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2003-01-04CollabWiki: HomePage. The home Collaboratory about Collaboration. A place I hang out when I want to do something more coherent than blogging, in a friendly shared space. SCT About Us. An IT solutions company focused on education and energy & utilities applications. They are divesting themselves of the energy & utilities business. The company has been around since 1968, with the current executives having a history back to 1985. welcome to the HORIZON site. This site for the educational community is an outgrowth of ongoing efforts by James L. Morrison. It has some of the page formatting appeal of MIVU and The Technology Source. There are resources related to the future of educaiton. Michigan Virtual University - About Us. An interesting description of the founding and purpose for MIVU. This is a state-funded initiative with focus on workforce education and training. The Technology Source. This is a peer-reviewed bimonthly periodical that is provided on-line. Emphasis is on the needs of educators. It has articles on the industry as well as on the field. The Bazaar Online Conference System - Athabasca University's Alternative to Proprietary Online Course Delivery Platforms. An article on open-source courseware for distance learning support. It is proposed that mature and maturing systems with open-source support will counter the price trend for proprietary course-management systems. The article itself, and the way it is presented and linked is also an interesting aspect. 2003-01-03If You Have Received This by Mistake.... An article about managing spam as a recipient. There are some interesting approaches that you can control yourself. Computer Magazine: Science-Philosophy Celebrity Death Match. A nice little essay, done as a book review, about the prospects for an end to science, contrasted with a kind of eternal optimism about what there remains to discover. Loose ButtonsThese little snippets all relate to earlier gatherings of material.New York Times: New Strategy in the War on Spammers. About the idea of using single-purpose, expering e-mail addresses that would be useless to spammers. Another response to the social engineering that spam stimulates. New York Times: For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue. About the work of Vanu Bose to develop software-definable radio. This is a commercial offering that operates in the same space as the GNU Radio Project, and will be worth watching. ACM Ubiquity 3, 45. This is fascinating. This is meant to be the article on "The Rise of the Intelligent Enterprise" by Delic and Dayal. We could use some of that around here. The link is to a PDF file, as if that is a universal capability. It might be on my machine too, but Internet Explorer 6.0 has forgotten how to have Acrobat open these puppies. And I don't want to open PDFs in my browser. If I have to go through that, I'd rather download it and struggle with opening it locally. What is fascinating to me is that this peculiar thoughtlessness is in an on-line publication of the ACM. Is it just me or do our systems seem to be falling apart? 2003-01-01Fortify Your Email Transport - Part 1. An MS TechNet article on having fortified e-mail servers. I am looking at some other way to route SMTP traffic out of my systems to operate the way I want and not get into problems of origination rejection or failure to show my message as being from an address that I prefer for all incoming mail (but that is a relay service with no SMTP counterpart for the domain of interest). Computer TechnologyComputer ArchitecturesPeople who were there, talking about the pastEvents and Sightings - January 2002 Annals of the History of Computing. An on-line article that space did not all for in the issue. It covers a conference at the Charles Babbage Institute in September 2000. There is also some interesting discussion, in a later article, on the computer mouse.The B5000 architectureFor the modern legacy of the B5000 there are more links in the bloggings here.Prologue: The Burroughs B 5000. Robert Rosin's introduction to the special January 1987 issue of the Annals of the History of Computing devoted to the B 5000. Writing 25 years after the introduction of the architecture, Rosin observes that "In many ways the design of this system and its successors is still recognized as not only pioneering but exceptional." There is a residue of the architecture still in the Unisys ClearPath architectures based on the Burroughs mainframe heritage. There is a Unisys white paper on how they remain the only other "mainframe" manufacturer, along with IBM. A matronly Snow White and one aging dwarf. It sounds a little grumpy but maybe it is just that Doc forgot how to whistle while he works. Discussion: The Burroughs B 5000 in Retrospect. I remember reading the article on the architecture of the B 5000, probably in Datamation. Then, when I moved to New York City with Sperry Univac, I worked in William Lonergan's organizatin there. That was how I became involved with ALGOL for Univac. Later, when I was at Xerox in Rochester, I noticed that Lonergan was in Stamford, Connecticutt as a senior consultant in the corporate offices. We didn't have any occasion to run into each other and I then lost track of him altogether. Meanwhile, Lonergan is one of the people who discusses the B 5000 in this retrospective article from the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 2002-12-31Computer MilieuLife in CyberspaceSocial aspects of our digital worldThe Right to Read - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF). An updated article from Comm. ACM 40, 2 (Feb. 1997). It is easy