Method is the process followed in doing a task to achieve a desired output. For example, to get data, specific techniques or methods are used. Methodology, on the other hand, is a set of activities which are interconnected to explain how those methods can be used to achieve the desired output. These activities (methodology) use a set of techniques (methods) to reach or achieve a desired output.
October 13, 2009
Ms. Sheryl Caguimbaga posted on Service Quality Evaluation Method for Community-based Software Outsourcing Process by Huimin Jiang, Alice Liu, Zhongjie Wang and Shu Liu from the School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology.
With the rapid socio-economic development, service becomes more and more popular. At the same time, service quality is increasingly attracting wide attentions. The reason why service quality becomes so important is that the higher value of service quality can lead to higher customer satisfaction, and ultimately result in higher revenue growth and profitability. More and more enterprises are looking to outsource their software development to other companies, respond to the pressures such as development costs, human resources access, new market development, or building business competencies. Recently, to outsource software development to the community developers through web has been recognized by more and more people. This outsourcing approach is termed as community-based software model in this paper. According to the paper, outsourcing software development to the community developers is a promising model to help reduce software development cost and improve software quality. The paper presented a method to evaluate the quality of service in the managing community-based software outsourcing process. There are three types of objects whose service quality need to be evaluated, i.e. service behaviors, service products, and service providers. For each type of object, there are five dimensions of quality indicators, i.e. time and efficiency, price and cost, quality of service content, resources and conditions, reputation and risk. Based on these dimensions, the researchers built a set of quality indicators and the corresponding measurement methods. The researchers adopted the traditional AHP method to calculate the total quality of each type of object. Call-For-Implementation is community-based software development method put forward by IBM china research lab. In the paper, Call-For-Implementation was taken as an example to introduce how to apply the proposed service evaluation method. A prototype is developed to support the evaluation process and exhibit results of quality evaluation. The main contribution of this paper is that an objective and dynamic service quality computation method is proposed to help evaluate the quality of outsourcing software management service.
Back to the paper posted by Ms. Sheryl, the content is informative although there were some abbreviations that were not explained well. Although the papers topic is about outsourcing, the term itself was also not properly emphasized same as what Ms. Sheryl noticed. As I read through the paper, I think the paper was more concerned on the Service Quality Evaluation Method. The researchers presented the findings in an orderly manner making the paper interesting to read. Since the term outsourcing was not emphasized in the paper, I made some readings about it.
According to wiseGEEK.com, Outsourcing refers to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.
Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, which might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined, and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.
There are some disadvantages to outsourcing as well. One of these is that outsourcing often eliminates direct communication between a company and its clients. This prevents a company from building solid relationships with their customers, and often leads to dissatisfaction on one or both sides. There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the company, as outsourcing may lead to delayed communications and project implementation. Any sensitive information is more vulnerable, and a company may become very dependent upon its outsource providers, which could lead to problems should the outsource provider back out on their contract suddenly.
Lever (1997) described four phases of outsourcing: discovery; negotiation; transition; and assessment. Zhu et al. (2001) also described four stages within the outsourcing process: planning; developing; implementing; and surviving. These process models are useful as a basis for understanding the steps involved in outsourcing. Discovery consists of benchmarking internal service levels, identifying future requirements, issuing requests for proposals and identifying a shortlist of suppliers. Planning is creating a sound business plan that includes all the present and future costs of outsourcing the activity as well as identifying hidden costs, such as impact on the community, customer services and employees. Negotiation entails selecting the supplier based on the compatibility of the supplier’s operating philosophy, approach to service and approach to joint planning. Development has a different focus. Negotiation is focused on creating a partnership; development, however, involves determining the appropriate vendor agreement with the appropriate level of detail, establishing the appropriate business relationship to be entered into by the buying and supplying companies, an assessment of the impact on and management of employee benefits, developing a timeline for outsourcing to happen and preparing a communications plan. This involves focusing not only on the relationship, but also on the internal issues that have to be addressed. In the transition stage, the company is planning and preparing staff and computer systems for transferral to the supplier. Similarly, implementation involves creating a transition plan and checklist. At the assessment stage, the supplier is providing the activity and the performance is monitored using service levels and benchmarks. At the end of this phase, the contract is either terminated or renegotiated. The survival stage involves a post-outsourcing review to determine if the objectives before the outsourcing were met by the outsourcing.
Distinct forces shaped each of the outsourcing processes: environmental forces, organizational forces, as well as individual and group forces. These forces influenced the activities to be outsourced and the motivations to outsource.
Within each of the cases environmental factors, factors external to the organization, were regarded as an influence on the outsourcing process, especially on the decision to outsource. These were the intensity of the competitive environment, the political and regulatory environment, changes or issues surrounding technology, and influences from the social environment. From an organizational perspective, history, strategy, cost, resources, critical incidents and competitive positioning all appeared to shape the outsourcing process. At an individual and group level, several factors appeared to influence the outsourcing processes: political behavior; altruism; power; and incomplete information.
With the rapid socio-economic development, service becomes more and more popular. At the same time, service quality is increasingly attracting wide attentions. The reason why service quality becomes so important is that the higher value of service quality can lead to higher customer satisfaction, and ultimately result in higher revenue growth and profitability. More and more enterprises are looking to outsource their software development to other companies, respond to the pressures such as development costs, human resources access, new market development, or building business competencies. Recently, to outsource software development to the community developers through web has been recognized by more and more people. This outsourcing approach is termed as community-based software model in this paper. According to the paper, outsourcing software development to the community developers is a promising model to help reduce software development cost and improve software quality. The paper presented a method to evaluate the quality of service in the managing community-based software outsourcing process. There are three types of objects whose service quality need to be evaluated, i.e. service behaviors, service products, and service providers. For each type of object, there are five dimensions of quality indicators, i.e. time and efficiency, price and cost, quality of service content, resources and conditions, reputation and risk. Based on these dimensions, the researchers built a set of quality indicators and the corresponding measurement methods. The researchers adopted the traditional AHP method to calculate the total quality of each type of object. Call-For-Implementation is community-based software development method put forward by IBM china research lab. In the paper, Call-For-Implementation was taken as an example to introduce how to apply the proposed service evaluation method. A prototype is developed to support the evaluation process and exhibit results of quality evaluation. The main contribution of this paper is that an objective and dynamic service quality computation method is proposed to help evaluate the quality of outsourcing software management service.
