waashk/acm huggingface dataset:
information technology assessment and adoption: understanding the information centre role  this paper reports the results of a study of the impact of end user computing strategies, and in particular organizational information centre activities, upon an organization's information technology assessment and adoption process. over 40 managers in ten organizations were interviewed using a discussion questionnaire. the purpose of the interviews was to probe, in a semi- structured way, various aspects of the roles played by these firms' information centres in identifying, assessing and absorbing new information technology into the firm. it was found that the impact of information centres on technology absorption could be broadly characterized using two constructs: acceleration (the rate at which new technology is introduced) and control (the variety of choices made possible to users of the technology). by considering acceleration and control together, four different states are identified and characterized. typical growth patterns through the different states are described, based on actual histories from the companies studied. also, the major factors that influence end user computing strategies, and the various tactics available for implementing user computing as a function of the various states, are delineated.  malcolm c munro sid l huff
requisite technical skills for technical support analysts: a survey technical skills are critical for computer related professions. specific skills will often vary by job classification and may vary over time as new technology is developed and adopted. an understanding of skills for a given profession can be used to advantage by companies and educators in planning for future requirements and opportunities. the research reported in this paper examines twenty technical skills required of technical support analysts and system analysts. a survey questions a sample in both professions to determine the perceived importance of the different skills. the results confirm previous studies on skills required of system analysts and show that they differ from those required of technical support analysts. both professions perceive hardware, communication, and software skills as being important while their perceptions differ on database and advanced application skills. career training and hiring decisions would perhaps be improved by taking these differences into account. james j. jiang gary klein
which way to go?  "i've got a quick question…" says user. sure, i say. yes---we all know that over-used phrase. what they think is a quick question may indeed be; it is the answer that is usually not.  user and i prepare to consult. actually, the philosophy i use isn't what the term consult constitutes. i work more in the counselor-type role. i ask user questions with the ultimate goal in mind that user decides which word processing package to purchase (or microcomputer or printer or whatever) and use---not me deciding for user. important to remember is who, what, where, when, why and how (and how much!) user is usually more receptive, positive, and satisfied at the "suggested" solution. so a typical situation with user might be portrayed like the following:  kathy hunter
curriculum '80: recommendations & guidelines for community & junior college curriculum  this session will provide a summary of the first acm curriculum recommendations for the community and junior college associate and vocational technical level of education. the publication of this report represents the culmination of five years of work by the curriculum committee on computer education, subcommittee for community and junior colleges  curriculum '80 addresses three areas: computer programming, computer operations, and data entry operations. the report gives, for each of these three, topical outlines of subject matter to be taught, lists of resources needed, and suggestions for articulation and continued relevance. the guidelines should be of benefit to those who wish to begin a new program of study, as well as to those who wish to improve and update an existing program.  joyce currie little marjorie leeson iva helen lee john sweeney
justifying the business value of information systems education: a report on multi-cultural field experiments  there is little empirical evidence to support the value of information systems education and training. while is training is conducted because of its direct impact on the accretion of skills, the lack of empirical evidence for the value of information systems education limits resource allocation for it. as organizations employ information technology which is more difficult to justify using standard cost/benefit methods, user information satisfaction (uis) is becoming a useful metric to measure the business value of it. in two multi- cultural field experiments it was found that information systems education caused statistically significant affects in uis. in general, after viewing a video on the is development process, end users became more satisfied with the information product and less satisfied with some aspects of is support and staff, especially, the usual education and training provided.  john t. nosek
arithmetical croquet  this paper will describe how the game of arithmetical croquet was used in a second semester programming course. this game can be used as an assignment in many different ways: students can design it completely from scratch; students can complete classes that are already designed; students can focus only on the strategy module to select the next move when everything else has been supplied to them, etc. in particular, this paper describes experiences with the first assignment type listed above, and provides the details for the program evaluation scheme that was used.  john a. trono
