Featured in Five: Jesús Villadangos-Alonso

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Jesús Villadangos-Alonso (Universidad Pública de Navarra (Spain)).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The possibilities of new devices, operating systems, and interfaces, which have democratized computing power. Now, you see people of all ages working, reading books, and surfing the Internet from tablets and mobile phones.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: Computer science will enable the presentation of all types of knowledge on the Internet, making it available anytime, anywhere, to anyone. Everyone will actively contribute to increasing the knowledge on the Internet. I think that the Internet should evolve as a semantic space where users can find the knowledge they are looking for in a few clicks. We are working on folksonomies, tools that help to integrate the nonformal knowledge of every user. Folksonomies allow the integration of all people in a common space with universal visibility.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: Any scientist or researcher—so many have contributed small things that have a great impact in the long term. The most famous people can do incredible things, but the work of researchers like R. Feynman or others has a bigger impact, and, in many cases, isn’t recognized as such.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I have studied physics, and am interested in understanding the power of nature--weather prediction, tornados, hurricanes, and so on. I would be interested in modeling natural forces and phenomena in order to better understand nature.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: There is a time and a place for every type of music. However, I find myself listening most frequently to blues and rock & roll.

--

Click here to learn more about Jesús Villadangos-Alonso , and here to read one of his recent reviews.

 

Featured in Five: Jolanta Mizera-Pietraszko

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Jolanta Mizera-Pietraszko (Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: Over the last decade, computing technologies have developed rapidly. From my perspective, some of the most amazing developments have been in areas like cloud computing, robotics, e-learning, mobile applications, green computing, P2P social networks, e-business, and cyber security research. Thanks to the popularity of mobile devices, I find the ubiquitous access to information of any kind and at any moment simply outstanding; in particular, multilingual information—called translingual engineering in research—enables anyone, regardless of foreign language competence, to surmount language boundaries, no matter the language syntax. Astonishing advances in machine translation and search techniques have enabled this.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: It is most interesting to speculate about which of the above-mentioned areas will dominate the others, or perhaps what new research will develop. Maybe e-learning will change the way in which schools work. Maybe social networking will change the way humans interact. Maybe mobile technology will change our way of life. For instance, I always use my HTC with a 5” screen to connect to my laptop while away to check emails, print documents, conference online, record videos, take photos, read news, remind me about deadlines, and so on.

My contribution to computing is my invention of a language and system-independent asymmetric backward-translation technology that not only makes the machine translation process perfect, but simultaneously provides great knowledge about the language pair phenomena required for system training, testing, or evaluation. In one example of the system translation, a producer learned about 15 critical points that would improve the machine translation system’s efficacy. 

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: One of the concepts my parents taught me is that every person has some skill that he or she is better at than others; it is a kind of obligation to devote it to humanity. Even more, when humanity appreciates the contributions of that person as a solid foundation, he or she becomes, in a way, immortal. So many favorite historical figures have influenced me. One of them is Leonardo da Vinci, who, in his famous Notebooks, reveals the nature of sound, describing the motions of the tongue muscles while producing five vowels that, when composed, create all of the sounds pronounced in all languages. It sounded fascinating enough for me when I read it, but it came back to me when teaching UNESCO teachers some basics of the Polish language: I used the knowledge and, to my complete astonishment, heard them pronounce difficult Polish words just the same as native Polish speakers. Another great figure is Salvador Dali. Every time I look at his paintings, they reflect some new detail from his life.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: While in school, my favorite subjects were computer science, English, French, and mathematics. Translingual engineering involves them all. Therefore, I would love to teach these subjects. While this job would be very challenging, I think it would be quite rewarding.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Rock & roll made a breakthrough in music style all over the world—The Beatles, Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones made great contributions to this genre. Due to the educational character of the songs’ texts, while in America, I love listening to country music, which integrates its classical form with some new elements. Classical music heard in philharmonic halls or operas, which I recall from my childhood, always moves me to tears.

--

Click here to learn more about Jolanta Mizera-Pietraszko, and here to read one of her recent reviews.

System Maintenance: December 30th

On Friday, December 30th, our website will be offline for maintenance and updates at both www.reviews.com and www.computingreviews.com, starting at approximately 6am Pacific time, until approximately 11pm Pacific time.

Please visit status.reviews.com at any time for updates about system maintenance and status of various systems.

