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What does it mean to have a career that has been shaped by luck and learning? With no formal training in the software industry, the author shares a personal story of the ups, downs, and sometimes sideways moments in her career.
By Lisa Long
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing profession
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Though today we think of the web and social media as nearly synonymous, the technology of the early web made social interaction difficult. The author discusses her work creating some of the web's earliest social applications and asks why our interfaces for seeing and communicating with each other online are still so primitive.
By Judith Donath
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Collaborative and social computing, History of computing
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Whether working in academia, industry, or entertainment building a career means navigating a variety of challenges. The authors revisit a number of lessons learned while building systems (or records), how to transfer those lessons to new domains, how to turn your research skills on what you haven't learned yet, and build an extra curriculum for yourself.
By Henriette Cramer, Avriel Epps-Darling
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: General and reference, History of computing, Model curricula, Performing arts
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International exposure impacts your views on technology, design, consumption, and adoption, and sometimes technology is not even the direct solution. Building a digital ecosystem entails the right policy mix to support the expansion of mobile broadband coupled with complementary policies to boost affordability and digital skills for underserved groups.
By Jimena Luna
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Broadband access, Electronic commerce, Geographic characteristics
Evading oppressive internet censorship is possible, but discovering how is difficult and time-consuming for humans. Geneva is a genetic algorithm that automatically discovers and implements censorship circumvention strategies---many of which were long thought impossible.
By Kevin Bock, Dave Levin
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Genetic algorithms, Technology and censorship
The conversation around and application of computer science often reinforces neoliberal ideals of what pathways students should take. Computer science education is said to be the great equalizer for marginalized youth. We grapple with how this can never be true in an educational system grounded in anti-Blackness.
By Stephanie T. Jones, Natalie Melo
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing education, Race and ethnicity
Online voting has been presented as the means to ensure faster, clearer results, mainly in close races. What complexities lie behind this claim? Will we ever replace paper-voting with a technological solution?
By Matt Bernhard
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Voting / election technologies
Deepfake videos are becoming more and more believable, outpacing fake detection methods. As a research community, we must embrace a wider variety of detection tactics to keep up and quell the spread of misinformation.
By Eleanor Tursman
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Image manipulation, Trust
Given the rising amount of fake news on the web, it is imperative to understand whether people can become immune to fake news and what steps can help achieve this goal. This interview presents insights into the definition of fake news, current research, and the future of fake news education.
By Diane Golay
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Interactive games, Spam detection
With a sea of misinformation surrounding COVID-19, fake news and rumors on social media have run amok. We need to flatten the curve of this infodemic and flatten the curve of COVID-19.
By Ankuran Dutta
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Spam detection
How can the ideals of the open source movement be applied to living, self-replicating organisms? Bioleft explores how to pursue a fair system for conserving, developing, and trading seeds working with public sector breeders and farmers hand in hand.
By Almendra Cremaschi, Patrick van Zwanenberg, Anabel Marin, Marcela Basch, Vanesa Lowenstein
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Agriculture, Intellectual property, Open source software
View source code is a statement about open access to knowledge. Even though you are not able to modify it, or even understand code, it is an invitation to learn and the key for balancing control and power among users and developers. In this article, we explore the potential of software to enable new practices and transform old ones.
By Lila Pagola
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing literacy, Designing software
Just as corporations manage the media, large companies, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, dominate the internet. How can we liberate the digital territory? With this in mind, Red de Radios Comunitarias y Software Libre was born to offer radio stations a free and secure operating system distribution.
By Clara Elena Robayo Valencia
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computer and information systems training, Multimedia content creation, Open source software, Sound and music computing
Wikipedia in its content, and as a community, remains highly masculine. Many women worldwide are working to reduce the gender gap. This article narrates one of the strategies that women of Latin America and Spain have been applying during the past five years to make this a reality.
By Carmen Alcázar
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Wikis, Women



Cybersecurity involves protection of computer systems from theft, damage, or manipulation to the hardware, software, or the data contained on them. A limitless cyberspace, little to no boundaries, and eroding national borders is making Africa vulnerable to cyber threats and potential harms. Cybersecurity represents serious economic and national security challenges, which need to be properly defined and contextualized.
By Hood Mukiibi
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computer crime, Electronic commerce, Human and societal aspects of security and privacy, Systems security


As the numbers and capabilities of networked devices continue to grow, they will play an increasingly important role in daily life. Ensuring security and usability will be the first and foremost challenge; Named Data Networking can help address this challenge through localized trust, usable security, and autoconfiguration.
By Zhiyi Zhang, Edward Lu, Yu Guan, Tianxiang Li, Xinyu Ma, Zhaoning Kong, Lixia Zhang
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Cloud computing, Network architectures, Network protocols