for it to seem that this is happening in the digital world. I don't know what further to make of it. Jerry Michalski talks about the conflict of the open-closed worlds and how it will be messy and lengthy. We don't know how it will turn out. We get to say what is property. I wonder how we will find our voice in the matter.2002-12-30Computer ScienceThe Scope of AlgorithmsI am looking for more on how algorithms are viewed and distinguished from programs. These are some hits found by web searching.Different uses of "algorithm"Intrinsic Algorithm - "Reducing the world to mathematical equations!". Hmm, something thought to be possible, aye? The company is involved in gaming. Three definitions of interest:in�trin�sic, adj. Of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent. al�go�rithm, n. A step-by-step problem-solving procedure, especially an established, recursive computational procedure for solving a problem in a finite number of steps. Intrinsic Algorithm... 1. A step-by-step problem-solving procedure, especially an established, recursive computational procedure for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, of or relating to the essential nature of a thing. 2. A company dedicated to the pursuit of deducing and applying these techniques to computer games and entertainment. NeuroDimension - Neural Network Software, Neural Net Software, Neural Networks, Neural Nets. A comprehensive site on Genetic algorithms, neural networks, etc. Algorithm Collection. In Japanese. The sections for AVL-trees and B-trees are easy (as is the Japanese symbol for tree!). There is a section on compression algorithms too, and code conversions (EBCDIC-ASCII, JIS-GB). Algorithm Online, the Algorithm Group. In Russian. Intriguing. Looks like a portal on all things PC and IT, including ZDnet.ru, IT-daily, Byte Magazine Russian Edition, etc. The Stony Brook Algorithm Repository. Operated by Steven Skiena, this site is related to The Algorithm Design Manual, though there can be different material here, and linked from here. I don't see a spot that might have a definition, although the book does offer a little. Handbook of Algorithms and Data Structures. An on-line approach related to the book by Gaston H. Gonnet and Ricarod Baeza-Yates. It is not clear from the material provided whether algorithm is ever defined. ANALYSIS of ALGORITHMS HOME PAGE. A product of a July 1997 Dagstuhl Conference, this is a nice compendium site with pages offered as a forum for reseearch in analysis of algorithms. NIST: Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures. A nice site. Comprehensive collection of goodies. "Definition: A computable set of steps to achieve a desired result." Hmph. Data Mining, Web Mining, and Business Intelligence Solutions from Salford Systems. I can't find algorithm here anywhere, though CART is for "Classification and Regression Trees." By its nature, this is heuristic machinery based on statistical models of various kinds. Algorithm Systems Consultant. Wow, I wonder how many companies have Algorithm in their name.&nbs; Here, a Hong Kong consulting firm that doesn't offer anything about the inspiration for their name. Algorithm, Incorporated / Algorithm, Inc. - Software Algorithm Development. I am looking up algorithms on the web, part of my theme that programs are rarely algorithms. Because we will be looking at algorithms again in my Computer Structures course, I wanted to do some preparatory research and also deepen work that I had started in conjunction with The Miser Project. This page, which is for a business, offering the definition "al'go-rithm: n. a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end." Also interesting is that the algorithms that are offered are for interactive computer graphics and simulation appications. The rest of the description is intriguing, too. Life in CyberspaceWhen Is It AI?In gaming, it is all AI?FeatureIEE Spectrum Online - Mind Games. A weekly feature on the use of AI in games. I find this an useful discussion of how useless the term "AI" has become as the result of popular corruption. It is eagerly applied to any autonomous behavior, which is really weird. The article is better than the summary in the ACM TechNews though. The work on the SIMs, for easy expandability and customization is interesting; Also, there seems to be more work at middleware that may be useful in building and scripting games. We are left with the open question, when is it AI?Computer TechnologyNew Network Physical LayersInfiniBand versus 10Gbps EtherneteWEEK Article - InfiniBand: What's Next?. More on the computer-technology front. InfiniBand is considered relatively affordable and still has Dell, Sun, and IBM preparing to support it with their servers.10 Gig Ethernet: Speed Demon - Computerworld. Back on the computer-technology front, what's new in very-high-speed networking technology. One thing, for sure, is the cost needs to come down fast for this to matter on the desktop or in small businesses. Even building a super computer, that is a lot of port costs. Groupware and CollaborationRecords Management StandardsGERA review registrationThank you Dennis, for registering with the GERA site!. This is a very peculiar registration process. There is no memberhsip requirement but they are going to verify the information that I provide them on the application page. The form wouldn't let me in without filling in the fax number field, so I entered "unpublished" and it went through. I also asked, in the box where I could tell them something they didn't already know about me (!!) that I found the process very peculiar and I was wondering why the additional items beyond the mandatory ones