women in science and academe  karan wieckert will outline the process, conclusions and recommendations of a report published in february of 1983 by the female graduate students and technical staff in computer science and artificial intelligence at the massachusetts institute of technology. incidents of subtle discrimination from the laboratory work environment will be described as well as general assumptions which give rise to these problems. also, the effects these incidents have upon women and recommendations for alleviating the problems will be presented.  nell dale will present the results of a project of the women in science career facilitation program of the national science foundation. re-entry projects for women with undergraduate degrees in the sciences were funded over a seven year period. as a part of the final survey questionnaire sent to over 140 participants, a section on discrimination was included. the results of this section will be presented.  karen wieckert nell dale
legally speaking: is information property?  this column will discuss why the law has traditionally resisted characterizing information as the sort of thing that can be private property, and will speculate about why judges may be more receptive nowadays to assertions that information should be treated as property. this new attitude is illustrated by a 1987 u.s. supreme court decision which upheld criminal convictions based solely on the misappropriation of information which the court found to be the property of one of the defendants' employers.  pamela samuelson
case study: extreme programming in a university environment  _extreme programming (xp) is a new and controversial software process for small teams. a practical training course at the university of karlsruhe led to the following observations about the key practices of xp. first, it is unclear how to reap the potential benefits of pair programming, although pair programming produces high quality code. second, designing in small increments appears problematic but ensures rapid feedback about the code. third, while automated testing is helpful, writing test cases before coding is a challenge. and last, it is difficult to implement xp without coaching. this paper also provides some guidelines for those starting out with xp._  matthias m. muller walter f. tichy
computer professionals whose scientific freedom and human rights have been violated - 1984: a report of the acm committee on scientific freedom and human rights  this is the third report prepared by the acm committee on scientific freedom and human rights (csfhr). the first was published in the march 1981 communications and the second in the december 1982 issue. this report is an update. since the committee intends to publish future updates, it would appreciate receiving further information about computer scientists whose rights have been violated. such information should be sent to: jack minker, vice-chairman, committee on scientific freedom and human rights, department of computer science, university of maryland, college park, md 29742.  because those whose scientific freedom or human rights have been violated derive sustenance and support from contacts with their colleagues, the csfhr has established a program in which acm chapters "adopt" individual scientists and correspond with them. such correspondence should touch on the personal and scientific and not discuss political matters. these letters greatly improve the morale of the recipients and are one of the few ways they can keep current with computer science and technology. this csfhr program is directed by helen takacs (p.o. drawer cs, mississippi state, ms 39762).  jack minker
what courseware dedicated to computer science? computer science is a field where the concept acquisition depends both on knowledge and know-how. some aspects such as the situated learning, the use of viewpoints and the negotiated tutoring play an important part in the programming learning. all these notions require specific tools intented for a teacher who designs a computer science courseware. so, this paper presents an authoring system which is particularly specialized in the student interface generation and the tutoring strategy execution. mahmoud boufaida
external customers enhance university services  the computing services center (csc) of wayne state university began to actively seek business from local government, health care, other educational institutions, and research facilities in 1977. the addition of external customers acted as a catalyst, affecting csc policies and procedures, hardware and software, marketing strategy, and most importantly, attitudes toward customers and ourselves. external customers forced us to examine our service organization from a new perspective, and as a result, helped us find new ways to improve the service we provide to our own university community.  patrick j. gossman
an intensive instruction format for information systems  for over fifteen years southern illinois university at edwardsville has offered management information systems courses using an intensive weekend format at locations around the united states. although a variety of information systems courses in the masters of business administration has been provided, the most frequently taught course has been introduction to information systems. the introduction course combines elementary computer and data processing concepts, programming, applications, and systems analysis and design. however, the emphasis of the course is analysis and design of systems from a manager, or user frame of reference. because of the nontraditional format of the course, a variety of instructional strategies have evolved to insure successful student achievement of course objectives. frequent comparisons between the test scores of students finishing the off-campus program and students completing the on- campus program indicate that the achievement levels are equivalent.  john f. schrage robert a. schultheis
