Part of a liberal arts education is learning how to think critically about the world around you and be able to formulate opinions and present your ideas. For my computer science and information technology seniors, I’d like to know what topic(s) within our discipline are of most interest to you.
Please do so by submitting a comment to this blog. If you have no ideas, I would encourage you to look at some of my blog posts for ideas. Especially the ones from Web 2.0 Conference I attended last April.
Here’s something to get your creative juices flowing. Comes from the present presidential campaign and is a HUGE topic in our industry. It is know as “cloud computing”. Check out this blog.
The best place to find current topics in computer science is ACM TechNews.
#1 by Matt Hamann on September 21st, 2008
I’d like to see some discussion on Web 2.0 technologies like AJAX and what’s next (or even after) for social networks. I’m also very interested in various other topics such as: cryptography, the smart home (e.g. interconnected appliances, PCs, smart devices, media, etc), new mobile devices (like Google’s up and coming Android platform), and net neutrality (should certain types of data get higher priority than others?).
Also, what about stuff like the Large Hadron Collider? Might be some cool research…
[mr woo] pick one of these topics and expand on it; rather than limiting to web 2.0, consider an overview of web 2.0 but focus on what web 3.0 is promising to deliver
#2 by johnsidwell on September 22nd, 2008
I think DRM is one of the most interesting issues in the general computing world to me right now. I’ve seen public backlash against copy protection on games (see Spore reviews on Amazon), negative articles on online music stores (What happens when the music stores shut down their DRM servers? It’s already happened to some sites.) On the other hand, Steam seems to have a happy following for DRM protected games, with some people commenting that it does DRM correctly by giving you the ability to play on any computer with your Steam login in exchange for the inconvenience of having to authenticate every time you launch the game. Apple’s iTunes store has DRM with both proponents and opponents, but I’m not sure which side I fall on.
[mr woo] interesting topic; definitely has many point and counterpoints; run with this and be able to provide a persuasive argument on both sides of this hot issue.
#3 by Jordan Jueckstock on September 22nd, 2008
Ideas that come to mind:
1. operating systems (their role in the cloud era, new designs, updated designs, security, why anyone should/shouldn’t care anymore)
2. language systems (old favorites, new stars, which will be most useful in the cloud/massively-parallel-computing era, which will not, and which simply refuse to die [and why])
3. the ethics of the semantic web [assuming it ever comes to pass as Tim Berners-Lee & Co. keep promising] — what are the socio-cultural [and ultimately moral] implications of unleashing that kind of centralized-access information?
[mr woo] good list JJ. Now take one of these topic areas and run with it!
#4 by Ben White on September 22nd, 2008
There are a few topics which come to mind as I am writing this comment. One of which is the evolution of the internet. It is constantly getting better. Standard desktop applications we use today might be the internet applications of tomorrow. Much of the software we have now would not be capable of being an internet app, but I wonder what the future might hold with technology changing as rapidly as it does.
Another topic I find interesting is image recognition. My brother recently purchased a new latop with a webcam which sparked my interest with all of the features it had. The software is capable of detecting faces of people in the image and adding various accessories and new hairstyles to the people in the image. One of the hats I think looked quite good on me. The afro is another one of my favorites. I am sure this type of technology can be used in other ways than just amusement, and probably is at this very moment. I put a quick little search into google and found out that google even has a hidden feauture on their image search which allows only images with faces in them. Slashdot recently had an article talking about shadow analysis being used to detect terrorists that I also found interesting located here.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/05/1157243
[mr woo] I suggest you take the imaging topic and run with it!
#5 by Brant Bullard on September 22nd, 2008
There are several things that interest me right now in the technology fields. Some of those areas are VDI, cloud computing, SaaS or true Web Applications, and something I am very interested in right now is new interface technologies. Something very strange is happening among our generation, in regards to interfacing with technology.
I don’t understand why someone is willing [to] peck things out on there cellphone through the regular keypad when they can more efficiently send an email with much richer features. What causes us to do that? [money?] And because we do indeed do that, what uber[sp??]-mobile platform will come up that basically replaces the laptop, like the laptop has eclipsed the desktop in a lot of arenas. Will it be Android? will it be the iPhone? I’m curious to see.