were of any earthly purpose. Sigh. ...Here's what they told me on this page, which will probably vanish: "You will be able to access all of the areas of the site once we have verified your information. Please call 781-935-9600 x203 if you are not able to logon within 48 hours. Your user name is: Dennis Hamilton". Wow, there is a test for me to pass. I wonder how I will do. NARA and NHPRCNARA | NHPRC and Other Grants | Strategic Plan. How NHPRC operates, including mission, identification of stakeholders, and how they intend to proceed and perform.NARA | NHPRC and Other Grants | About NHPRC. eGovernment is a wonderful thing. What did the fellow say" "Show me the money?" Here is a breakdown of all of the work done by NHPRC "to ensure understanding of our nation's past by promoting, nationwide, the identification, preservation, and dissemination of essential historical documentation." from the Mission Statement. NARA | US National Archives & Records Administration. Pretty home page. There are records management initiatives supported by NARA. It would appear that there is much more to study and comprehend with regard to document management and the convergence of document management, record management, content management, and the Web. GERA, the Global Enterprise Records AssociationGERA Mission. "Develop and Recommend Standard Practices for the Principles, Policies, and Requirements for Programs for Creating, Managing, Preserving, and Accessing Electronic Records."We find that there is funding from US NARA and CENSA. The definitions for importance of records makes it more clear why there is so much attention on patents: "GERA's goal is internally consistent, high-quality standards that include comprehensive models for a full "long lifecycle" approach. We are designing the standards for electronic records of all types of consequence and value. For example, "high economic value records," include primary "records of invention" and records of "reduction to practice" for inventions are needed to substantiate the world's most valuable patents. "High consequence records" include legal and regulatory records for manufacturing of quality products, environmental or financial crimes, clinical and medical patient records, and national security records. There are also "priceless" records, those records of such great historial value that no value can be assigned because they are irreplacable. We need our Quality Electronic Records Practices Standards to apply to all of these types of records. The collective expertise and experience of global industry, international governments, and international experts will help make the transition to electronic records much easier, faster, and less costly for all." Global Electronic Records Association. Here is GERA, a non-profit organization with seed funding from CENSA. The interest here is in "Fostering Quality and Excellence in Electronic Records Worldwide." Abstract: Legal Acceptability Guide for Electronic Records. OK, I have my reading cut out for me. Known affectionately as LAGERS, the guide is apparently up for review. A paper or CD-ROM edition costs $199 though. And you have to sign a license agreement to order it. Hmm, exactly what and who are these "standards" creating bodies, after all? Call for Feedback on "The Quality Electronic Records Practices Standards". Beside CENSA we now have GERA. GERA has a foundation document on Electronic Records Lifecycle Specification (ERLS) and has a validation guide. There is a Legal Acceptability Guide for Electronic Records which was created by CENSA. There is a process for registration to obtain electronic versions of the documents and also be able to submit review comments. CENSA: Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems AssociationI followed up on this through happenstance, while responding to an ODMA enquiry. Because of the emphasis on collaborative electgronic notebooks, I dug deeper and found material relevant to groupware, collaboration, and also properly-managed (?) electronic documents. This is an area that I expect to see opening up further.About CENSA. This is the link that works. The links at the bottom of the home page are broken. "The Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems Association (CENSA) is an international industry association, focused on driving the state of the art for electronic recordkeeping systems and collaborative technologies wherever they are used." The mission statement is �To drive creation, convergence, effective usage, and continuous improvement of automation technologies and methodologies that facilitate scientific discovery, product development and collaboration among technical and business professionals.� The odd thing about it is that the current programs are focused in this specific area: "CENSA hosts market and product development programs in regulated industries where patents are fundamental to product research and development. Government regulatory agencies and research laboratories also participate in various research, development, or review capacities." Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems Association. This is an interesting association. There is information on legal acceptability of electronic records, for example. It will be interesting to see how this plays into the Groupware and Collaboration themes I am exploring. 2002-12-29Computer TechnologyComputer System ArchitecturesWWW Computer Architecture Page. A great link provided in the lecture notes for our second week of Computer Structures in the on-line M.Sc in IT program. Now, maybe I will find a clean distinction between RISC and CISC.
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