Back to the paper posted by Ms. Sheryl, the content is informative although there were some abbreviations that were not explained well. Although the papers topic is about outsourcing, the term itself was also not properly emphasized same as what Ms. Sheryl noticed. As I read through the paper, I think the paper was more concerned on the Service Quality Evaluation Method. The researchers presented the findings in an orderly manner making the paper interesting to read. Since the term outsourcing was not emphasized in the paper, I made some readings about it.
According to wiseGEEK.com, Outsourcing refers to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.
Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, which might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined, and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.
There are some disadvantages to outsourcing as well. One of these is that outsourcing often eliminates direct communication between a company and its clients. This prevents a company from building solid relationships with their customers, and often leads to dissatisfaction on one or both sides. There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the company, as outsourcing may lead to delayed communications and project implementation. Any sensitive information is more vulnerable, and a company may become very dependent upon its outsource providers, which could lead to problems should the outsource provider back out on their contract suddenly.
Lever (1997) described four phases of outsourcing: discovery; negotiation; transition; and assessment. Zhu et al. (2001) also described four stages within the outsourcing process: planning; developing; implementing; and surviving. These process models are useful as a basis for understanding the steps involved in outsourcing. Discovery consists of benchmarking internal service levels, identifying future requirements, issuing requests for proposals and identifying a shortlist of suppliers. Planning is creating a sound business plan that includes all the present and future costs of outsourcing the activity as well as identifying hidden costs, such as impact on the community, customer services and employees. Negotiation entails selecting the supplier based on the compatibility of the supplier’s operating philosophy, approach to service and approach to joint planning. Development has a different focus. Negotiation is focused on creating a partnership; development, however, involves determining the appropriate vendor agreement with the appropriate level of detail, establishing the appropriate business relationship to be entered into by the buying and supplying companies, an assessment of the impact on and management of employee benefits, developing a timeline for outsourcing to happen and preparing a communications plan. This involves focusing not only on the relationship, but also on the internal issues that have to be addressed. In the transition stage, the company is planning and preparing staff and computer systems for transferral to the supplier. Similarly, implementation involves creating a transition plan and checklist. At the assessment stage, the supplier is providing the activity and the performance is monitored using service levels and benchmarks. At the end of this phase, the contract is either terminated or renegotiated. The survival stage involves a post-outsourcing review to determine if the objectives before the outsourcing were met by the outsourcing.
Distinct forces shaped each of the outsourcing processes: environmental forces, organizational forces, as well as individual and group forces. These forces influenced the activities to be outsourced and the motivations to outsource.
Within each of the cases environmental factors, factors external to the organization, were regarded as an influence on the outsourcing process, especially on the decision to outsource. These were the intensity of the competitive environment, the political and regulatory environment, changes or issues surrounding technology, and influences from the social environment. From an organizational perspective, history, strategy, cost, resources, critical incidents and competitive positioning all appeared to shape the outsourcing process. At an individual and group level, several factors appeared to influence the outsourcing processes: political behavior; altruism; power; and incomplete information.
An Alternative Information Web for Visually Impaired Users
in Developing Countries
Nitendra Rajput, Sheetal Agarwal, Arun Kumar, Amit Anil Nanavati
IBM Research Division
IBM India Research Lab
4, Block C, ISID Campus, Vasant Kunj
New Delhi - 110070, India.
This paper presents an alternate platform — the World Wide Telecom Web (WWTW), for delivering information and services to the visually impaired. WWTW is a network of VoiceSites that can be created and accessed by a voice interaction over an ordinary phone. The researchers presented user studies which demonstrate that the learning curve for using applications on the Telecom Web is relatively low and does not require extensive training. With this study, the researchers believe that the Telecom Web can be the mainstream Web for blind users. Websites in World Wide Web are primarily meant for visual consumption. Accessibility tools such as screen readers that render the visual content in audio format enable the visually impaired to access information on the websites. Despite standards that are available to make websites more amenable for screen reading softwares, not many website authors embed the required metadata information that feeds into such tools. Moreover, the wide variety of visual controls available makes it harder to interpret the websites with screen readers. This problem of accessing information and services on the web escalates even further for visually impaired in developing regions since they are either semi- literate/illiterate or cannot afford computers and high-end phones with screen reading capability. This problem is addressed by this study.
Nowadays, for a common person, access to information is a key requirement. Over the last decade, the World Wide Web has grown tremendously to become the largest source of information. It is also being used by governments and enterprises to provide services to their citizens and customers. It is being used by most people today. With this, how about those people who are visually impaired? Because of increasing efforts of addressing these problems, there are several existing efforts at making the content on the Web accessible to visually impaired users. These include software tools such as screen readers, web accessibility standards and government laws to make websites accessible. In this connection, the paper presented the Telecom Web as an alternative to World Wide Web for delivering information services to visually impaired people. Telecom Web provides a low-cost, completely accessible platform, especially for people in developing countries. The researchers performed usability study with a sample VoiceSite and derived interesting insights. I found this paper interesting since it also presented several potential applications that can be delivered to the blind population through the Telecom Web.
The paper was also made interesting since the researchers also included illustrations on their study especially with the results making the paper more comprehensible by readers although some of the terms were not properly explained.
Towards Trustworthy Kiosk Computing
Scott Garris
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburg, PA
Ramon Caceres, Stefan Berger, Reiner Sailer, Leendert van Doorn, Xiaolan Zhang
IBM Research Division
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
This paper presents a system in which a user, by leveraging the capabilities of a personal mobile device such as smartphone, gains a degree of trust in kiosk prior to using it. Trust is the expectation that a computer system will faithfully perform its intended purpose. The researchers refer to a kiosk as trustworthy if they can verify the identity and integrity of the software running on that kiosk. Public computing kiosks, such as an airline check-I terminal at an airport or a rental computer at an Internet café, have become common place. A problem with current kiosks is that the user must assume that a kiosk is performing only its intended function, or more specifically, that it has not been compromised by an attacker. A compromised kiosk could harm the user by, e.g., stealing private data. Similarly, the owner of a kiosk wants to ensure that the kiosk is not used to perform malicious acts for which he may be liable. The paper presented a system in which a user controls a personal mobile device to establish trust on a public computing device, or kiosk, prior to revealing personal information to that kiosk. The researchers designed and implemented a protocol by which the mobile device determines the identity and integrity of the software running on the kiosk. A similar protocol simultaneously allows a kiosk owner to verify that the kiosk is running only approved software.