Will Alexa and Google Assistant become the duopoly platforms on which consumers reach web services and IoTs verbally? With open and collaborative research, we can build the best open-source virtual assistant to ensure choice, privacy, and open competition.
By Monica S. Lam, Giovanni Campagna, Silei Xu, Michael Fischer, Mehrad Moradshahi
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Access control, Personal digital assistants

As more and more devices are connected to one another, there is a growing shift to decentralized independent operation without the need of a central controller. We look into the aspects of collective operation, resilience, security, and peer-to-peer economy in a decentralized network, analyzing the benefits and challenges of introducing "democracy" among devices.
By Nitin Shivaraman
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Distributed systems organizing principles, Embedded systems

Running on a treadmill or cycling on an exercise bike are often monotonous and hard-to-keep habits. Comparatively, social relationships in team sports play an important role to motivate participants. What happens when you combine both activities into one virtual environment?
By Luciana Nedel, Rodrigo Moni, Mateus Nunes
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Collaborative and social computing, Virtual worlds software

This article explores the areas of bias in natural language processing, from the tools that are used to analyze the data to the fundamental theories in the field. It delves deeper into the very idea that the data that is analyzed (language) itself shapes human perception of reality, and evolves over time.
By Talia Kohen
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Document types, Natural language processing

The artificial creation of human skin, tissue, and internal organs may sound like a futuristic dream but, incredibly, much of it is happening right now. In research facilities and hospitals around the world, scientists and medical researchers are using scanners and printers, traditionally reserved for auto design, model building, and product prototyping, to develop completely personalized treatments.
By Siddharth Kumar Sah, Soumya Jindal
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Health care information systems, Medical technologies

Have we escaped the hype and death cycles that have plagued the history of virtual reality? In the last few years, as commercial virtual reality headsets and systems have become accessible, content developers, film festivals, and---most intriguing---galleries and museums are dipping their toes in the virtual pool.
By Jas Brooks
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Fine arts, Virtual reality, Virtual worlds software

Various policies and processes have been implemented to bring equality for women in the IT sector. Yet there are various issues faced by women that still need to be addressed broadly as an institutional responsibility rather than a mere brand-building strategy.
By Sadhana Deshpande
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing occupations, Employment issues

Email has been declared dead many times but refuses to die. There is a new effort underway to make encrypted end-to-end email communication as automatic as possible. It is part of a diverse set of efforts to reinvigorate the email ecosystem, which remains a crucial cornerstone of a functioning, open internet.
By Holger Krekel, Karissa McKelvey, Emil Lefherz
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Cryptography, Email, Software and application security, Surveillance

The web is the biggest legacy application ever developed or supported by software engineers, but it's also blurring the line between the consumption of data and the leaking of personal details. Browser makers may be the only line of defense.
By Christoph Kerschbaumer, Luke Crouch, Tom Ritter, Tanvi Vyas
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Browser security, Privacy protections, World Wide Web

The Frick Art Reference Library has been researching the potential of computer technology to enhance the methods art historians have historically used to do their research. The Frick has launched a number of exciting new collaborative projects with the hopes of bringing the normally staid world of art history into the 21st century.
By Louisa Wood Ruby, Samantha Deutch
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computer vision, Digital libraries and archives, Image manipulation

From the time of prehistoric etchings on the walls of the Lascaux cave to the present day, people have always been creating art. With millions of artistic artifacts filling museums, churches, cultural institutions, and private collections across the globe, connecting to our shared cultural and artistic past is no longer impossible.
By Benoit Seguin
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computer vision representations, Fine arts, Image search, Neural networks, Search engine architectures and scalability, Structured text search, Visual content-based indexing and retrieval

Five, diverse entrepreneurs from around the world share a common ambition of social good. Here they detail how they entered the world of startups.
By Numair Khan, Alexandru Penu, Thomas Dickerson, Linda Liukas, Cesar Jung-Harada, Sam Bhattacharya
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing and business

Cognitive environments with "eyes," "ears," "mind," "mouth," and "hands" will converse with people, understand group dynamics, present stories, and augment group intelligence, enabling humans and computers to accomplish things neither could do alone.
By Hui Su
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Network services, World Wide Web

Carolin Silbernagl, who leads betterplace lab, the research arm of betterplace.org in Berlin, Germany, is a social technologist, as well as co-founder of dotHIV. Here, she shares what it takes to make betterplace, the first mover in the area of digital social startups in Germany.
By Nidhi Rastogi, Rahul R. Divekar
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Cultural characteristics, Social and professional topics, Socio-technical systems, Sociology

Young and early-career researchers at the 2016 Heidelberg Laureate Forum discuss how the frontier between mathematics and computer science is shifting, what the future promises, and the implications the frontier's shape and dynamics will have on both fields.
By Edmon Begoli, Vincent Schlegel, Michael Atiyah, Praise Adeyemo, Tim Baarslag
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing education, Computing organizations, Computing profession, Historical people, History of computing, Social and professional topics