Featured in Five: William Fahle

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, William Fahle (University of Texas at Dallas).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: Widespread adoption of the Internet has led to mainstream understanding and acceptance of computers in our everyday lives, including the ability to use mobile devices in everyday transactions. This has allowed us to be much smarter about how we interact with others and with corporations. Trusted friends can meet spontaneously through check-in applications, and significant events in our lives are now published online for others to follow, allowing a much richer experience along common lines.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: By the end of my career, I think computers will have a truly positive effect in early education, and will transform higher education in the sciences by turning the classroom model upside down, which will make education available to a much wider audience. This is already happening to some extent, where lectures are being put online, and the homework is done in class where the instructor can assist the students through live interaction. I work at a company that specializes in early education software delivered via the Web, and I expect to spend the end of my career in academics, so the things I do every day further this goal.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: Isaac Newton is my favorite historical figure. Not only did he invent calculus, but he was also a renaissance man in the many theories and practical ways in which he advanced the sciences.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: If I didn't work in computers, I would probably work in mathematics. It is not a far stretch because I started my education in mathematics and am finishing up with a PhD in theoretical computer science, which is very mathematical by nature.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: My favorite music is jazz, which is an American art form that is always advancing in new and creative ways.

--

Click here to learn more about William Fahle, and here to read one of his recent reviews.

Featured in Five: Alyx Macfadyen

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Alyx Macfadyen (La Trobe University, Australia).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The impact of comparatively powerful handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones has been huge. Rather than being tied to the desktop, users can more easily maintain ad hoc connections on the fly as they roam or work on the move.

New curricula for app design and interfaces are now offered, as well as the development of pedagogies that facilitate learning outside the classroom model.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A:  I suspect social networking will be integrated into the workplace and the home as the preferred method of interaction by governments and business enterprises. In the Western world, there may be an overwhelming loss of control of our own information and profiles.

I think there will be substantial advances in quantum computing, and this is interesting, but I predict a substantial increase in the vulnerability of data storage despite efforts to mitigate this.

My own contribution/research lies in interaction design for the generation of computational narrative across devices. This work can be applied to the deployment of human-device interfaces that facilitate a more effective use of the device itself and the applications that are in use.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: There are so many it is hard to select just one! I admire Boudica and the first Queen Elizabeth Tudor–they were both strong and stubborn. I admire Alan Turing for his contributions in both the theory and the practical application of mathematical models.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would love to have worked with dogs and horses--indeed, lots of animals. This is very different from computer science, but I enjoy the work that I do.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Baroque. My favorite composers are Handel, Bach, Charpentier and Scarlatti (the elder). My favorite artists are Andreas Scholl and Rene Jacobs.

--

Click here to learn more about Alyx Macfadyen, and here to read one of her recent reviews.

Featured in Five: John Butcher

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, John Butcher (University of Auckland, New Zealand).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: In the numerical modeling of differential equations, the traditional view has been that errors should be kept small. Within the last 10 years, this view has been reassessed and the current paradigm, known as geometric integration, is that overall accuracy has to be balanced against the adherence to, and preservation of, structural properties.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A:  It is too late to answer this properly because I retired 13 years ago. As a mathematical scientist, still working part-time, I have always used computers as tools in the service of my trade. But even for the best algebraic manipulators, and related tools, I am always fighting to get the answers I want without being obstructed by the very software that should be helping me. I hope, as time goes by, that computational aids to mathematicians become more and more convenient and easy to use. Otherwise I hope, to some extent at least, that computers leave us alone.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: I want to mention two historical figures who are favorites in different ways. First, there is Robert Burns, the peasant poet who rejected the idea that some people are born better than others. "Then let us pray that come it may,  (As come it will for all that,) That Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for all that."  

It is widely believed that nobody can really contribute to mathematics, or any branch of science, unless they are nurtured within a rich scientific tradition. But Srinivasa Ramanujan could not even gain entry to a university. He taught himself everything he knew, and made original, unique and unsurpassed contributions to the mathematics of the 20th century.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would have retired from whatever I had been doing the last 50 or 60 years.  I would be reading books, listening to music and enjoying other aspects of a contented life.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Many types of music, from Late Renaissance to Baroque and through to the Classical and Romantic periods, are important to me. While it is impossible to specify an absolute favorite, there is a special place for the Italian language operas of Mozart, especially "The Marriage of Figaro." Within the sumptuous music and the witty and satirical text is the revolutionary idea that the days of feudalism were soon to be over.

--

Click here to learn more about John Butcher, and here to read one of his recent reviews.

Featured in Five: Jacques Carette

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Jacques Carette (McMaster University, Canada).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The realization by practitioners that different problems require different solutions. This is most visible in Web programming, where back-end programming of a commercial Web site routinely involves 6 or 7 languages and a dozen different technologies. The language debates of yore should now been seen as irrelevant: there is no such thing as a “better” language, just languages that are better suited for solving certain classes of problems efficiently. And by efficiency, I do not mean computer-efficiency in terms of time or memory, but rather programmer efficiency.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: I think computer science will have finally figured out how to build correct software at a reasonable cost. Software will become much more of an engineering discipline, with the vast majority of programs being produced in an essentially automated manner. Like in most other engineering disciplines, there will remain a nice niche at the top where radical creativity will still be needed. 

