communications of the acm
Departments
News
Viewpoints
5 Editor’s Letter
Fumbling the Future
By Moshe Y. Vardi
6 Letters To The Editor
Free Speech for Algorithms?
15 Grid Computing’s Future
Outreach programs and usability
improvements are drawing many
researchers to grid computing from
disciplines that have not traditionally
used such resources.
By Kirk L. Kroeker
26 Legally Speaking
Do You Own the Software You Buy?
Examining the fine print
concerning your rights in your
copies of purchased software.
By Pamela Samuelson
11 In the Virtual Extension
18 Twitter as Medium and Message
Researchers are mining Twitter’s
vast flow of data to measure
public sentiment, follow political
activity, and detect earthquakes
and flu outbreaks.
By Neil Savage
12 BLOG@CACM
Scientists, Engineers, and
Computer Science; Industry
and Research Groups
Mark Guzdial discusses what
scientists and engineers should
know about computer science,
such as Alan Kay’s “Triple Whammy.”
Greg Linden writes about industry’s
different approaches to research and
how to organize researchers
in a company.
21
29 Computing Ethics
Surrounded by Machines
A chilling scenario portends
a possible future.
By Kenneth D. Pimple
Evaluating Government Funding
Presidential report asserts the value
of U.S. government funding and
specifies areas needing greater focus.
By Tom Geller
32 The Profession of IT
Managing Time
Professionals overwhelmed
with information glut can find
hope from new insights about
time management.
By Peter J. Denning
14 CACM Online
Time to Change
By David Roman
31 Calendar
105 Careers
22 Memristors: Pass or Fail?
The device may revolutionize
data storage, replacing flash
memory and perhaps even disks.
Whether they can be reliably
and cheaply manufactured,
though, is an open question.
By Gary Anthes
35 Broadening Participation
A Program Greater than the Sum
of Its Parts: The BPC Alliances
Changing the trajectory of
participation in computing
for students at various stages
of development.
By Daryl E. Chubin
and Roosevelt Y. Johnson
Last Byte
109 Puzzled
Solutions and Sources
By Peter Winkler
112 Future Tense
Catch Me If You Can
Or how to lose a billion in
your spare time…
By Gregory Benford
Association for Computing Machinery
Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession
25 Gary Chapman, Technologist:
1952–2010
He raised important public issues,
such as the impact of computers
and the Internet on society, and
encouraged social responsibility
for computer professionals.
By Samuel Greengard
38 Viewpoint
Computer and Information
Science and Engineering:
One Discipline, Many Specialties
Mathematics is no longer the only
foundation for computing
and information research and
education in academia.
By Marc Snir
Reaching Out to the Media:
Become a Computer
Science Ambassador
Why computer scientists should
come out from “behind the scenes”
more often and work with the
media to draw public attention to
their fundamental innovations.
By Frances Rosamond et al.