The researchers have made this paper concise and direct to the point. This made the paper understandable even though the word kiosk was not properly defined. I think if a person who is not that exposed to the computer terms may not really know what this paper meant. I think more emphasis on the topic can be a solution to this. On the other hand, the researchers presented very well the system design of the system and prototype implementation. The researchers also used an illustration on the Kiosk Computing Scenario. Based on what I have read on this paper, trust and integrity is the main issue.
A New Schema for Security in Dynamic Uncertain Environments
Dakshi Agrawal
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
The hypothesis presented in this paper is that for a complex system of systems operating in a dynamic, uncertain environment the traditional approach of forward, static security is insufficient. What is required are macroscopic schemata for security that incorporate mechanisms which monitor the overall environment and feed their observations back into the security mechanisms so that they can adjust their ‘posture’ accordingly. Such schemata must also account for system-wide aggregated security risks in addition to risk presented by the individual users and information objects. With this, the researcher proposed one such schema in this work. It is the uncertainty and dynamicity in the operating environment that ask the most penetrating questions from the current security solutions. In the early days, computers were largely isolated from each other, had limited software functionality, and their users were technically sophisticated, resulting in an environment that was well-controlled. The properties of a security mechanism could be proved under a ‘clean room’ security – model that was not too far from the reality. However, computers have since then transformed into computing devices of all shapes and sizes; the functionality has grown exponentially and the user base has expanded to include technical equivalent of laity. While current state of the art in computer security has addressed many challenges rising from these changes, it has failed to systematically address the most basic change; namely, there is a lot more uncertainty and dynamism in the operating environment and the context of computing systems today than it was a few decades ago.
The paper explained the new schema proposed by the researcher. Two examples of a security schema for access control that addresses the problems being mentioned in the paper was presented by the researcher. With those examples mentioned, the researcher investigated on how the proposed new schema can be used to provide interesting insights into the design of access-control systems. The paper, in connection with the examples given, also showed illustrations which relates to the examples.
Key Factors for Publishing Research in Top-Tier Journals
Identify and discuss key factors for publishing research in top-tier journals like CSP, ACM, i3E, etc.
ACM, like many other publishers, has started to provide its journals in both electronic and print versions. The purpose of the ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS) is to present research and development results on the design, specification, realization, behavior, and use of computer systems. The term "computer systems" is interpreted broadly and includes systems architectures, operating systems, distributed systems, and computer networks. Articles that appear in TOCS will tend either to present new techniques and concepts or to report on experiences and experiments with actual systems.
Papers must be of high quality and fall within the scope of the journal. There are four main ingredients to an acceptable paper:
technical quality is high;
relevance to significant computations is high;
interest and novelty is high; and
presentation is effective.
Few papers excel in all of these, but a substandard level in any of the four ingredients is sufficient ground for rejection. ACM TOCS does not accept papers that belong in more theoretical journals (e.g. JACM, Springer-Verlag's "Distributed Computing", Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing). This does not imply that all theoretical papers are to be rejected; rather it implies that theoretical papers that cannot establish their direct relevance to current issues in the development of computer systems will generally be rejected. An acceptable paper of this type should contain:
motivation and technical analysis of the method;
evidence of effectiveness and practicality; and
demonstration of superiority compared to alternative approaches.
In addition, reviewers should be aware that because of the relative rarity with which such papers are accepted, the standards for originality and impact are unusually strict in these cases.
The ACM Transactions on Database Systems publishes original archival papers in the area of databases and closely related disciplines. Submitted papers are judged primarily on originality and relevance, but effective presentation is also critical. Contributions should conform to generally accepted practices for scientific papers with respect to organization and style.
The primary goal of the program committee of a major conference like OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications) is to put together a high quality program of technical papers. The program is created by soliciting contributed papers from authors and then selecting the best papers according to some criteria. The process is reactive: the authors submit, the committee selects from those submissions.
The primary requirement is that your paper must contribute to our understanding of object technology. It must have something new to say, and its message must be of sufficient importance and interest to warrant the attention of the OOPSLA community. If your paper is a research paper, it should describe a new idea or a new technique. It must describe original work. Your paper should present supporting evidence, not just conjecture. Idea papers should be backed up by a convincing analysis. The purpose of your paper should be to communicate something to someone. Your paper should convince the program committee that your work is technically correct. If the correctness of your work is in doubt, your paper will probably be rejected. Soundness of ideas or techniques can often be demonstrated by the depth and clarity of the analysis, or by reference to a working implementation. The audience at OOPSLA includes people from many communities. You will improve your paper if you can address a broad audience, wherever possible. While specific examples can be given, the problem and solution should be presented in general terms. Effective communication is important for a successful paper. A paper has little value if its intended audience cannot understand it. An incomprehensible paper cannot even be reviewed.
To sum up everything, different top-tier journals accept papers basing on their different requirements that your paper should contain. Although they may have differences, some qualifications on accepting research papers are similar. These journals similarly consider relevance, originality, and impact of the paper to audience.
ACM, like many other publishers, has started to provide its journals in both electronic and print versions. The purpose of the ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS) is to present research and development results on the design, specification, realization, behavior, and use of computer systems. The term "computer systems" is interpreted broadly and includes systems architectures, operating systems, distributed systems, and computer networks. Articles that appear in TOCS will tend either to present new techniques and concepts or to report on experiences and experiments with actual systems.
Papers must be of high quality and fall within the scope of the journal. There are four main ingredients to an acceptable paper:
technical quality is high;
relevance to significant computations is high;
interest and novelty is high; and
presentation is effective.
Few papers excel in all of these, but a substandard level in any of the four ingredients is sufficient ground for rejection. ACM TOCS does not accept papers that belong in more theoretical journals (e.g. JACM, Springer-Verlag's "Distributed Computing", Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing). This does not imply that all theoretical papers are to be rejected; rather it implies that theoretical papers that cannot establish their direct relevance to current issues in the development of computer systems will generally be rejected. An acceptable paper of this type should contain:
motivation and technical analysis of the method;
evidence of effectiveness and practicality; and
demonstration of superiority compared to alternative approaches.
In addition, reviewers should be aware that because of the relative rarity with which such papers are accepted, the standards for originality and impact are unusually strict in these cases.
The ACM Transactions on Database Systems publishes original archival papers in the area of databases and closely related disciplines. Submitted papers are judged primarily on originality and relevance, but effective presentation is also critical. Contributions should conform to generally accepted practices for scientific papers with respect to organization and style.
