If you haven’t seen it already, the February 11 issue of Science magazine is worth a look. It contains a special section — titled “Dealing with Data” — that describes the challenges and opportunities arising from the wealth of scientific data being generated. As the staff of Science writes in the overview piece: If we can use and reuse scientific data better, the opportunities, as indicated in many examples in this special section, are myriad. Large integrated data sets can potentially provide a much deeper understanding of both nature and society and open up many new avenues of research. And they are critical for addressing key societal problems—from improving public […]
Computing Community Consortium Blog
The goal of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community to debate longer range, more audacious research challenges; to build consensus around research visions; to evolve the most promising visions toward clearly defined initiatives; and to work with the funding organizations to move challenges and visions toward funding initiatives. The purpose of this blog is to provide a more immediate, online mechanism for dissemination of visioning concepts and community discussion/debate about them.
Data as a Driver for Scientific Innovation
March 4th, 2011 / in big science, research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniRecapping the Recent OECD-NSF Workshop on Smart Health
March 3rd, 2011 / in research horizons, workshop reports / by Erwin GianchandaniAs we previously blogged in this space (here and here), approximately 130 individuals — including 43 speakers — from 16 countries around the world came together at the NSF last month to discuss the challenge of “Building a Smarter Health and Wellness Future.” The two-day workshop, sponsored by the NSF and organized jointly by the NSF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), sought to identify priorities for an international research and policy agenda that would help improve health and wellness in people, communities and societies using information technology. The international experts in health- and wellness-related disciplines considered the most efficient and effective roles for both the public […]
Congressman Rush Holt beats Watson at Jeopardy!
March 1st, 2011 / in Uncategorized / by Ed LazowskaCongressman Rush Holt of New Jersey – the only physicist in Congress, one of the staunchest Congressional supporters of science, recipient of this year’s Philip Hauge Abelson Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a five-time Jeopardy! champion – has defeated IBM’s Watson AI system at Jeopardy! As much as we value the extraordinary accomplishments of Watson and of the AI field, score one for the people! We need more of them like Rush Holt in Congress! Read about the match here.
Video games… interactive designs… and traffic reports
February 21st, 2011 / in Uncategorized / by Erwin GianchandaniSome interesting news items in the past week: “The Art of Video Games” The Smithsonian Institution’s American Art Museum will debut on March 16 an exhibition titled The Art of Video Games — exploring “the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects, the creative use of new technologies, and the most influential artists and designers.” But before then, the Smithsonian needs the public’s help to determine which 80 video games should be represented. Click here to see the options and vote for your favorites. And as the Smithsonian notes, “Remember, this is an art exhibition, so be sure to vote for games that you […]
CCC Sponsors “Headwaters Awards” at SSTD
February 19th, 2011 / in research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniAs we’ve blogged in this space before, the CCC has sponsored a series of “research visions” sessions at computing research conferences over the past year — hoping to provide venues for sharing and discussing forward-looking, visionary ideas for the field, without the constraints of the typical reviewing process. The CCC is pleased to announce another “crazy ideas” session, this time at the 12th International Symposium on Spatial and Temporal Databases in Minneapolis this August. Teaming with our colleagues at the University of Minnesota who are leading the organizing committee, the CCC will award travel awards to the first-, second-, and third-placing paper submissions. Here’s some background on the “Headwaters Awards”: […]
With the Score “Computer 1, Humans 0,” Focus Shifts to Practical Uses
February 18th, 2011 / in research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniDecimated. Vanquished. Demolished. As you probably know by now, those are but a few of the words being used to describe how “Watson” — the IBM question-answering supercomputer system — bested its two competitors in a three-part JEOPARDY! series earlier this week. What’s more, “Watson” wasn’t battling just anyone; the machine — with a friendly voice and cool avatar for television audiences — defeated the two best humans ever to play the game, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. “Watson” ended the two-game exhibition with a score of 77,147 USD (including a number of Daily Double and Final Jeopardy wagers that drew laughter for their highly specified form). Meantime, Jennings notched 24,000 […]
