349,998 research outputs found
Cultural consequences of computing technology
Computing technology is clearly a technical revolution, but will most probably bring about a cultural revolution\ud
as well. The effects of this technology on human culture will be dramatic and far-reaching. Yet, computers and\ud
electronic networks are but the latest development in a long history of cognitive tools, such as writing and printing.\ud
We will examine this history, which exhibits long-term trends toward an increasing democratization of culture,\ud
before turning to today's technology. Within this framework, we will analyze the probable effects of computing on\ud
culture: dynamical representations, generalized networking, constant modification and reproduction. To address the\ud
problems posed by this new technical environment, we will suggest possible remedies. In particular, the role of\ud
social institutions will be discussed, and we will outline the shape of new electronic institutions able to deal with the\ud
information flow on the internet
Software for physics of tau lepton decay in LHC experiments
Software development in high energy physics experiments offers unique
experience with rapidly changing environment and variety of different standards
and frameworks that software must be adapted to. As such, regular methods of
software development are hard to use as they do not take into account how
greatly some of these changes influence the whole structure. The following
thesis summarizes development of TAUOLA C++ Interface introducing tau decays to
new event record standard. Documentation of the program is already published.
That is why it is not recalled here again. We focus on the development cycle
and methodology used in the project, starting from the definition of the
expectations through planning and designing the abstract model and concluding
with the implementation. In the last part of the paper we present installation
of the software within different experiments surrounding Large Hadron Collider
and the problems that emerged during this process.Comment: Thesis submitted to Applied Computer Science Department in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the MSc degree. This work is partially
supported by EU Marie Curie Research Training Network grant under the
contract No. MRTN-CT-2006-0355505, Polish Government grant N202 06434
(2008-2011) and EU-RTN Programme: Contract No. MRTN-CT-2006-035482
'Flavianet
Credit Where Itâs Due: The Law and Norms of Attribution
The reputation we develop by receiving credit for the work we do proves to the world the nature of our human capital. If professional reputation were property, it would be the most valuable property that most people own because much human capital is difficult to measure. Although attribution is ubiquitous and important, it is largely unregulated by law. In the absence of law, economic sectors that value attribution have devised non-property regimes founded on social norms to acknowledge and reward employee effort and to attribute responsibility for the success or failure of products and projects. Extant contract-based and norms-based attribution regimes fail optimally to protect attribution interests. This article proposes a new approach to employment contracts designed to shore up the desirable characteristics of existing norms-based attribution systems while allowing legal intervention in cases of market failure. The right to public attribution would be waivable upon proof of a procedurally fair negotiation. The right to attribution necessary to build human capital, however, would be inalienable. Unlike an intellectual property right, attribution rights would not be enforced by restricting access to the misattributed work itself; the only remedy would be for the lost value of human capital. The variation in attribution norms that currently exists in different workplace cultures can and should be preserved through the proposed contract approach. The proposal strikes an appropriate balance between expansive and narrow legal protections for workplace knowledge and, in that respect, addresses one of the most vexing current debates at the intersection of intellectual property and employment law
Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools
In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings
Lisp, Jazz, Aikido -- Three Expressions of a Single Essence
The relation between Science (what we can explain) and Art (what we can't)
has long been acknowledged and while every science contains an artistic part,
every art form also needs a bit of science. Among all scientific disciplines,
programming holds a special place for two reasons. First, the artistic part is
not only undeniable but also essential. Second, and much like in a purely
artistic discipline, the act of programming is driven partly by the notion of
aesthetics: the pleasure we have in creating beautiful things. Even though the
importance of aesthetics in the act of programming is now unquestioned, more
could still be written on the subject. The field called "psychology of
programming" focuses on the cognitive aspects of the activity, with the goal of
improving the productivity of programmers. While many scientists have
emphasized their concern for aesthetics and the impact it has on their
activity, few computer scientists have actually written about their thought
process while programming. What makes us like or dislike such and such language
or paradigm? Why do we shape our programs the way we do? By answering these
questions from the angle of aesthetics, we may be able to shed some new light
on the art of programming. Starting from the assumption that aesthetics is an
inherently transversal dimension, it should be possible for every programmer to
find the same aesthetic driving force in every creative activity they
undertake, not just programming, and in doing so, get deeper insight on why and
how they do things the way they do. On the other hand, because our aesthetic
sensitivities are so personal, all we can really do is relate our own
experiences and share it with others, in the hope that it will inspire them to
do the same. My personal life has been revolving around three major creative
activities, of equal importance: programming in Lisp, playing Jazz music, and
practicing Aikido. But why so many of them, why so different ones, and why
these specifically? By introspecting my personal aesthetic sensitivities, I
eventually realized that my tastes in the scientific, artistic, and physical
domains are all motivated by the same driving forces, hence unifying Lisp,
Jazz, and Aikido as three expressions of a single essence, not so different
after all. Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido are governed by a limited set of rules which
remain simple and unobtrusive. Conforming to them is a pleasure. Because Lisp,
Jazz, and Aikido are inherently introspective disciplines, they also invite you
to transgress the rules in order to find your own. Breaking the rules is fun.
Finally, if Lisp, Jazz, and Aikido unify so many paradigms, styles, or
techniques, it is not by mere accumulation but because they live at the
meta-level and let you reinvent them. Working at the meta-level is an
enlightening experience. Understand your aesthetic sensitivities and you may
gain considerable insight on your own psychology of programming. Mine is
perhaps common to most lispers. Perhaps also common to other programming
communities, but that, is for the reader to decide..