The primary goal of the program committee of a major conference like OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications) is to put together a high quality program of technical papers. The program is created by soliciting contributed papers from authors and then selecting the best papers according to some criteria. The process is reactive: the authors submit, the committee selects from those submissions.
The primary requirement is that your paper must contribute to our understanding of object technology. It must have something new to say, and its message must be of sufficient importance and interest to warrant the attention of the OOPSLA community. If your paper is a research paper, it should describe a new idea or a new technique. It must describe original work. Your paper should present supporting evidence, not just conjecture. Idea papers should be backed up by a convincing analysis. The purpose of your paper should be to communicate something to someone. Your paper should convince the program committee that your work is technically correct. If the correctness of your work is in doubt, your paper will probably be rejected. Soundness of ideas or techniques can often be demonstrated by the depth and clarity of the analysis, or by reference to a working implementation. The audience at OOPSLA includes people from many communities. You will improve your paper if you can address a broad audience, wherever possible. While specific examples can be given, the problem and solution should be presented in general terms. Effective communication is important for a successful paper. A paper has little value if its intended audience cannot understand it. An incomprehensible paper cannot even be reviewed.
To sum up everything, different top-tier journals accept papers basing on their different requirements that your paper should contain. Although they may have differences, some qualifications on accepting research papers are similar. These journals similarly consider relevance, originality, and impact of the paper to audience.
How do you know if a piece of research work is good or not? How are they evaluated?
All students are required to write research papers at some point during their. In conducting a research, you are basically conducting a search for facts: little tidbits of truth that you will assemble and arrange in an organized way. Your first responsibility as a researcher is to understand the difference between fact and fiction—and also the difference between fact and opinion. In addition, you need to offer a rationale telling why your problem is a good one and what methods you plan to use for gathering and analyzing your data. Furthermore, students' intentions, as reflected in how they phrase their project proposals, can suggest that they are not seeking an answer to a significant question but, rather, are trying to get readers to accept a belief that those students already cherish and wish to propagate. Such intent can be implied when they introduce their project with such a phrase as "My purpose is to prove that. . . ." or "I will demonstrate that. . . ." or "This study will make it clear that. . . ." Therefore, if you know at the outset exactly what conclusions will be drawn at the end of your project, then the project qualifies as propagandizing or salesmanship rather than research.
In determining if a piece of research work is good or not we need to have a checklist of the things we want our research paper would look like or what its content will be. Is the paper too long? Is the paper well organized? Are the design and analysis sound? Do the conclusions follow from the results? Has the author cited all relevant references? Are all the tables and figures necessary? Are the title and abstract fully descriptive of the text? Any ethical concerns with the paper? Are the statistics satisfactory? Is the task you propose for yourself really research, or is it something else?
Will the outcomes of your research be considered significant by the readers for whom your project is intended? A topic that you select may qualify as research, yet still not be considered a suitable thesis or dissertation problem. One reason is that the task you pose for yourself may be too simple, in that it fails to represent the complexity and level of expertise expected of a person who deserves a graduate degree. A second reason is that the answer you hope to derive from your investigation appears to be insignificant, so readers' would respond to your results with "So what?" or "Who cares?" Therefore, in originally presenting your topic, you are obliged to indicate for whom--and why--an answer to your research question is important.
There are some basic characteristics of good research papers that students should be aware of if they are interested in excelling academically. First, a good research paper is written about the subject that a professor assigned or that a student selected as his or her paper subject. There may be a more specific sub-topic that a student addresses in the paper, but good research papers always stay on track with the assignment or subject. The most important rule to remember when writing a paper is to follow the instructions your teacher provides. Teachers always have the prerogative to decide what rules, formats, or procedures they prefer for any paper, so the teacher’s guidelines for any assignment will rule against instructions you find on the Internet or in a style guide.
Next, a good research paper will flow well. This means that ideas will be connected and sensible so that the reader knows exactly what the writer is saying. In order to make a research paper flow well, students should spend some time drafting outlines for their term papers. These outlines should help the student to ensure that he or she includes an appropriate amount of content and that ideas flow well from one to the next. The paper outline is also much easier to revise than a paper draft. Therefore, a sign of a good research paper is that it always begins with a research paper outline before the student creates the first draft.
After the student has created a research paper outline, the student can begin filling the outline in as a first draft. Good papers will not only be drafted once, but they will also be revised several times until the student feels that the paper says exactly what he or she wishes to say in the most concise and congruent manner.
A student can use the same level of research to write either a good paper or a bad paper. The difference between a good paper and a term paper often comes down to basic writing skills. Therefore, many students benefit by working with a professional writer or an on-campus writing center in order to improve their writing skills and effectiveness.
Another thing to be considered in writing a research paper is that be realistic about how much the average reader will take away from an article. Non-experts will retain at most a single message. Make sure you have one, and then repeat it over and over again—at the end of the abstract, in the introduction, in the results, and in the discussion. Include different levels at which your results are significant. This is particularly important for papers that you are trying to get into top tier journals. A good paper is not a random accumulation of facts. Give your paper a narrative structure that links from one finding to another. This can be the logical order of why one experiment was done in response to another, or you can describe from the beginning to the end of a pathway. Build up this structure by writing notes, in any order, and then rearranging them so that there are logical links.
Writing a research paper is more straightforward and concise than other types of writing. Avoid using clever, flowing, or poetic phrases in your science paper. Dramatic or emotional statements sound out of place. Use active verbs. Avoid using passive verbs. For instance, instead of saying “When the lights were turned off, the mice reacted… you could say “The mice reacted when I turned off the lights.” Do not misuse terms. Some words, like "variable" and "significant result" have very specific meanings in the science world. Be careful not to repeat scientific terms in your paper unless you have a clear understanding of what they mean. Make sure it is free of spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors. Also, check to make sure you’ve included every source in your bibliography. Finally, check the original instructions from your teacher to make sure you are following all assigned preferences, like title page directions and placement of page numbers.
Many papers are badly written. To avoid this, good writing is a skill you can learn. It’s a skill that is worth learning because this may result to more papers accepted, ideas will have more impact and you will have better ideas. This also forces us to be clear, focused and crystallises what we don’t understand. Papers are far more durable than programs. Experts are good. Non-experts are also very good. Each reader can only read your paper for the first time once. Explain carefully what you want.