I am trying to do my part by inventing programming techniques that are much more expressive: in other words, humans must write down the core, crucial information, and computers can then be used to fill in the (routine) rest. We are already partway there, as various Web frameworks, VHDL, the rise of DSLs, and model-based engineering techniques attest. While I am a dedicated functional programmer, I find a lot of Alan Kay's recent work with his colleagues at the Viewpoints Research Institute extremely inspiring. The focus on extreme expressivity and on using multiple layers of meta-programs to achieve that aim is something we have in common.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: Leibniz. The depth of his work is simply amazing, though a fair amount of it was misunderstood by his contemporaries and for several hundred years. His work on the foundations of mathematics, as well as his ideas on how knowledge could be collected, classified, and automated, still resonates loudly today.  He was already worrying 400 years ago about issues that are just now resurfacing as thorny problems that must be solved in modern implementations of mechanized knowledge systems.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would be a chef!

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Rock.  I go back and forth between the old progressive rock (Rush, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, etc.) and more recent bands like Metric, System of a Down, Jakalope, and the White Stripes.

--

Click here to learn more about Jacques Carette, and here to read one of his recent reviews.

Featured in Five: João Luís Garcia Rosa

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, João Luís Garcia Rosa (Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The popularization of the Internet. Everything is easier now, not only for computer science, but also for every science.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A:  I believe that artificial intelligence (a branch of computer science) is taking us toward intelligent machines that will maximize the happiness of humankind. I have been researching this area for 20 years.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: Alan Turing, because he was the pioneer of applying intelligent reasoning to machines.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would be working in mathematics and engineering.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Rock and roll and, of course, Brazilian popular music.

--

Click here to learn more about João Luís Garcia Rosa, and here to read one of his recent reviews.

Featured in Five: Eric Yocam

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our current featured reviewer, Eric Yocam (T-Mobile USA).

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: Over the last 10 years, the realization of Moore's law is one of the most important things to happen to computing. For those that are not aware of Moore's law, it’s a law that describes hardware computing over the long run. Incredibly, this trend started a half-century ago and continues to demonstrate the impossible; there is no doubt in my mind that it will continue well into the future. The interesting thing is that Moore's law is about the transistor density and the limited amount of space on the integrated circuit. From planar to 3D, transistors are the heart and soul of computing. In my mind, the fact that Moore's law has been able to demonstrate doubling approximately every two years makes it a law worth taking notice of.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A: I think that computer science will enable ubiquitous computing to be realized. From speech recognition in vehicles to new user interface paradigms coming out from Apple (with iOS 5) and Microsoft (with the latest OS), I believe that computer science continues to drive the human desire for ubiquitous computing.

My work is varied within computer science, however information security seems to be taking more and more of my time. There are simply not enough trained information security students graduating from schools to meet the demand from our government and commercial sectors. In a small way, my contribution is through building information security portals for students to gain understanding and help secure the future of ubiquitous computing.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: This is a hard one for me. Ever since I spent time in Egypt, I have admired Hatshepsut (also known as Hatchepsut). Hatshepsut ruled in the 18th Egyptian Dynasty, which was dominated by males.

It was incredibly difficult for a woman to become pharaoh and ruler of Egypt at this time. I have to respect the fact that she was able to build the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, which consisted of three colonnaded terraces with two ramps, and was situated with a magnificent cliff backdrop. While in Egypt, I visited the monuments to Queen Hatshepsut at the Temple complex of Karnak, where her obelisk--which some say is the largest in the world--is located.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: Computer science is my professional life's work. Even before I turned professional, I was hooking up the Apple II computer to my television set and booting it up using a cassette player. From that early point of my computer experience with the Apple II, I was hooked on computers. After I received my BS in computer engineering, I continued more from a software perspective than a hardware perspective. Once I received my MS in computer science, I found my way to Microsoft. After 12 years at Microsoft, I found mobile computing to be very interesting. I can't image myself not working with computers in one way or another. I'm not sure what I would be if I weren't working in this field.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: Classical music is my favorite type over the last decade, but I have become a classical fundamentalist as I get older. I like the foundational works from Beethoven (such as “Fur Elise,” “Moonlight” Sonata, mvt. 1, Symphony no. 5 in C Minor, Symphony no. 9 (“Ode to Joy”) and Pachelbel (such as Canon in D), to name just a couple of examples. I also enjoy classically trained composers such as Lady Gaga and her not-so-classical compositions.

--

Click here to learn more about Eric Yocam, and here to read one of his recent reviews.

System Maintenance Notice: Saturday, May 14th and Saturday, May 21st

Computing Reviews will be offline on both Saturday, May 14th and Saturday, May 21st while we undertake some systems maintenance work. We anticipate being offline for approximately 5 hours starting at 6am Pacific Time. Thanks for your patience.