Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Research data should be made public -- Comment()
Here are pointers to two nice books in PDF format on sharing research data:

SARS virus spreads also on PCs -- Comment()
New virus exploits SARS epidemic concerns: "A new computer worm was discovered on April 23, 2003 that exploits fears concerning the mysterious SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) illness. The Coronex-A worm spreads to Microsoft Windows systems via e-mail by sending itself to contacts in the Outlook address book of infected machines. The worm promises information about the SARS virus and uses a variety of subject lines, message bodies and attachment names all associated with the virus. Coronex-A is the latest in a long list of worms that try to propagate by latching onto topical issues, but it appears to be spreading slowly."

Ease of IT makes things difficult -- Comment()
A small company I know advertises each year for summer trainees, requiring IT skills. This year the company received 500 applications, an increase of 50% over the last year.

Why this happened? The biggest reason is the ease of submitting job applications by e-mail. Dozens of companies receive almost identical applications, and all require processing by the personnel department in each company.

I feel this is a typical result of using IT. Instead of requiring less effort you need more resources for the new bottlenecks which arise. IT makes some things easy and fast, and generates new tasks which were not present before.

An IT expert will of course try to solve the job application problem by applying even more IT: an automated system for processing job applications. But perhaps the best solution would be to require applications on paper, with a hand-written cover letter?

Fight against spam -- Comment()
Here are a few pointers to the fight against spam:

There is a illustrative NY Times article about the 'spam king' Alan Ralsky from 2002, and a more recent story about Ms. Alyx Sachs.

-- Comment()
Using the same skills in different ways: "What with all the review writing I've been doing lately, I have also been thinking through some ideas about writing in general. I know that much of this has been written by other people but feel the need to write them in my own words. I use different writing skills or subsets of thinking, depending on the type of writing I am doing." [Private Ink]

-- Comment()
The Grid: Computing Without Bounds (Scientific American, by Ian Foster): 'Grid computing is expected to "virtualize" general computational services and make processing, storage, data, and software so ubiquitous that computing will seem like just another utility. An extension of the Internet, grid computing melds computer systems through high-speed networks so that people can avail themselves of data-crunching capabilities and resources otherwise inaccessible from single or sometimes multiple computers; grid systems' reach would be worldwide thanks to shared languages and interaction protocols. [...] Grid computing can only be successful if it is widely adopted, and one way of ensuring this is to make core technology freely available as well as easily and openly deployable.' (via ACM News Service)

-- Comment()
Internet Is Losing Ground in Battle Against Spam (registration required for access): "Despite the push to eradicate unsolicited commercial email, spammers still have the upper hand, and are battling automated filters and other antispam measures using various methods, ranging from as simple a method as rewording spam messages to hide their content to as sophisticated as masking their point of origin by transmitting them along labyrinthine routes. [...] Exacerbating the situation is the blurring line between spam and legitimate email--blacklisting computers and addresses known to be used by spammers can often lead to false positives, thanks to crafty spammers who can disguise their origins by commandeering undefended systems."