The Known World: Recent Episodes
IEEE Computer Society
This podcast contains the essays of David Alan Grier, which discuss the ideas, the culture, and the stories of the digital age. The podcasts come from the column of the same name in Computer, the flagship publication of the IEEE Computer Society. Copyright 2011, IEEE, Inc. All rights reserved. Some of the music provided is from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at "music.podshow.com".
Although they might bring great utility to the world, innovations always involve fundamental challenges to the way we think.
Information technology has not only expanded the scale and scope of global markets, it has also provided the means for probing the meaning of every give-and-take transaction.
As technology has changed, the fundamental way of extracting meaning from data has also changed.
While it might seem otherwise to most individuals, we live in an age of leisure as much as we live in an age of information or industry or globalization.
As with all engineering problems, we need to balance the twin factors of stability and control and do so in a way that doesn't damage either of them.
Social networking has neither altered the way that technical knowledge is presented nor has it dislodged computer science from its central place in the technical canon.
The task of building a smart grid requires us to solve two kinds of problems: technical and social.
In the Internet's artificial geography, an organization is identified by what it can do rather than by where it's located.
In most circumstances, computing has faded into the background of our lives as part of the global infrastructure. However, it still has the ability to remind of us its presence.
The grand ideas that led to the 1991 High-Performance Computing Act shaped the modern Internet only as they sifted through layers of the vertical division of labor.
As we look to the future, we must not only anticipate a year of innovation and progress but also a migration of labor that will remake the field of digital technology.
The task of navigating the information hierarchy is harder than we would like to think and involves more uncertainty than we care to admit.
The idea that an organized team of computer scientists might have created a major worm comes at an uneasy time for engineers.
Activities that attempt to coordinate the contributions of the general public with the Internet have a way of disciplining work and overcoming gross inefficiencies with mass labor.
When we adopt augmentative technologies, we usually find that we have to adjust our ideas, goals, and habits to fit our new tool.
The practices of engineering and computer science are influenced by the same forces that shape manual labor and office work. Occasionally, it’s useful to reassess our skills and question the value of our training.
Games on the internet, Wikipedia, and Diderot, and the structure of knowledge. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.210
In the modern age, identity may not be a name or a number. It's a story. And the question may be "who owns it?" Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.181
The failure of a complex product tells just as much about how the organization operates as it does about the skill of individual workers. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.144
No matter what we may believe, scientific practice often begins with a season when we don’t know what we know.
Invention and discovery are both creative acts, and both require us to place new ideas within a context or infrastructure. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.78
Who stands watch over a software engineering project to ensure that a job is well done and every individual has learned what he or she needs to know? Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.49
A good technological design requires substantial effort that shapes both the social and technical sides of an artifact. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2010.12
David talks about the origins of the podcast and what’s in store for upcoming episodes.
Without a human organization that can sift information and raise the gold from the dust, knowledge will die as rumor and innuendo will overwhelm any truth that may be making the rounds. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.394
Potential customers will be interested in new technology only if it somehow makes their lives better—if it moves them toward a goal they hold for themselves, their family, their company. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.342
Part 4: Like many of the accomplishments of software engineering, connecting the grid to a virtual machine is a way of hiding information, of allowing programmers to focus on the task they want to complete and ignore details beyond that task. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.332
Part 3: Like many of the accomplishments of software engineering, connecting the grid to a virtual machine is a way of hiding information, of allowing programmers to focus on the task they want to complete and ignore details beyond that task. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.332
Part 2: Like many of the accomplishments of software engineering, connecting the grid to a virtual machine is a way of hiding information, of allowing programmers to focus on the task they want to complete and ignore details beyond that task. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.332
Like many of the accomplishments of software engineering, connecting the grid to a virtual machine is a way of hiding information, of allowing programmers to focus on the task they want to complete and ignore details beyond that task. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.332
Part 4: Gunshot detection systems are a form of geographical information system, a technology that has expanded rapidly in the past two decades and has substantially altered how we deal with the physical landscape. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.281
Part 3: Gunshot detection systems are a form of geographical information system, a technology that has expanded rapidly in the past two decades and has substantially altered how we deal with the physical landscape. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.281
Part 2: Gunshot detection systems are a form of geographical information system, a technology that has expanded rapidly in the past two decades and has substantially altered how we deal with the physical landscape. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.281
Gunshot detection systems are a form of geographical information system, a technology that has expanded rapidly in the past two decades and has substantially altered how we deal with the physical landscape. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.281
Becoming a professional means joining the family, with all the rights, responsibilities, and discipline that come with membership. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.272
Becoming a professional means joining the family, with all the rights, responsibilities, and discipline that come with membership. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.272
Becoming a professional means joining the family, with all the rights, responsibilities, and discipline that come with membership. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.272
Becoming a professional means joining the family, with all the rights, responsibilities, and discipline that come with membership. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.272
In computer science education, we tend to emphasize the knowledge that we need to impart to our students and the skills they need to develop, but we generally fail to talk about the emotional and cultural aspects of their growth. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.236
In computer science education, we tend to emphasize the knowledge that we need to impart to our students and the skills they need to develop, but we generally fail to talk about the emotional and cultural aspects of their growth. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.236
In computer science education, we tend to emphasize the knowledge that we need to impart to our students and the skills they need to develop, but we generally fail to talk about the emotional and cultural aspects of their growth. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.236
In computer science education, we tend to emphasize the knowledge that we need to impart to our students and the skills they need to develop, but we generally fail to talk about the emotional and cultural aspects of their growth. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.236
Electronic systems change the flow of work, the habits of thought, the way we perceive our activities. In the case of healthcare, such changes could easily produce a system that is radically different from the one we know. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.196
As Web technology moved from the laboratory to the public sphere, website design moved from being the product of a single individual to become the responsibility of a group. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.166
Step by faltering step, the front page has been vanishing from the American news industry.