Research source is also a factor that will affect what your paper will be. Sometimes, misinterpretations on facts and fiction will be a problem. One of which is Blogs. As you know, anybody can publish a blog on the Internet. This poses an obvious problem with using a blog as a research source, as there is no way to know the credentials of many bloggers or to get an understanding of the writer’s level of expertise. Many people create blogs to give themselves a forum to express their views and opinions. Next is Personal Web Sites. A web page is much like a blog when it comes to being an unreliable research source. Web pages are created by the public, so you have to be very careful when choosing them as sources. It's sometimes difficult to determine which web sites are created by experts and professionals on a given topic. Wiki web sites can be very informative, but they can also be untrustworthy. Wiki sites allow groups of people to add and edit the information contained on the pages. The question that always arises when it comes to homework and research is whether it’s OK to use Wikipedia as a source of information. Wikipedia is a great site with a lot of fantastic information, and a possible exception to the rule. One thing is for certain: Wikipedia offers a reliable overview of a topic to give you a strong foundation to start with. It also provides a list of resources where you can continue your own research. Students also believe that historical novels are trustworthy, because they state that they are “based on facts.” There is a difference between a factual work and a work that is based on facts. A novel that is based on a single fact can still contain ninety-nine percent fiction. Never use a historical novel as a history resource.
The Internet makes it possible to directly reach people we’d have never thought possible even a decade ago. Google the leading voice in the field you’re writing about: a professor of chemistry at MIT, a leadership guru, a corporate anthropologist at Intel, and so on — chances are you’ll come across an email address, or at least a mailing address. Write to them, explain your project, and ask a few questions. The worst that can happen is they’ll ignore your request (so write a few people for backup).
In determining if a piece of research work is good or not we need to have a checklist of the things we want our research paper would look like or what its content will be. Is the paper too long? Is the paper well organized? Are the design and analysis sound? Do the conclusions follow from the results? Has the author cited all relevant references? Are all the tables and figures necessary? Are the title and abstract fully descriptive of the text? Any ethical concerns with the paper? Are the statistics satisfactory? Is the task you propose for yourself really research, or is it something else?
Will the outcomes of your research be considered significant by the readers for whom your project is intended? A topic that you select may qualify as research, yet still not be considered a suitable thesis or dissertation problem. One reason is that the task you pose for yourself may be too simple, in that it fails to represent the complexity and level of expertise expected of a person who deserves a graduate degree. A second reason is that the answer you hope to derive from your investigation appears to be insignificant, so readers' would respond to your results with "So what?" or "Who cares?" Therefore, in originally presenting your topic, you are obliged to indicate for whom--and why--an answer to your research question is important.
There are some basic characteristics of good research papers that students should be aware of if they are interested in excelling academically. First, a good research paper is written about the subject that a professor assigned or that a student selected as his or her paper subject. There may be a more specific sub-topic that a student addresses in the paper, but good research papers always stay on track with the assignment or subject. The most important rule to remember when writing a paper is to follow the instructions your teacher provides. Teachers always have the prerogative to decide what rules, formats, or procedures they prefer for any paper, so the teacher’s guidelines for any assignment will rule against instructions you find on the Internet or in a style guide.
Next, a good research paper will flow well. This means that ideas will be connected and sensible so that the reader knows exactly what the writer is saying. In order to make a research paper flow well, students should spend some time drafting outlines for their term papers. These outlines should help the student to ensure that he or she includes an appropriate amount of content and that ideas flow well from one to the next. The paper outline is also much easier to revise than a paper draft. Therefore, a sign of a good research paper is that it always begins with a research paper outline before the student creates the first draft.
After the student has created a research paper outline, the student can begin filling the outline in as a first draft. Good papers will not only be drafted once, but they will also be revised several times until the student feels that the paper says exactly what he or she wishes to say in the most concise and congruent manner.
A student can use the same level of research to write either a good paper or a bad paper. The difference between a good paper and a term paper often comes down to basic writing skills. Therefore, many students benefit by working with a professional writer or an on-campus writing center in order to improve their writing skills and effectiveness.
Another thing to be considered in writing a research paper is that be realistic about how much the average reader will take away from an article. Non-experts will retain at most a single message. Make sure you have one, and then repeat it over and over again—at the end of the abstract, in the introduction, in the results, and in the discussion. Include different levels at which your results are significant. This is particularly important for papers that you are trying to get into top tier journals. A good paper is not a random accumulation of facts. Give your paper a narrative structure that links from one finding to another. This can be the logical order of why one experiment was done in response to another, or you can describe from the beginning to the end of a pathway. Build up this structure by writing notes, in any order, and then rearranging them so that there are logical links.
Writing a research paper is more straightforward and concise than other types of writing. Avoid using clever, flowing, or poetic phrases in your science paper. Dramatic or emotional statements sound out of place. Use active verbs. Avoid using passive verbs. For instance, instead of saying “When the lights were turned off, the mice reacted… you could say “The mice reacted when I turned off the lights.” Do not misuse terms. Some words, like "variable" and "significant result" have very specific meanings in the science world. Be careful not to repeat scientific terms in your paper unless you have a clear understanding of what they mean. Make sure it is free of spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors. Also, check to make sure you’ve included every source in your bibliography. Finally, check the original instructions from your teacher to make sure you are following all assigned preferences, like title page directions and placement of page numbers.
Many papers are badly written. To avoid this, good writing is a skill you can learn. It’s a skill that is worth learning because this may result to more papers accepted, ideas will have more impact and you will have better ideas. This also forces us to be clear, focused and crystallises what we don’t understand. Papers are far more durable than programs. Experts are good. Non-experts are also very good. Each reader can only read your paper for the first time once. Explain carefully what you want.
Research source is also a factor that will affect what your paper will be. Sometimes, misinterpretations on facts and fiction will be a problem. One of which is Blogs. As you know, anybody can publish a blog on the Internet. This poses an obvious problem with using a blog as a research source, as there is no way to know the credentials of many bloggers or to get an understanding of the writer’s level of expertise. Many people create blogs to give themselves a forum to express their views and opinions. Next is Personal Web Sites. A web page is much like a blog when it comes to being an unreliable research source. Web pages are created by the public, so you have to be very careful when choosing them as sources. It's sometimes difficult to determine which web sites are created by experts and professionals on a given topic. Wiki web sites can be very informative, but they can also be untrustworthy. Wiki sites allow groups of people to add and edit the information contained on the pages. The question that always arises when it comes to homework and research is whether it’s OK to use Wikipedia as a source of information. Wikipedia is a great site with a lot of fantastic information, and a possible exception to the rule. One thing is for certain: Wikipedia offers a reliable overview of a topic to give you a strong foundation to start with. It also provides a list of resources where you can continue your own research. Students also believe that historical novels are trustworthy, because they state that they are “based on facts.” There is a difference between a factual work and a work that is based on facts. A novel that is based on a single fact can still contain ninety-nine percent fiction. Never use a historical novel as a history resource.