VDI and cloud computing run along the same lines. Basically having your computer, in nearly all manners, “virtualized” and available anywhere. cloud computing, as it is somewhat known now, is very segregated and broken up. I go to Mint.com for managing my money, Google for email and calendars, Photobucket for my pictures, and Facebook for my contacts. How will that all be combined? Or will it?
Here in are my major ponderings.
[mr woo] good start on some provocative topics!! keep up the thinking and expression of that thought on these topics.
#6 by Paul Rogers on September 22nd, 2008
My favorite part is the technical support that I can offer for personal or businesses and dealing networks.
[mr woo] I would like to see more thought expressed on one (or more) of these topics.
#7 by Joshua Keel on September 22nd, 2008
I’m very interested right now in managed code operating systems (Microsoft’s Singularity, in particular), cloud computing as it relates to the future of the operating system (will operating systems as such exist in the future?), and privacy and security issues related to cloud computing (if we store everything in the cloud, how do we protect our data?).
Another interesting thing I’ve been thinking about is how to protect the property of musicians, filmmakers and other digital media companies (software companies included) without limiting the freedom of the consumer to have “fair use” of the product. Many of us are opposed to DRM because it removes our freedom, but if we don’t protect the rights of content creators, they may stop creating altogether.
[mr woo] see my comments to Chest on cloud computing; DRM – “may stop creating” I think can boldly be changed to “will stop creating”! Choose one of these and express some more thought after doing some reading.
#8 by Lucas Croce on September 22nd, 2008
Since I’m into networking and how all that stuff works, I’m very interested in NAT vs. IPv6.
[mr woo] I would like to see more thought expressed on this topics.
#9 by Jeremy on September 22nd, 2008
NAC – is it useful or necessary in a corporate environment
Technologies for schools – Moodle or similar applications effective.
One to One program – does it have the desired effects and is the expense worth it. Should tax payers be paying for the one to one program?
[mr woo] I would like to see more thought expressed on one (or more) of these topics.
#10 by Jon Hubbard on September 22nd, 2008
I think that a good topic would be artificial intelligence, especially in light of the DARPA challenge with the autonomous vehicles
[mr woo] Jon, AI is a HUGE field. need to narrow your topic. I would also like to see more thought expressed on a topic.
#11 by Brandon on September 22nd, 2008
Web 2.0 – 3.0 technologies.
Ms. Silverlight vs. Adobe Flash
User interface design
The future of the computer. (Will the desktop be around in the next 10 years?)
These are the topics that currently interest me the most.
[mr woo] I would like to see more thought expressed on one (or more) of these topics. For user interface design, I highly recommend the book “The Inmates are Running the Assylum”
#12 by Dave Simpson on September 22nd, 2008
Although you mentioned cloud computing, I believe that it needs to be on the forefront of each of our minds. As students, we have the potential of being in the industry for a few decades. In these decades, cloud computing will likely take on a much greater role. It will affect many different aspects of our jobs/lives. Some of the areas affected will include the following: physical and conceptual computer design, privacy, accessibility, cost, ease of use, as well as many others. Because of the broad reach of this topic, it must be very important to us. Other areas that interest me are application design, online criminal activity (and the prosecution thereof), social networking and its impact, and although somewhat associated to cloud computing, web applications.
[mr woo] good topic; good thots; see my comments on Chest
#13 by Michael Chest on September 22nd, 2008
I think the issue of cloud computing is very interesting. I personally can’t see why anyone would want to use this highly insecure form of storage. I can see the benefits of having your data at an off-site location maintained by someone else, but I think for reasons of security, businesses should self-maintain any off-site storage. As for personal use, I would suggest that, if someone wants storage at a separate physical location, then they should be willing to pay for storage using a business that can be legally obligated to keep your data safe. If you use the free services on the internet where your data can be stored on someone else’s computer, your data can be stolen with no one to be held responsible.
[mr woo] would you argue that businesses like yahoo, google, amazon are legally obligated to keep your data safe? why motivations drive us toward a cloud solution? what are the costs (seen and hidden)? what are the benefits?