Exploring Video Feedback in Philosophy
This paper explores the benefits of video feedback for teaching philosophy. Our analysis, based on results from a self-report student survey along with our own experience, indicates that video feedback possesses a number of advantages over traditional written comments. In particular we argue that video feedback is conducive to providing high-quality formative feedback, increases detail and clarity, and promotes student engagement. In addition, we argue that the advantages of video feedback make the method an especially apt tool for addressing challenges germane to teaching philosophy. Video feedback allows markers to more easily explain and illustrate philosophical goals and methods. It allows markers to model the doing of philosophy and thereby helps students to see philosophyâs value. Video feedback is a promising tool for addressing both cognitive and affective barriers to learning philosophy. Such advantages are especially valuable in the context of a student-centered, intentional learning framework. In light of these advantages, we find that video feedback is underappreciated and underutilized
Open Science in Software Engineering
Open science describes the movement of making any research artefact available
to the public and includes, but is not limited to, open access, open data, and
open source. While open science is becoming generally accepted as a norm in
other scientific disciplines, in software engineering, we are still struggling
in adapting open science to the particularities of our discipline, rendering
progress in our scientific community cumbersome. In this chapter, we reflect
upon the essentials in open science for software engineering including what
open science is, why we should engage in it, and how we should do it. We
particularly draw from our experiences made as conference chairs implementing
open science initiatives and as researchers actively engaging in open science
to critically discuss challenges and pitfalls, and to address more advanced
topics such as how and under which conditions to share preprints, what
infrastructure and licence model to cover, or how do it within the limitations
of different reviewing models, such as double-blind reviewing. Our hope is to
help establishing a common ground and to contribute to make open science a norm
also in software engineering.Comment: Camera-Ready Version of a Chapter published in the book on
Contemporary Empirical Methods in Software Engineering; fixed layout issue
with side-note
The women in IT (WINIT) final report
The Women in IT (WINIT) project was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) from March 2004 until April 2006 under
HE ESF Objective 3: Research into equal opportunities in the labour market. Specifically the project came under Policy Field
2, Measure 2: Gender discrimination in employment. The project was run in the Information Systems Institute of the
University of Salford. One of the Research Associates has an information systems (IS) background, the other has a
background in sociology. We begin this report with an overview of the current situation with regards women in the UK IT
sector.
Whilst gender is only recently being recognised as an issue within the mainstream IS academic community, thirty years of
female under-representation in the ICT field in more general terms has received more attention from academics, industry
and government agencies alike. Numerous research projects and centres (such as the UK Resource Centre for Women in
Science, Engineering and Technology) exist to tackle the under-representation of women in SET careers, although the
figures for womenâs participation in the ICT sector remain disheartening, with current estimates standing at around 15%
(EOC 2004). Various innovative initiatives, such as e-Skillsâ Computer Clubs for Girls, appear to have had little impact on
these low female participation rates. Additionally, these and other initiatives have been interpreted as a means to fill the
skills gap and âmake up the numbersâ to boost the UK economy (French and Richardson 2005), resulting in âadd more
women and stirâ solutions to the âproblemâ of gender in relation to inclusion in IS and ICT (Henwood 1996).
Given that there have been decades of equal opportunity and related policies as well as many government initiatives
designed to address the gender imbalance in IT employment patterns, sex segregation in IT occupations and pay and
progression disparity in the IT sector (including the latest initiative- a one million pound DTI funded gender and SET project),
we could be forgiven for assuming that these initiatives have had a beneficial effect on the position and number of women
in the IT workforce, and that even if we have not yet achieved gender equity, we can surely argue that there are positive
moves in the right direction. Although we do not wish to make definitive claims about the success or failure of specific
initiatives, our research, backed up by recent major surveys, paints a picture that remains far from rosy. Indeed a recent
comparative survey of the IT workforce in Germany, Holland and the UK indicates that women are haemorrhaging out of
the UK IT workforce (Platman and Taylor 2004). From a high point of 100,892 women in the UK IT workforce in 1999,
Platman and Taylor (ibid., 8) report a drop to 53,759 by 2003. As the IT industry was moving into recession anyway, the
number of men in the industry has also declined, but by nothing like as much, so the figures for women are stark.
When it comes to number crunching who is employed in the UK IT sector and when trying to make historical comparisons,
the first obstacle is defining the sector itself. Studies vary quite substantially in the number of IT workers quoted suggesting
there is quite a bit of variation in what is taken to be an IT job. The IT industry has experienced considerable expansion over
the past twenty years. In spring 2003 in Britain, it was estimated that almost 900,000 people worked in ICT firms, and there
were over 1 million ICT workers, filling ICT roles in any sector (e-Skills UK, 2003). This growth has resulted in talk of a âskills
shortageâ requiring the âmaximizationâ of the workforce to its full potential: âYou donât just need pale, male, stale guys in
the boardroom but a diversity of viewsâ (Stone 2004).
In spring 2003 the Equal Opportunities Commission estimated there to be 151,000 women working in ICT occupations
compared with 834,000 men (clearly using a different, much wider job definition from that of Platman and Taylor (2004))
, whilst in the childcare sector, there were less than 10,000 men working in these occupations, compared with 297,000
women (EOC 2004). It is estimated that the overall proportion of women working in ICT occupations is 15% (EOC 2004).
In the UK, Office of National Statistics (ONS) statistics indicate that women accounted for 30% of IT operations technicians,
but a mere 15% of ICT Managers and only 11% of IT strategy and planning professionals (EOC 2004). Although women
are making inroads into technical and senior professions there remains a âfeminisationâ of lower level jobs, with a female
majority in operator and clerical roles and a female minority in technical and managerial roles (APC 2004).
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