The Internet makes it possible to directly reach people we’d have never thought possible even a decade ago. Google the leading voice in the field you’re writing about: a professor of chemistry at MIT, a leadership guru, a corporate anthropologist at Intel, and so on — chances are you’ll come across an email address, or at least a mailing address. Write to them, explain your project, and ask a few questions. The worst that can happen is they’ll ignore your request (so write a few people for backup).
Role of Research Topic in Deciding Future Career
Among the assignments given to us, I think this question is the most difficult one. This made me think how the research topic would affect my future career. I found it hard to answer since I didn’t think of this while we were still deciding on what will be our research topic for this semester. As what I have in mind, we do research to improve the quality of life for us people to be somehow satisfied, for some time, even though we never get satisfied. We do research because of the existing problems we find in our everyday life. For me, as to the most obvious role of the research topic, it is a solution to the identified or observed problems that you have distinguished. As a result of readings done based on the problems identified, the solution is determined so does the research topic which will be the specific solution to those problems. To help me understand more on what is really the role of research topic in deciding my future career, I read some articles regarding this.
Research is a systematic investigation to establish facts. Why do people conduct research? To find things out and to help understand the world we live in. Also to produce valid and useful information or knowledge that has some significance to benefit society. Who are the main funders of research? The main funders of research are: Charities, Business Corporations, Private Companies, and Individuals.
There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in delay or postponement and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this sort of writing. Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics, and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons that this is so important.
Determining what our research topic will be, considering the theme “Green Computing”, gave us challenge. Our chosen topic reflects where we wanted to be. With this task, we can identify on what is really our interests since a good topic also requires that the researcher is interested of. In this connection, we may be able to somewhat look forward on deciding what our future career.
One of the reasons students draw back at research paper is that writing them is a skill that most college professors assume their students have, while few high school teachers teach it — leaving students to work out for themselves how exactly to proceed. Add to that the fact that students often take a range of courses they have little or no interest in to satisfy their general requirements, and it’s no wonder that students often feel hung out to dry when it comes to writing research papers. Looked at properly, research papers can be a great way to deepen your understanding of your chosen field, and may be the first step towards developing a specialization that will serve you well as you move into your career or advanced education. Figure out the link between the class you’re taking and your educational and career goals. If you hope to earn an MBA and find yourself stuck in a required Women’s Studies class, write about workplace harassment, or the impact of equal opportunity laws. If you are pre-med and have to take anthropology or sociology, write about cultural differences in notions of healing, or about access to health care for members of different classes.
Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally; even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes! lolz), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, a student will find that she can achieve great things through her research and writing.
As a seminar in the Bell Communications Research Colloquia Series, Dr. Richard W. Hamming, a Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and a former Bell Labs scientist, gave an interesting and stimulating talk, `You and Your Research' to an overflow audience of some 200 Bell core staff members and visitors at the Morris Research and Engineering Center. This talk centered on Hamming's observations and research on the question "Why do so few scientists make significant contributions and so many are forgotten in the long run?"
One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to. That is the characteristic of great scientists; they have courage. They will go forward under incredible circumstances; they think and continue to think.
For me, the tasks that are involved in the research writing are also similar with how scientists in the world do their discoveries. A scientist can never discover something without researching on that topic. So as to research, one cannot achieve his objective if he will not have that enough courage to pursue his study on a certain problem. Although mistakes and other circumstances may come unexpectedly, it is good to have that courage to still continue working on what have been started. As to students, this character will really be a good help since they will practice and enhance how to keep pushing more to finish the research. This will be a good motivation for us students.
What Bode was saying was this: "Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest." Given two people of approximately the same ability and one person who works ten percent more than the other, the latter will more than twice out produce the former. The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity it is very much like compound interest. I don't want to give you a rate, but it is a very high rate. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime. I took Bode's remark to heart; I spent a good deal more of my time for some years trying to work a bit harder and I found, in fact, I could get more work done. You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. There's no question about this.
There's another trait on the side which I want to talk about; that trait is ambiguity. It took me a while to discover its importance. Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.
Why do so many people, with all their talents, fail? Why is it so? What happened to them? Why do so many of the people who have great promise, fail?
Well, one of the reasons is drive and commitment. The people who do great work with less ability but who are committed to it, get more done that those who have great skill and dabble in it, who work during the day and go home and do other things and come back and work the next day. They don't have the deep commitment that is apparently necessary for really first-class work. They turn out lots of good work, but we were talking, remember, about first-class work. There is a difference. Good people, very talented people, almost always turn out good work. Talking about the outstanding work, the type of work that gets the Nobel Prize and gets recognition.
With commitment towards what we are doing in this semester, for us research, we may be able to practice and become more determined in every thing we do. Thus, this will be very useful in determining in what fields are we interested of.
The second thing is, the problem of personality defects. You find this happening again and again; good scientists will fight the system rather than learn to work with the system and take advantage of all the system has to offer. It has a lot, if you learn how to use it. It takes patience, but you can learn how to use the system pretty well, and you can learn how to get around it.
Howard Vernon, a respected philosopher and psychologist in the 1960s, stated: “What you want in life also wants you.” Success already wants you -- it’s just a matter of reaching it with the right strategies and mindset.
Research is a systematic investigation to establish facts. Why do people conduct research? To find things out and to help understand the world we live in. Also to produce valid and useful information or knowledge that has some significance to benefit society. Who are the main funders of research? The main funders of research are: Charities, Business Corporations, Private Companies, and Individuals.
There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in delay or postponement and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this sort of writing. Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics, and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons that this is so important.
Determining what our research topic will be, considering the theme “Green Computing”, gave us challenge. Our chosen topic reflects where we wanted to be. With this task, we can identify on what is really our interests since a good topic also requires that the researcher is interested of. In this connection, we may be able to somewhat look forward on deciding what our future career.
