
of thousands injured, millions of people
were evacuated and left homeless, and
millions of buildings were destroyed.
When the earthquake hit, several
members of what became an international,
volunteer, disaster-management I T
team were attending a workshop in
Washington, D.C. organized by IBM to
train IBM personnel and others in the
use and deployment of Sahana, a free
and open source software (FOSS) disaster
management system.
Sahana is a Web-based collaboration
tool that helps manage information
resources during a disaster recovery
effort. It supports a wide range of relief
efforts from finding missing persons, to
managing volunteers, tracking resources,
and coordinating refugee camps.
Sahana enables government groups,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
and the victims themselves to work
together during a disaster recovery effort.
This article provides a firsthand
account of an international team effort
to install the Sahana system in Chengdu,
Sichuan. It describes how a diverse,
multidisciplinary team worked together
to assist the earthquake recovery effort.
The success of the collaboration illustrates
the power of virtual communities working
across international boundaries using a
variety of communication software. It also
demonstrates that the Internet has truly
made us all neighbors and is constantly
forcing us to redefine our concept of
community.