January 2018 - Vol. 61 No. 1

Features

Opinion Cerf's up Jan 1 2018

The Role of Archives in Digital Preservation

A significant test of any specification is that multiple, independent implementations can be shown to interwork. Establishing standards and allowing archives to be networked could create an ecosystem with substantial resilience.

Vinton G. Cerf

Computing Applications

Opinion Vardi's insights Jan 1 2018

Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility

A dramatic drop in the public view of Tech, a term that I use to refer both to computing technology and the community that generates that technology, has accompanied the recent recognition of the adverse societal consequences of computing.

Moshe Y. Vardi

Computing Profession

Opinion Letters to the editor Jan 1 2018

A Leap from Artificial to Intelligence

I am astonished that people who know what computers can do, and, especially, how they do it, still think we (humankind) will ever create a rational being, much less that the day is near.

CACM Staff

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

BLOG@CACM Jan 1 2018

The Big Idea and the PD Pipeline

Former Computer Science Teachers Association executive director Mark R. Nelson discusses his work with the group to overcome core challenges to computer science education.

Mark R. Nelson

Computing Profession

News Jan 1 2018

Feeling Sounds, Hearing Sights

A new wave of sensory substitution devices work to assist people who are blind or deaf.

Gregory Mone

Computing Profession

News Jan 1 2018

Smartphone Science

A new generation of portable scientific instruments is taking shape, thanks to mobile processors and innovative data-gathering techniques.

Alex Wright

Computing Applications

off-site doctor examines child via smartphone

News Jan 1 2018

The New Jobs

As automation takes on more and more tasks, what will human workers do?

Marina Krakovsky

Computing Profession

Opinion Technology strategy and management Jan 1 2018

The Sharing Economy Meets Reality

Assessing the uncertainties of the business models driving the sharing economy.

Michael A. Cusumano

Opinion Law and technology Jan 1 2018

How Law and Computer Science Can Work Together to Improve the Information Society

Seeking to remedy bad legislation with good science.

Chris Marsden

Computing Applications

How Law and Computer Science Can Work Together, illustration

Opinion Historical reflections Jan 1 2018

Defining American Greatness: IBM from Watson to Trump

Reflections on a firm that encapsulated the American Century.

Thomas Haigh

Computing Profession

Opinion Viewpoint Jan 1 2018

Technology and the Failure of the University

Considering the double-edged sword of learning technologies in various academic settings.

Henry C. Lucas

Computing Profession

Technology and the Failure of the University, illustrative photo

Opinion Viewpoint Jan 1 2018

Ask Not What Your Postdoc Can Do For You . . .

Seeking more effective strategies for training and nurturing CS postdocs to ensure their success.

Computing Profession

Ask Not What Your Postdoc Can Do for You, illustration

Practice Jan 1 2018

Network Applications Are Interactive

The network era requires new models, with interactions instead of algorithms.

Antony Alappatt

Computing Profession

Network Applications Are Interactive, illustration

Practice Jan 1 2018

Abstracting the Geniuses Away from Failure Testing

Ordinary users need tools that automate the selection of custom-tailored faults to inject.

Peter Alvaro and Severine Tymon

Architecture and Hardware

Abstracting the Geniuses Away from Failure Testing, illustration

Practice Jan 1 2018

Cache Me If You Can

Building a decentralized Web-delivery model.

Jacob Loveless

Systems and Networking

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jan 1 2018

Once a meme gets popular, it will have to evolve to keep being popular.

Michele Coscia

Computing Applications

Popularity Spikes Hurt Future Chances for Viral Propagation of Protomemes, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jan 1 2018

Decentralized Blockchain-Based Electronic Marketplaces

In a decentralized marketplace, buyers and sellers transact directly, without manipulation by intermediary platforms.

Hemang Subramanian

Computing Applications

Decentralized Blockchain- Based Electronic Marketplaces, illustration

Research and Advances Review articles Jan 1 2018

Information Hiding: Challenges For Forensic Experts

The practice of hiding ill-gotten data in digital objects is rising among cyber thieves. New initiatives serve to educate, train, and thwart these activities.

Wojciech Mazurczyk and Steffen Wendzel

Computing Applications

Information Hiding: Challenges for Forensic Experts, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Research highlights Jan 1 2018

Technical Perspective: Moving Spectrum

The incentive auction scenario provides the backdrop for the breathtaking research contribution presented by Newman et al. in "Deep Optimization for Spectrum Repacking."

David C. Parkes

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Research highlights Jan 1 2018

Deep Optimization For Spectrum Repacking

This paper describes the process by which we built the SAT-based Feasibility Checker, a crucial element of the 2016-17 U.S. FCC "incentive auction" design.

Neil Newman, Alexandre Fréchette, and Kevin Leyton-Brown

Computing Applications

Deep Optimization for Spectrum Repacking, illustration

Research and Advances Research highlights Jan 1 2018

Technical Perspective: Can High Performance Be Portable?

"Halide: Decoupling Algorithms from Schedules for High-Performance Image Processing" by Ragan-Kelley et al. on the image processing language Halide explores a substantially different approach to architecture-specific code optimization.

Manuel Chakravarty

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights Jan 1 2018

Halide: Decoupling Algorithms from Schedules For High-Performance Image Processing

We propose a new programming language for image processing pipelines, called Halide, that separates the algorithm from its schedule.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Last byte Jan 1 2018

Polychromatic Choreography

Consider a configuration of six dancers on a grid, where three wear blue leotards and three wear red leotards.

Dennis Shasha

Computing Applications

Polychromatic Choreography, illustrative photo

News ACM code of ethics and professional conduct Jan 1 2018

ACM Code of Ethics: A Guide For Positive Action

THE ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (the Code) is being updated by the Code Update Task Force in conjunction with the ACM's Committee on Professional Ethics. The Code was initially written in 1992, and this is the first update since then.

Computing Profession

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