from research to reward: challenges in technology transfer  over a five year period the applied science & technology group of ibm's hursley laboratory in england turned itself from a fully-funded research organisation into an entirely self-funded technology transfer group. much practical experience and insight was gained into the questions of: what are the obstacles to overcome in successful technology transfer? how to find a match between technology and customer? how best to manage risk and expectation?  to be successful a technology transfer group needs to be correctly positioned within its sponsoring organisation, use management processes that provide flexibility and control, and develop a sophisticated engagement model for working with its customers.  adrian m. colyer
a survey into the relevance and adequacy of training in systems analysis and design a questionnaire was designed to cover the areas of systems analysis and design (sad) which staff in northern ireland currently work on, the extent of training the person has had in those areas, and there assessment of the adequacy of any training given. the questionnaire was distributed to both commercial firms and to the civil service. the total replies were 150 - civil service(104), non-civil service(46). the survey showed that training in sad was concentrated in certain areas - those such as systems and data modeling. other areas such as interview techniques and sampling of documents are not equally as well covered in training. student assessment of the training provided varied significantly. the ease with which certain aspects of sad training courses can be developed as opposed to others is discussed and the important imbalance in the coverage of training provisioned is highlighted. r. larmour
gender and programming: what's going on? the learning (and teaching) of programming in higher education is a perennial problem, and is the subject of much attention and innovation.one way in which the problem can be addressed is for instructors to investigate and thus better understand the ways in which students learn to program.we present the results of investigations carried out at the universities of kent and leeds into the ways in which _gender_ influences the learning approach of students in programming. the research shows that gender is a significant factor in determining the way in which students approach learning to program. a better understanding of the issues raised would lead to more effective teaching and thus better learning. janet carter tony jenkins
"what would you do?" an exercise in analysis and planning  attendees will be divided into three large groups based upon the size of their installation (size in terms of number of employees). each group will be asked to analyze two situations. the situation may be presented on paper, videotape, or through role playing. the large group will be divided into small discussion groups (7-10 people) to analyze the situation, define the problem(s), and come up with solution(s). questions for directed discussion will be provided, and a facilitator will "drop in" on the groups or provide assistance if requested. spokespeople from the small groups will present their conclusions to the large group.  frances m. blake alvin e. stutz
using an effective grading method for preventing plagiarism of programming assignments  the two main purposes of this paper are: 1) to discuss four commonly-used grading methods (which we shall call methods a, b, c, and d) employed with programming assignments and 2) to present by way of recommendation two experimental methods (which we shall call methods x and y) which support our thesis that positive prevention of cheating on programming assignments through the use of an appropriately-designed grading method is far more effective than the other approaches in general use.  c. jinshong hwang darryl e. gibson
using ada and c++ in computer science education undergraduate students of computer science or software engineering must become familiar with imperative programming languages, due to the extensive use of these languages in industry. perhaps the two most interesting imperative languages, from a technical standpoint, are ada and c++, as these two languages include a number of modern features and enjoy widespread popularity. we argue that a four-year undergraduate curriculum in computer science which emphasizes imperative programming languages benefits from a thorough coverage of ada in the first two years, while deferring the direct use of c++ until the junior year. the argument is supported by an overview of the technical features of ada and c++ which both aid and hinder the learning of software development skills. raymond j. toal
teaching virtual reality this paper reports on the design and implementation of a two-semester course on virtual reality (vr). the course is aimed at final year undergraduates on programmes leading to specialist degrees such as information technology, software engineering, computer studies, business information systems.entitled "vr - implementation and applications", the course embraces novel devices, interfacing, software toolkits, graphics algorithms, system evaluation, technology prediction, human computer interaction (hci), social, psychological and philosophical aspects.the course focuses on the evaluation of current and expected technology and on the assessment of current and future applications in its complete variety. it thereby encompasses transferable skills in the mainstream areas of technology evaluation, system evaluation.this paper reviews the aims of the course, the curriculum content, a novel learning approach, assessment and an evaluation of the course. d. h. bell
security considerations in system design  this session addresses today's design efforts, seeking to identify security issues for fifth generation computing. emphasis is placed on disaster recovery, auditing and evaluation of computer systems, and special problems arising from the proliferation of small computers.  k. fong, whose abstract follows in these proceedings, describes our changing approach to providing uninterruptable access to automated information resources. these changes can include total redundancy and geographic dispersion, ensuring compatibility and transportability of information and software, as well as automated facilities to recover essential functions after disasters.  james j. pottmyer ken fong stelio thompson ralph shattuck