One of the reasons students draw back at research paper is that writing them is a skill that most college professors assume their students have, while few high school teachers teach it — leaving students to work out for themselves how exactly to proceed. Add to that the fact that students often take a range of courses they have little or no interest in to satisfy their general requirements, and it’s no wonder that students often feel hung out to dry when it comes to writing research papers. Looked at properly, research papers can be a great way to deepen your understanding of your chosen field, and may be the first step towards developing a specialization that will serve you well as you move into your career or advanced education. Figure out the link between the class you’re taking and your educational and career goals. If you hope to earn an MBA and find yourself stuck in a required Women’s Studies class, write about workplace harassment, or the impact of equal opportunity laws. If you are pre-med and have to take anthropology or sociology, write about cultural differences in notions of healing, or about access to health care for members of different classes.
Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally; even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes! lolz), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, a student will find that she can achieve great things through her research and writing.
As a seminar in the Bell Communications Research Colloquia Series, Dr. Richard W. Hamming, a Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and a former Bell Labs scientist, gave an interesting and stimulating talk, `You and Your Research' to an overflow audience of some 200 Bell core staff members and visitors at the Morris Research and Engineering Center. This talk centered on Hamming's observations and research on the question "Why do so few scientists make significant contributions and so many are forgotten in the long run?"
One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to. That is the characteristic of great scientists; they have courage. They will go forward under incredible circumstances; they think and continue to think.
For me, the tasks that are involved in the research writing are also similar with how scientists in the world do their discoveries. A scientist can never discover something without researching on that topic. So as to research, one cannot achieve his objective if he will not have that enough courage to pursue his study on a certain problem. Although mistakes and other circumstances may come unexpectedly, it is good to have that courage to still continue working on what have been started. As to students, this character will really be a good help since they will practice and enhance how to keep pushing more to finish the research. This will be a good motivation for us students.
What Bode was saying was this: "Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest." Given two people of approximately the same ability and one person who works ten percent more than the other, the latter will more than twice out produce the former. The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity it is very much like compound interest. I don't want to give you a rate, but it is a very high rate. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime. I took Bode's remark to heart; I spent a good deal more of my time for some years trying to work a bit harder and I found, in fact, I could get more work done. You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. There's no question about this.
There's another trait on the side which I want to talk about; that trait is ambiguity. It took me a while to discover its importance. Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.
Why do so many people, with all their talents, fail? Why is it so? What happened to them? Why do so many of the people who have great promise, fail?
Well, one of the reasons is drive and commitment. The people who do great work with less ability but who are committed to it, get more done that those who have great skill and dabble in it, who work during the day and go home and do other things and come back and work the next day. They don't have the deep commitment that is apparently necessary for really first-class work. They turn out lots of good work, but we were talking, remember, about first-class work. There is a difference. Good people, very talented people, almost always turn out good work. Talking about the outstanding work, the type of work that gets the Nobel Prize and gets recognition.
With commitment towards what we are doing in this semester, for us research, we may be able to practice and become more determined in every thing we do. Thus, this will be very useful in determining in what fields are we interested of.
The second thing is, the problem of personality defects. You find this happening again and again; good scientists will fight the system rather than learn to work with the system and take advantage of all the system has to offer. It has a lot, if you learn how to use it. It takes patience, but you can learn how to use the system pretty well, and you can learn how to get around it.
Howard Vernon, a respected philosopher and psychologist in the 1960s, stated: “What you want in life also wants you.” Success already wants you -- it’s just a matter of reaching it with the right strategies and mindset.
State of Computer Science Research
Let me just first share to you insights on what computer science is. As stated in the Wikipedia, Computer science (or computing science) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information. According to Peter J. Denning, the fundamental question underlying computer science is, "What can be (efficiently) automated?". Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people. However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones. As a discipline, computer science spans a range of topics from theoretical studies of algorithms and the limits of computation to the practical issues of implementing computing systems in hardware and software. The Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) – which is made up of representatives of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society, and the Association for Information Systems – identifies four areas that it considers crucial to the discipline of computer science: theory of computation, algorithms and data structures, programming methodology and languages, and computer elements and architecture. In addition to these four areas, CSAB also identifies fields such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networking and communication, database systems, parallel computation, distributed computation, computer-human interaction, computer graphics, operating systems, and numerical and symbolic computation as being important areas of computer science.
The prediction that computers will be increasingly important in our schools, offices, and homes has become a cliché. Word-processing, electronic mail, databases, spreadsheets, analytic tools, and telecommunications have allowed researchers, office workers, and families to have access to a resource that was previously the territory of government, big businesses, and large universities. The way we live and work is being changed and enhanced by improved access to public databases, increased availability of sophisticated computational software, and world-wide communications facilities at a relatively modest price. Artificial intelligence, particularly robotics and expert systems, is a field of computer science that will have a powerful impact on our culture in the near future. What some have perceived as a revolution, however, is actually an evolution of the influence of computing on our society over the past 40 years. Though several generations of computers have matured during this period, their distinctions are not at all clear, primarily because they provide a continuum of capabilities, rather than a succession of preemptive advances. Thus microcomputers, the most recent result of this process, do not replace their mainframe and minicomputer predecessors, function concurrently and complimentarily with them.
Latanya Sweeney from the Carnegie Mellon University stated that Computer Science research and practice are raising growing privacy concerns among the public and government. Computer technology’s increasing ability to capture, organize, interpret and share data about individuals raises questions about what privacy practices computer science researchers should adopt, if any. Not all areas of computer science research are affected by privacy issues.
In the crudest classifications possible, computer science research can be divided into:
(1) theoretical computer science, which has a close relationship to logic and mathematics;
(2) programming languages and systems, which concerns the general development and operation of physical computer systems and networks; and,
(3) artificial intelligence (AI), which has a long-term vision of producing machines that can think, reason and function comparable to humans
Most of the research facing privacy concerns fits into the crudely classified third group, AI.
In more fine-grained classifications, computer science research involving human-computer interaction, personal robots and assistants, biomedical applications, data mining, sensor technology, ubiquitous computing, cybersecurity, and data privacy (a new emerging area aimed at providing technical solutions to privacy problems) are more likely today to face privacy controversies than are any other research areas in computer science.
Two kinds of privacy issues arise in computer science research:
(1) privacy issues inherent in applications of developing technology; and,
(2) privacy issues related to information or practices needed to develop technology.
This shift in computer science research is due in great part to two trends:
(1) the field’s increasing ability to capture and share large volumes of person-specific information and (2) the field’s increasing development of methods to use that information to develop more useful machines.
Latanya Sweeney also pointed out that if developments in computer technology have raised privacy issues, then many believe computer technology can be instrumental in resolving them.