Virtual machines are a technology that was invented in one era, overlooked in a second, and rediscovered in a third. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.98
Part 2: In addition to reducing the time it took to pay for purchases, bar codes and scanners provided a system that would track inventory, reduce theft, and provide data to help merchants understand how their goods were purchased. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.58
In addition to reducing the time it took to pay for purchases, bar codes and scanners provided a system that would track inventory, reduce theft, and provide data to help merchants understand how their goods were purchased. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.58
Building an adaptive power grid requires cooperation, getting a common agreement among a large collection of engineers, investors, policy makers, corporate executives, and voters. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2009.21
The business community has long embraced the notion that progress is an evolutionary process that comes with markets, competition, and the survival of the fittest. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.529
In just a handful of years, social networking tools have become part of our daily work and conversation. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.461
We are told that we must learn from failure, but agreement with this principle does little to foster its enactment in the face of persistent psychological and organizational barriers. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.423
We are told that we must learn from failure, but agreement with this principle does little to foster its enactment in the face of persistent psychological and organizational barriers. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.423
We are told that we must learn from failure, but agreement with this principle does little to foster its enactment in the face of persistent psychological and organizational barriers. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.423
We are told that we must learn from failure, but agreement with this principle does little to foster its enactment in the face of persistent psychological and organizational barriers. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.423
We are beginning to assess the impact of digital technologies and are starting to devise strategies to handle the changes that computers have wrought upon the environment. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.380
The technologies that we have deployed over the past two decades have given us new ability to manage activities at a distance. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.296
The technologies that we have deployed over the past two decades have given us new ability to manage activities at a distance. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.296
The technologies that we have deployed over the past two decades have given us new ability to manage activities at a distance. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.296
The technologies that we have deployed over the past two decades have given us new ability to manage activities at a distance. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.296
Hacking might occupy a special position—that gray area between the darkness and the light—because it touches not only on ethical issues but also on the very nature of computing itself. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.227
Hacking might occupy a special position—that gray area between the darkness and the light—because it touches not only on ethical issues but also on the very nature of computing itself. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.227
Hacking might occupy a special position—that gray area between the darkness and the light—because it touches not only on ethical issues but also on the very nature of computing itself. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.227
The story that takes India from the electrical infrastructure of 1966 to a modern infrastructure 40 years later is a parable for the free market.
The story that takes India from the electrical infrastructure of 1966 to a modern infrastructure 40 years later is a parable for the free market.
The story that takes India from the electrical infrastructure of 1966 to a modern infrastructure 40 years later is a parable for the free market.
The story that takes India from the electrical infrastructure of 1966 to a modern infrastructure 40 years later is a parable for the free market.
Embracing digital technology has had a profound impact on modern entertainment media, and can centralize the control over films and keep the producers in better touch with the audiences.
In unleashing our treasure ships of software bits and bytes upon the world, we have also opened it up to a new generation of pirates. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.90
Trust is a difficult thing to engineer, as it involves history, character, and an ability to put aside your own goals for the good of the whole. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.47
Computer security shares the methods and goals of computer science as a whole but has a couple of features that set it apart. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2008.32
Our educational system does little to prepare computer science students for making the transition to the working world. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.409
The music industry's story is a vivid reminder that entire industries can fail to see shifts in the market. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2006.440
Our current body politic is looking for a more robust voting mechanism that is secured by technology rather than by the competence and integrity of bean counters. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.382
The development of an information technology industry in the remains of the old Soviet Union brought the discipline of a market economy to the region. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.343
American automakers adopted computer controls to deal with complicated engineering problems only when pushed by forces beyond their control. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.309
More than any other piece of software, the spreadsheet demonstrated that the personal computer could be a useful business tool. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.283
Much of the strategy to fix the Y2K Problem followed the standard cycle of quality engineering. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.254
A story about community, cooperation and the sharing of labor in the world of Information Technology. It begins with the story of an aged lefty, talks about the development of computer users groups and gives a brief history of the Linux operating system. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.187
Linux and open source software represent a force that long predates the computer era: the notion of contributing to the common good. Article link: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2007.187