Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our December featured reviewer, Romina Fucà.
Q) What is the most important thing that has happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A) I have been helped by computers in the last ten years like never before. Over the past decade, their speed has increased, and what was once a suggestion for me to explore in research has become a daily guide for my work. With the advances in technology, I let go of my narrow, small-scale aspirations and began to think of the bigger picture by interfacing with real scientists around the world. I sometimes say “I live in the cloud” because remote cloud services help me meet my needs every day.
Q) If you weren’t working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A) I would be a guide in a fine arts museum. When I was a child, I used to travel with my parents in a caravan, and we visited many interesting historical and artistic sites in Europe and elsewhere. Churches, castles, and ancient relics of the past gave me the ambition to learn a coherent chronology of paintings and painters. I now easily recognize their style and historic location.
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’m a humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) education tutor who branched out into technology and computing, so I personally see computers advancing toward human skills at an increasing pace, with the likelihood that they will be able to perform comparably with humans before the end of my career. I work to let the public know that modern computing uses different logic than the old, classic programming languages with which we are familiar. I have learned much from reflecting about computers, and so too can others benefit from learning new ways to communicate with them. We will probably be able to expand or abandon our usual ways of communicating for better styles, and perhaps—who knows?—we will successfully meet life on other planets.
Q) What is your favorite type of music?
A) I love instrumental music such as Gabriel Yared’s By the Sea and The English Patient, John Barry’s Born Free, and Astor Piazzolla’s music featured in Frantic; these are usually queued up in my list of favorites, as well as being the soundtracks to well-known movies. In addition, I like popular songs such as “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan, “Somewhere Only We Know” and “I’m Not Leaving” by Keane, and “Somewhere My Love” by Ray Conniff and The Singers.
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Click here to read one of Romina’s reviews.