Communications of the ACM articles from July 1996

Communications of the ACM archives from July 1996

Is big brother hanging by his bootstraps? (national governments and information technologies)
July 1, 1996... Since the early days of the industrial revolution, national governments have been closely tied to information technologies (IT), driving technological development and using them to pursue the business of governing. For example, revolutionary...

Regulation of technologies to protect copyrighted works.
July 1, 1996... Copyright law has traditionally balanced the interests of authors, publishers, and the consuming public. The goal of this law has not been to maximize the degree of control authors or publishers can exercise over all copies or uses of their works...

Why won't the President enforce the constitution? (Communications Decency Act)(Viewpoint)
July 1, 1996... Editor's Note: As we go to press, a panel of federal judges has granted a preliminary injunction against the Communications Decency Act. The government promises to appeal that decision, taking the case to the Supreme Court. In the following...

Information systems outsourcing.(Editorial)
July 1, 1996... INFORMATION systems (IS) outsourcing - the contracting of various IS functions, such as data center management, operations, telecommunications, and software maintenance by user-firms to outside vendors - has existed in one form or another for...

Two dimensions of software acquisition.
July 1, 1996... Software acquisition is a critical concern for firms worldwide, and its impact on their business processes is expected to grow. U.S. firms spend more than $250 billion annually acquiring software [18]. Software investments can result in...

A two-level investigation of information systems outsourcing.
July 1, 1996... Outsourcing relationships between clients and vendors are diverse and complex. Here, the authors explore the impact of organizational, environmental and economic factors on two dimensions of outsourcing decisions. Outsourcing is the...

The new world of information technology outsourcing.
July 1, 1996... When Kodak outsourced major components of its information technology (IT) function in 1989, the information systems (IS) world viewed it as a watershed event, one that resulted in a robust and thriving outsourcing services industry. Seven years...

Employment outsourcing in information systems.
July 1, 1996... In recent years, information systems (IS) outsourcing has become so pervasive it can no longer be ignored. An important question is why firms choose to outsource IS work. This question has been considered from a number of perspectives. Lacity and...

On-ramp prospects for the information superhighway dream.
July 1, 1996... Will the goal of a single, universally available network carrying a wide variety of data types ever be achieved? The Internet provides a vast array of services, information sources, and ways to perform work and engage in commerce. It has an...

How open data networks influence business performance and market structure.
July 1, 1996... Open networks allow businesses to share computerized data with customers, suppliers, and other outside entities. Businesses investing in such data networks gain competitive advantage. A national data network provides virtually universal access,...

Evaluating ethical decision making and computer use.
July 1, 1996... The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), frequently used to describe ethical decision-making behavior, relates attitudes and social norms to individual behavioral intentions [2, 17]. The components of this theory appear to be present in ethical...

A message passing standard for MPP and workstations. (massively parallel processing machines)
July 1, 1996... The Message Passing Interface (MPI) is a portable message-passing standard that facilitates development of parallel applications and libraries. MPI defines the syntax and semantics of a core of library routines useful to a wide range of users...

Thoughts on Deep Blue vs. Kasparov. (chess tournament between IBM's artifical intelligence machine and Garry Kasparov)(Technical Opinion)
July 1, 1996... The result of the much-publicized tournament between IBM's Deep Blue and Garry Kasparov, the World Chess Champion, was Deep Blue with 1 win, 3 loses, and 2 draws. With a bit more power, perhaps the machine might win the title within a year or...

Using formal methods to reduce risks. (development of computer systems)
July 1, 1996... Our May 1996 column considered problems in natural languages, and suggested that risks also arise from corresponding types of ambiguities in computer-oriented languages. Unfortunately, efforts to make natural-language usage totally unambiguous...