Communications of the ACM articles from November 1997

Communications of the ACM archives from November 1997

Tracking the global diffusion of the Internet. (includes related article on Web sites related to information technology)(Column)
November 1, 1997... Everyone knows the Internet is growing rapidly, but measuring that growth with a degree of precision is difficult. At first it was easy to follow network diffusion. The Arpanet Completion Report [2] contains maps, topology diagrams, and...

Watermarking cyberspace. (digital watermarks)(Cover Story)
November 1, 1997... The use of watermarks is almost as old as paper manufacturing. Ancients poured their half-stuff slurry of fiber and water onto mesh molds to collect the fiber, then dispersed the slurry within deckle frames to add shape and uniformity, and...

Toward the 21st century. (plans of the National Computation Science Alliance)(Column)
November 1, 1997... DURING THE PAST 10 YEARS, THE U.S.'s COMPUTATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM ISOLATED COMPUTATIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE TO A FULLY DISTRIBUTED WEB OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED KNOWLEDGE. THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPERCOMPUTING...

The NSF partnerships and the tradition of U.S. science and engineering. (Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure initiative of the National Science Foundation)
November 1, 1997... THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION'S PARTNERSHIP FOR ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE (PACI) INITIATIVE IN A BOLD STEP IN TERMS OF VISION AND SCALE EVEN WHEN SET AGAINST THE REMARKABLE PROGRESS IN COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND THE SUPERCOMPUTER AND...

Distributed data and immersive collaboration. (computing environments for online collaboration)
November 1, 1997... Eliminating the barriers of time and space separating potential collaborators means virtual research teams can assemble quickly via distributed data archives and high-resolution, high-modality collaborative environments. TODAY'S EXPERIMENTAL...

From the I-way to the National Technology Grid. (development of a metacomputer infrastructure for the US)
November 1, 1997... The Grid could evolve into a national-scale metacomputer for everyone, but first comes integration of its networking, distributed computing, scheduling, Web and Java programming, security, and visualization. Transforming today's internet and...

A nationwide parallel computing environment.
November 1, 1997... How to get there? Through a scalable software environment coupling the small parallelism (a few processors) of the desktop to the large-scale parallelism (thousands of processors) in Alliance machines. SINCE ITS BEGINNING IN 1985, THE NATIONAL...

How application domains define requirements for the Grid. (National Technology Grid program of the National Computational Science Alliance) (includes related articles on the application technology teams of the National Computational Science Alliance and its Biology Group)
November 1, 1997... Inspiring and guided by the limitations of scientific applications, new enabling high-performance technology is being developed for scientists and engineers, explored here through its value in chemical engineering. Without doubt,...

Cosmology of the early universe viewed through the new infrastructure. (use of computer simulations)
November 1, 1997... Not only will scalable computers, distributed computing, and virtual environments help cosmology researchers computationally discover the nature of the early universe, the general public will share their fundamental scientific quest. COSMOLOGY...

Toward a virtual politicking model.
November 1, 1997... Tracing four politically potent managerial aspects of email use. Virtual politicking is the use of email to support organizational politics. Surprisingly, despite the proliferation of email, its role in enabling political maneuvering is just...

Reinventing methodology: who reads it and why? (methodology structures for computer users) (includes a related article on the questionnaire used for the study)
November 1, 1997... If methods are to be used more effectively, then formats for distributing that information need to change. Andersen Consulting implemented methodology structures that were successfully reinvented to satisfy various user needs. Many information...

Software engineering code of ethics.
November 1, 1997... ACM and the IEEE Computer Society join forces to create a code of professional practices within our industry. Now, we ask for your comments. The Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society established a steering committee in May 1993 for...

Forums for MIS scholars. (management information systems)
November 1, 1997... An increase in MIS publication outlets and changing journal management inspire this update and reassessment. Where should I publish my scholarly research? is a question often heard in academic circles. On the surface this appears to be a...

Process assessment considered wasteful.(Column)
November 1, 1997... The first step in any software process improvement program must be assessment. Assessment is supposed to give an organization a sense of where it stands in terms of software production skills. While we believe assessments can be valuable, and in...

Risks of technological remedy.(Column)
November 1, 1997... Human beings are flexible, inventive, and adaptable. Even in error. Certain kinds of human error are resilient enough to overcome technology specifically designed to avoid them. Consider the downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 over Sakhalin...

Ben Shneiderman discusses ACM's Policy98 conference.(Supplement: ACMMemberNet)(Interview)
November 1, 1997... Policy98, ACM's annual conference, will be held May 10-12, 1998 in Washington D.C. USACM (ACM U.S. Public Policy Committee) will organize the event in cooperation with SIGCAS (ACM Special Interest Group on Computers and Society). Cochairs are Ben...

Digital Library Open House extended to December 31, 1997. (online information service of the Association for Computing Machinery)(Supplement: ACMMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... Since ACM first offered a peek into its Digital Library back in July, it has received an overwhelmingly positive response from professional members, student members, and institutions. Because of this enthusiastic reception, the Association has...

Carver Mead receives ACM Allen Newell Award. (Association for Computing Machinery)(Supplement: ACMMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... On behalf of ACM, President Chuck House presented Carver Mead (California Institute of Technology) the Allen Newell Award at a special reception at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington DC on Sunday, October 5th. The award is...

ACM activities in progress in Mexico. (Association for Computing Machinery)(Supplement: ACMMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... The scientific and professional computing communities in Mexico and Latin America are highly motivated to provide information technology tools to their region. The ACM Technology Outreach program is contributing to help these communities become...

Restrictions protested on cryptography research and development.(Supplement: ACMMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... ACM's office in Washington reports that the leading U.S. scientific, mathematics, and engineering societies, including USACM, sent a united message to Congress in September protesting proposed U.S. cryptography policies that would maintain export...

ACM Web redesign. (Association for Computing Machinery Web site)(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... If you haven't been to the ACM web site recently, take a look: The entire site is undergoing a redesign that gives a unified look to ACM's online presence and makes it easier to navigate the over 20,000 pages of acm.org. The redesign was...

Ivar Jacobson co-authors new ACM Press book on software reuse.(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... Searching for a strategy that will give your company the competitive edge? You could very well find it by developing software for reuse and thus creating a valuable competitive asset. Software Reuse: Architecture, Process and Organization for...

David Nicol is new TOMACS editor-in-chief. (Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulations)(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... David M. Nicol was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS) in September, 1997. Nicol believes that the practice of simulation in industrial and academic settings is increasing in practical...

SIGSOFT maintains strong activities while looking to the future. (Special Interest Group on Software)(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... David Notkin, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Washington in Seattle, was elected Chair of ACM's Special Interest Group on Software Engineering last July. Notkin was Secretary-Treasurer from 1992 to 1997. SIGSOFT focuses on...

Quest'97 a success! On with the new ACM/IBM "Quest for Java'98" contest. (Java application competition of the Association for Computing Machinery)(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... The ACM/IBM "Quest for Java'97" Contest proved to be a huge success. Winners' names and addresses were being verified at press time and will be mounted on the website http://www.acm.org/jquest. The January, 1998 issue of Communications of the ACM...

ACM adds Gartner Group to MVP program. (Association for Computing Machinery)(Supplement: ACMemberNet)
November 1, 1997... ACM is pleased to announce the addition of select Gartner Group products and services to its MVP program through the Information Technology Journal. This online product provides an excellent mix of research, news, planning tools, and insights...