Communications of the ACM articles from September 1997

Communications of the ACM archives from September 1997

Cobol - a contradiction and an enigma.
September 1, 1997... "Democracy is a very bad form of government... but all the others are so much worse."--Winston Churchill Cobol is the most pooh-poohed topic in the software field. Almost everyone criticizes it, laughs at it, kicks sand in its face. Few...

Educational technology standards.
September 1, 1997... Two thousand years ago the Chinese standardized educational technology. "By requiring set standards and prescribing teaching methods and uniform syllabi, and by establishing controlling bodies of literary superintendents, the [Chinese]...

For. (Communications Decency Act)(Debating (What Once Was) the CDA)
September 1, 1997... In the days following the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision declaring the Communications Decency Act unconstitional, we asked our two Washington-based columnists to take opposing viewpoints on the now-defunct bill. Although a 1,000-word...

Against. (Communications Decency Act)(Debating (What Once Was) the CDA)
September 1, 1997... In the days following the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision declaring the Communications Decency Act unconstitional, we asked our two Washington-based columnists to take opposing viewpoints on the now-defunct bill. Although a 1,000-word...

Virtual organization. (includes related article on social and information systems)
September 1, 1997... A virtually organized company dynamically link its business goals with the procedures needed to achieve them. Virtual organization is linked to a variety of seemingly disparate phenomena, including virtual memory, virtual reality, virtual...

Virtuality. (virtual computer systems)
September 1, 1997... Allowing users to negotiate an agreed-upon reality, virtuality requires system designers to anticipate how their technology alters the social order of the real world. Virtuality is the property of a computer system with the potential for...

Asynchronous learning networks as a virtual classroom.
September 1, 1997... Despite the lack of physical space, an ALN's virtual facilities allow students to exchange emotional support, information, and a sense of belonging. Computer-mediated communication can enable people with shared interests to form and sustain...

How virtual organizing is transforming management science.
September 1, 1997... As a tool for self-examination in social contexts, particularly those at work, virtual organizing requires participants to share in the management of those contexts. The notion of virtual organization, as presented by Mowshowltz [6], is...

An electronic infrastructure for a virtual university.
September 1, 1997... Besides delivering customized educational content and linking far-flung professors and students, this infrastructure is a reengineered vision of a university's educational process. With dramatic advances in networking technologies, distance...

The industrial virtual enterprise.
September 1, 1997... Virtually (temporarily) united to exploit a worldwide business opportunity, a consortium of companies manufacture products together none could build alone. High-performance computer networks allow companies to collaborate electronically....

A virtual museum.
September 1, 1997... Rely on a curator or create your own collection or exhibition from 130,000 paintings from the great art museums of France. For the past 25 years, France's cultural heritage has been indexed by conservation professionals and art historians,...

Medical applications of virtual reality.
September 1, 1997... How virtual reality is helping improve patient care in the form of advanced educational tools and therapeutic options. It has been 12 years since a team of NASA scientists and engineers at Ames Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif., first put...

Reactive environments. (includes related article on motion detectors)
September 1, 1997... As information technology becomes increasingly widespread, we are confronted with the burden of controlling a myriad of complex devices in our day-to-day activities. While many people today could hardly imagine living in electronics-free homes...

Critical issues in abandoned information systems development projects.
September 1, 1997... What is it about IS development projects that make them susceptible to cancellations? A medium-sized electronic distribution company with plans for becoming a billion-dollar company in the near future realized it needed to develop a new...

A case for document management functions on the Web.
September 1, 1997... Web technology and applications are growing at a rate unprecedented for computer-based information technology. In 1996, Zona Research projected Web- and Internet-related revenue would double in 1997 and then grow about 30-50,76 through 1999....

Employment and salaries of recent doctorates in Computer Science.
September 1, 1997... This magazine recently published a first-person account of how one faculty position in computer science garnered 438 applicants [7]. One of us (Maisel) had a similar experience when his department posted an opening for an entry-level faculty...

Measuring the importance of ethical behavior criteria.
September 1, 1997... Increased reliance on information technology requires greater attention to ethical issues. Due to the sensitive nature of and value associated with the different types of information required by today's managers, organizations must insist...

Software development process: a necessary evil.
September 1, 1997... What is a process? A process defines specifically who does what, when, and how. The Webster dictionary defines it is a "particular method of doing something, generally involving a number of steps or operations." I want to emphasize that a...

Software engineering: an unconsummated marriage.
September 1, 1997... When discussing the risks of using computers, we rarely mention the most basic problem: most programmers are not well educated for the work they do. Many have never learned the basic principles of software design and validation. Detailed...

Digital libraries present new challenges: an interview with Bill Arms. (member of ACM Publications Board and an electronic publishing expert)(Interview)
September 1, 1997... Bill Arms, member of the ACM Publications Board since 1993, is one of the world's experts on the current state of research in digital libraries. After receiving degrees in mathematics and operational research from Oxford, the London School of...

Industrial advisory group meets in Silicon Valley. (Association for Computing Machinery)
September 1, 1997... An ad hoc Industrial Advisory Group met last June in Silicon Valley to investigate how ACM might better serve the concerns of the computing industrial development community. Co-chairs Steven Bourne (Cisco Systems) and Andrew Hall (BEA Systems)...

EC meets with ACM leaders in Europe. (Executive Committee of Association for Computing Machinery)
September 1, 1997... As the next step in efforts to strengthen the international nature of ACM and relationships with European computing organizations, the ACM Executive Committee and senior staff hosted a planning meeting on June 1, 1997 in Stockholm. The meeting...

Final month of ACM Digital Library Open House.
September 1, 1997... September is the final month to catch the ACM Digital Library Open House at http://www. acm.org/dl. During the Open House members and the public have an opportunity to try out the Library's many offerings, browse the tables of contents, search...

Professional liability insurance to be provided by ACM. (Association for Computing Machinery)
September 1, 1997... ACM is pleased to announce plans to provide a Professional Liability Insurance Program specifically designed for information technology professionals. Although every individual and company engaged in business is exposed to loss, rendering of...

SIGCOMM visionary in solving problems. (Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communication)
September 1, 1997... Jon Crowcroft, co-chair of ACM's Special Interest Group on Data Communication with Sally Floyd for the past 2 years, describes SIGCOMM as a vital group of people "who have a long-term goal of learning how to put the world of networks together so...

Peter Wegner reviews the changing image of 'Computing Surveys.' (co-editor-in chief of Association for Computing Machinery's publication)
September 1, 1997... Peter Wegner prepared the following summary of significant changes and events in ACM's Computing Surveys over the past 2 years. Peter Wegner and Marvin Israel are co-Editors-in-Chief of Computing Surveys. During the last 2 years Computing...

Joseph Halpern is new JACM editor-in-chief. (Journal of the ACM)
September 1, 1997... Joseph Y. Halpern was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the ACM (JACM) in March, 1997. In a editorial published in the May, 1997 issue of JACM, Halpern discussed why he took on the responsibility of Editor-in-Chief and the goals he has...