an instructional aid for student programs  analyzing and grading programs in an introductory computer science course can require a great deal of time and effort from the course instructor. this paper investigates the development of a system called instructional tool for program advising (itpad) that assumes some of the instructor's duties by keeping student profiles and assignment profiles, by detecting possible plagiarism, and by providing suggestions directly to the students for improving their programs.  the design of the itpad system is based mainly on the direct application of code optimization techniques to fortran source programs. several software science measures also provide some of the profile characteristics. the results of test runs show that this system helps the instructor monitor the progress of the students through the term and also helps the instructor determine the individual algorithmic approaches for a particular programming assignment. the system can further benefit the students directly by providing suggestions that emphasize the use of good programming style.  sally s. robinson m. l. soffa
a set of workshops for high school computer science teachers  this paper outlines a set of workshops to provide training for certified high school computer science teachers. upon the completion of the four core workshops, a high school teacher would have an excellent background to teach high school computer science as detailed in the new proposed acm curriculum for high school certification. the workshops should also do a good job upgrading the background of high school computer science and computer math teachers to teach courses currently in the high school curriculum. one workshop, pascal with applications to data structures, was specifically designed to prepare current high school teachers to teach a pascal course whose goal is to prepare students for the advanced placement test. each of the six workshops is a three semester hour course and most carry graduate credit. three of the six courses have already been offered and more should be taught next summer. the reception of the high school teachers to the workshops has been very enthusiastic.  george m. whitson
organization and management of the information center: case studies  this paper provides case studies of thirteen st. louis based information centers. the objectives of the paper are to describe the responsibilities of information center professionals, to identify tools and resources for end user computing, to describe users and user-developed applications, and to identify policies relating to end user application development. the findings reflect the growth of information center resources and staff in response to rising demand for support of end user computing . most user-developed applications were queries, reports, and analyses of production data extracts, as well as microcomputer based applications involving personal and departmental data. informal policies and guidelines for user applications have been defined, but as yet most of these applications have not impacted the application development backlog.  mary sumner
some thoughts on undergraduate teaching and the ph.d. as the hiring crisis in academic computer science worsens, many people ask whether faculty whose primary job is teaching need doctorates. in the past, the answer would have been "yes;" now people increasingly suggest that it could be "no." i have argued in my own department for hiring only faculty with doctorates, because, while the doctorate does not directly train people to teach, it does seem to correlate with many characteristics of a good educator. this paper explores the thinking underlying my view, in hopes that it may help others clarify the needs and reasoning behind their own faculty searches. doug baldwin
topics in professional certification (technical session)  no universally accepted set of standards exist for the education or experience requirements for computer programming and data processing personnel to assume leadership positions in their profession. while various forms of certification have been implemented in other academically-oriented professionals for several decades, certification of data processing personnel is a relatively recent activity. however, recognition of the need for minimal qualification levels in data processing among the dp employers is becoming more apparent. one may read employment notices wherein holding a certificate in data processing is a qualification option.  data processing personnel also recognize the merit in certification; this is evidenced by the growing numbers of individuals who undertake certification at their own motivation and expect their employers to recognize their evidenced level of competence. individuals who take the initiative to become certified demonstrate that they have attained a measurable, significant level of education and experience in their profession and a level of professional competence.  james s. ketchel
investigating the relationship between the development of abstract reasoning and performance in an introductory programming class  a test of formal (or abstract) reasoning abilities was given to students in an introductory programming course. based on these results, students were classified at three intellectual development (id) levels: late concrete, early formal, and late formal. performance in various aspects of the course was analyzed by these three id levels. it was found that: (1) id level did not vary with sex, class level, and previous coursework; (2) the levels of late concrete and late formal are strong predictors of poor and outstanding performance, respectively; and (3) the id level predicts performance on tests better than performance on programs.  barry l. kurtz