Does computing need to be decolonized, and if so, how should such decolonization be effected? This short essay introduces a recent proposal at the fringes of computing, which attempts to engage these and other related questions.
By Syed Mustafa Ali
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Human-centered computing

Artistic style is an important aspect for creative practice. However giving away some computational control over digital design and fabrication is necessary in order to engage designers in a higher-risk practice that enhances attention, creative decision making, and product ownership.
By Amit Zoran
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Human computer interaction (HCI)

Fully automated digital fabrication tools are the darling of the personal fabrication movement, but they may not be the best format for harnessing digital fabrication for personal use. Instead we should be developing tools that work cooperatively with users to augment natural abilities rather than eliminate human involvement altogether.
By Ilan Moyer
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Emerging technologies, Human computer interaction (HCI)

Despite the recent proliferation of easy-to-use personal fabrication devices, designing custom objects that are useful remains challenging. RFID technology can allow designers to easily embed rich and robust interaction in custom creations at low cost.
By Andrew Spielberg, Alanson Sample, Scott E. Hudson, Jennifer Mankoff, James McCann
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Human computer interaction (HCI), Interaction design

The future of the Internet of Things may rely on our ability to tackle issues of safety, security, and privacy, while creating standardized systems that are easy to use and configure.
By Vinton G. Cerf
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing standards, RFCs and guidelines, Network security, Security in hardware, Software and application security, Software configuration management and version control systems, Wireless devices, Wireless integrated network sensors

For more than 30 years, cryptographers have embarked on a quest to construct an encryption scheme that would enable arbitrary computation on encrypted data. Conceptually simple, yet notoriously difficult to achieve, cryptography's holy grail opens the door to many new capabilities in our cloud-centric, data-driven world.
By David J. Wu
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Public key (asymmetric) techniques, Public key encryption

Cyberspace, a world of great promise, but also, of great peril. Pirates, predators, and hackers galore, are you and your online identity at risk in this wild frontier?
By Jason R. C. Nurse
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computer crime, Cryptanalysis and other attacks, Email, Intrusion/anomaly detection and malware mitigation, Operating systems security

The proliferation of free, high-quality online courses has been heralded as a means to democratize education. The real innovations in online learning will be programs that teach the critical thinking required to learn more.
By Aliza Aufrichtig
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing education, Education

The fusion of next generation sensors and advanced information systems, combined with advances in unmanned aircraft systems that have emerged through aerospace engineering technologies, will contribute to the challenge of feeding our future world in a sustainable manner. Without these advances, the world may find itself short of food and perhaps on the brink of global conflict.
By Wayne Woldt, Eric Frew, George Meyer
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computers in other domains, Robotic autonomy

Oceans cover a majority of our planet and are currently lacking in regards to exploration and technological innovations. One technology that can help enable more aquatic applications is underwater acoustic networks (UANs). This article discusses the current status of UANs, the new applications that can be provided, and the challenges faced by this technology.
By Michael Zuba
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Earth and atmospheric sciences, Robotic autonomy

Online content creators are making decisions every day based on copyright laws that even judges have trouble interpreting. What impact does this confusion over the law have on our technology use and our creativity online?
By Casey Fiesler
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Copyrights, Web-based interaction

For animated film "Brave," Pixar Animation Studios adopted a procedural workflow for special effects. This new paradigm changed how Pixar approached effects. It allowed them to iterate, experiment, and layer physics alongside artist-directed elements. The effects artists used proceduralism to create a Scottish river for the main characters to enjoy some mother/daughter time.
By Michael O'Brien
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Animation, Simulation by animation

Climate modeling has come a long way since von Neumann declared it a problem too hard for pencil and paper, but tailor-made for the new digital computers. As the models and computers both evolve toward ever-greater complexity, they are changing our notions of digital simulation itself.
By V. Balaji
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Earth and atmospheric sciences, History of computing

Analyzing massive streaming graphs efficiently requires new algorithms, data structures, and computing platforms.
By Jason Riedy, David A. Bader
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Graph theory

How Google addresses energy and environment issues as they pertain to its global data centers.
By Bill Weihl, Erik Teetzel, Jimmy Clidaras, Chris Malone, Joe Kava, Michael Ryan
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Application servers, Application specific processors, Client-server architectures, Database web servers, File systems management, Implementation management, Other architectures, Reconfigurable logic and FPGAs, Record storage systems, Sorting and searching

Brain-computer interfaces have the potential to change the way we use devices, and there are at least four methods for implementation.
By Evan Peck, Krysta Chauncey, Audrey Girouard, Rebecca Gulotta, Francine Lalooses, Erin Treacy Solovey, Doug Weaver, Robert Jacob
HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Human computer interaction (HCI)