Another article related on Computer Science research also discussed the state of computer science research in India. India prides itself in having one of the largest technical manpower in the world. Her software industry has seen tremendous growth -- over 50% each year during the last 10 years -- which is the envy of many software exporting countries throughout the world. The students from India's top science and technology educational institutions are highly sought after by research universities in the US and Europe. Computer Science (CS) research in India started in earnest only in the mid-80's triggered by the establishment of post-graduate programs in many institutions throughout the country at that time. Today, almost all areas of computer science research are covered by researchers in India, including topics that are "hot" elsewhere such as multi-media, workflow automation, virtual reality, and hardware-software co-design. Some of the research has even attracted international attention including work on neuro-fuzzy systems, machine learning, genetic and neural algorithms, the modeling and control of flexible manufacturing systems, speech synthesis, databases, and complexity theory. There are many in Indian computer science who argue that the goals of research and development in India ought to be manpower development, increasing competence, and keeping faculty up-to-date with current techniques. Towards this end, it is said that "reinventing the wheel" is not only necessary but also important. This might be one of the reasons that even though it is said (repeatedly) that India has one of the world's largest technical manpower, the manpower needed to do state-of-the-art research is found to be wanting, both in quality and quantity.
Without Computer Science-sponsored research, complex, inefficient computer systems could overwhelm scientists. The software industry is unlikely to commit to long-term research or to develop programming for the relatively few machines equipped with tens to hundreds of thousands of processors. Yet, these powerful computers and the applications that run on them are vital to maintaining the United States’ competitiveness in the world economy. Computer Science research will focus on scalable software and applications that can weather system reliability. Such efforts are pushing computer science into unknown realms of discovery.
Various topics on computer science research have been mentioned in the previous paragraphs but I think the current topic which I considered to be really relevant nowadays are those that pertain to the environment which topics are usually termed as “green”.
References:
http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/isri/CMU-ISRI-03-102.pdf
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/agency/krithi2.html
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.pu.06.050185.001545?cookieSet=1&journalCode=publhealth
http://www.science.doe.gov/ascr/Research/ComSci.html
The prediction that computers will be increasingly important in our schools, offices, and homes has become a cliché. Word-processing, electronic mail, databases, spreadsheets, analytic tools, and telecommunications have allowed researchers, office workers, and families to have access to a resource that was previously the territory of government, big businesses, and large universities. The way we live and work is being changed and enhanced by improved access to public databases, increased availability of sophisticated computational software, and world-wide communications facilities at a relatively modest price. Artificial intelligence, particularly robotics and expert systems, is a field of computer science that will have a powerful impact on our culture in the near future. What some have perceived as a revolution, however, is actually an evolution of the influence of computing on our society over the past 40 years. Though several generations of computers have matured during this period, their distinctions are not at all clear, primarily because they provide a continuum of capabilities, rather than a succession of preemptive advances. Thus microcomputers, the most recent result of this process, do not replace their mainframe and minicomputer predecessors, function concurrently and complimentarily with them.
Latanya Sweeney from the Carnegie Mellon University stated that Computer Science research and practice are raising growing privacy concerns among the public and government. Computer technology’s increasing ability to capture, organize, interpret and share data about individuals raises questions about what privacy practices computer science researchers should adopt, if any. Not all areas of computer science research are affected by privacy issues.
In the crudest classifications possible, computer science research can be divided into:
(1) theoretical computer science, which has a close relationship to logic and mathematics;
(2) programming languages and systems, which concerns the general development and operation of physical computer systems and networks; and,
(3) artificial intelligence (AI), which has a long-term vision of producing machines that can think, reason and function comparable to humans
Most of the research facing privacy concerns fits into the crudely classified third group, AI.
In more fine-grained classifications, computer science research involving human-computer interaction, personal robots and assistants, biomedical applications, data mining, sensor technology, ubiquitous computing, cybersecurity, and data privacy (a new emerging area aimed at providing technical solutions to privacy problems) are more likely today to face privacy controversies than are any other research areas in computer science.
Two kinds of privacy issues arise in computer science research:
(1) privacy issues inherent in applications of developing technology; and,
(2) privacy issues related to information or practices needed to develop technology.
This shift in computer science research is due in great part to two trends:
(1) the field’s increasing ability to capture and share large volumes of person-specific information and (2) the field’s increasing development of methods to use that information to develop more useful machines.
Latanya Sweeney also pointed out that if developments in computer technology have raised privacy issues, then many believe computer technology can be instrumental in resolving them.
Another article related on Computer Science research also discussed the state of computer science research in India. India prides itself in having one of the largest technical manpower in the world. Her software industry has seen tremendous growth -- over 50% each year during the last 10 years -- which is the envy of many software exporting countries throughout the world. The students from India's top science and technology educational institutions are highly sought after by research universities in the US and Europe. Computer Science (CS) research in India started in earnest only in the mid-80's triggered by the establishment of post-graduate programs in many institutions throughout the country at that time. Today, almost all areas of computer science research are covered by researchers in India, including topics that are "hot" elsewhere such as multi-media, workflow automation, virtual reality, and hardware-software co-design. Some of the research has even attracted international attention including work on neuro-fuzzy systems, machine learning, genetic and neural algorithms, the modeling and control of flexible manufacturing systems, speech synthesis, databases, and complexity theory. There are many in Indian computer science who argue that the goals of research and development in India ought to be manpower development, increasing competence, and keeping faculty up-to-date with current techniques. Towards this end, it is said that "reinventing the wheel" is not only necessary but also important. This might be one of the reasons that even though it is said (repeatedly) that India has one of the world's largest technical manpower, the manpower needed to do state-of-the-art research is found to be wanting, both in quality and quantity.
Without Computer Science-sponsored research, complex, inefficient computer systems could overwhelm scientists. The software industry is unlikely to commit to long-term research or to develop programming for the relatively few machines equipped with tens to hundreds of thousands of processors. Yet, these powerful computers and the applications that run on them are vital to maintaining the United States’ competitiveness in the world economy. Computer Science research will focus on scalable software and applications that can weather system reliability. Such efforts are pushing computer science into unknown realms of discovery.
Various topics on computer science research have been mentioned in the previous paragraphs but I think the current topic which I considered to be really relevant nowadays are those that pertain to the environment which topics are usually termed as “green”.
References:
http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/isri/CMU-ISRI-03-102.pdf
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/agency/krithi2.html
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.pu.06.050185.001545?cookieSet=1&journalCode=publhealth
http://www.science.doe.gov/ascr/Research/ComSci.html
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