Search
Join ACM

Computing Profession

Advertisement

Research and Advances

Organizational power and the information services department

A theory of intraorganizational power is discussed and applied to the information services department. The results of a study of the power of five departments in 40 manufacturing plants is presented. Hypotheses about the levels of power of information processing are not supported by the findings; however, the power theory in general does receive support.The information-services department is perceived as having low levels of power and influence in the organization: Reasons for this unexpected finding are discussed. The paper suggests several explanations for the results and possible problems in the organization. Recommendations to senior management and the information-services department are offered.
Research and Advances

A user-friendly software environment for the novice programmer

SOLO, a nonnumerical programming language, was developed at The Open University in the U.K. to support a course on Cognitive Psychology. It was designed to acquaint students as painlessly as possible with the computing fundamentals necessary both to grasp AI principles as applied in Cognitive Psychology and to actually initiate fairly sophisticated exercises on their own. The language has been used successfully by more than 2500 social science students.
Research and Advances

A survey of attitudes toward computers

What do people really think about computers and their impact? In 1970, a study of people's attitudes in North America showed computers to be regarded as either “beneficial tools of mankind” or as “awesome thinking machines.” A recent survey taken in Australia and reported in this article, though, suggests there may have been a change in attitudes over the past decade. The Australians expressed much concern over the computer's possible disemploying and dehumanizing effects—as well as disquiet over the control computers could exercise over their lives. If these attitudes are typical beyond the shores of Australia, they could create a barrier to the widespread acceptance and application of computers around the world.
Research and Advances

Transporting a portable operating system: UNIX to an IBM minicomputer

The “portable” UNIX operating system was transported to an IBM Series/1 minicomputer. The process of transporting is described with emphasis on (1) adapting to the target machine architecture; (2) the selection of the approach taken to transporting; (3) a description of the problems encountered; (4) the degree of portability of the UNIX system; and (5) a summary of the portability lessons learned.
and
Research and Advances

Occupational stress, attitudes, and health problems in the information systems professional

This study examines occupational stress among information systems personnel. A self-report stress and health behavior instrument was completed by 580 respondents in 18 large corporations in the midwestern and southwestern sections of the United States. The data indicate that various job factors are perceived as stressful by respondents. However, the stress levels reported by respondents are not as excessive as have been found in studies of other occupational groups.
, , and
Research and Advances

Some realities of data administration

Little information exists on the practice of data administration, i.e., the management of data as an enterprise resource. A survey of data administrators at predominantly large enterprises was conducted to determine the extent of the existence of data administration and to assess its effectiveness as implemented. New insight into the realities of data administration, including its real-world objectives and perceived effectiveness, is presented.
Research and Advances

Spelling correction in user interfaces

The feasibility of providing a spelling corrector as a part of interactive user interfaces is demonstrated. The issues involved in using spelling correction in a user interface are examined, and a simple correction algorithm is described. The results of an experiment in which the corrector is incorporated into a heavily used interactive program are described. More than one quarter of the errors made by users during the experiment were corrected using the simple mechanisms presented here. From this we have concluded that there are considerable benefits and few obstacles to providing a spelling corrector in almost any interactive user interface.
, , and
Research and Advances

Turnover among DP personnel: a casual analysis

Four variables suggested by previous research were included in a proposed causal model of turnover among computer specialists. When tested using correlational analysis, three of the variables were significant inverse predictors of turnover. A fourth variable was also inversely related to turnover, but not significantly so. Path analysis supports the proposed causal model and suggest turnover indirectly through its influence on the other model variables.
Research and Advances

Managing application program maintenance expenditures

Program maintenance represents a major portion of the total expenditures on application programs. Despite the attention this subject has received in the MIS literature, new guidelines to action in this area remain of great interest to practitioners. A large number of variables thought to be determinants of application program maintenance expenditure have been studied through the inspection of application portfolios and personal interviews with top computer executives and systems development personnel. Based on the results, recommendations are made on how to reduce application program maintenance expenditures.
Research and Advances

Estimating file access time of floppy disks

Small computers often use floppy disks for storage. Since such disks are significantly slower than hard disks, the response time of a given application program is due predominantly to the time required to access data in files. Access time is dependent on three factors: hardware (disk drive and interface), the operating system in use, and the patterns of file access of application programs. A simple-to-use method of predicting access times with good accuracy is presented. The method makes use of simple calibration experiments that provide information related to the hardware and operating system characteristics of the system in use. This is combined with patterns of file access information for a given application program to predict access time for that program. Actual examples for several small computer systems are presented.
and
Research and Advances

The management of end user computing

End users can be classified into six distinct types. Each of them needs differentiated education, support, and control from the Information Systems function. To support a large number of their applications a new computing environment, “the third environment” must be developed by Information Systems (I/S) management. Close attention must also be paid by I/S management to the need to involve “functional support personnel” (end users in each functional area who spend most of their time programming and aiding other end users) in the I/S end user management process.
and

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 Involved

Communications 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.

Learn More