ACM Sigsoc Bulletin最新文献

{"title":"Review of \"The World Model Controversy: Will Mankind Survive?, by Richard M. Laska\", Computer Decisions, 1972","authors":"W. Burkhardt","doi":"10.1145/1103267.1103269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103267.1103269","url":null,"abstract":"This well-written paper expounds in some detail on the well-publicized results of computer simulations of the behavior of dynamic world systems. These systems try to predict future trends of \"comfortability\" variables, like natural resources and food available, industrial output, population and pollution levels, etc. The models are based on equations, often overly simplistic or estimated, for the interaction of these variables. There seem to be no provisions for sideway modification of the variables: people moving to rural areas because of pollution, or to the suburbs because of crime; or substitution of natural resources by artificial ones. In addition, most of the parameters, like birth rates, appear to be static. Results under the chosen assumptions paint a \"worldwide breakdown\" (of industrial society) \"unless all growth in the variables can be stopped.\" To the reviewer, in a formerly pollution-ridden city, these worthwhile investigations appear not much more than the simple calculations of \"standing room only\" type, even if he does not agree with the strongest critics (\"a bunch of schoolkids with a computer predicting the world\"). The paper succeeds well in delineating the current controversy, even if in places it has a sensationalistic appearance. Also, more detailed technical material may have been of benefit.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1972-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130224406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review of \"Computer Simulations of Voting Behavior, by Paul R. Shaffer\", Oxford University Press, 1972","authors":"Gerald B. Finch","doi":"10.1145/1103263.1103265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103263.1103265","url":null,"abstract":"Investigators should submit papers describing actual experiences with computer use in a specific course. Papers must report concrete results only, and be submitted in final form. Papers which will be presented are to be refereed and selected by a panel drawn from each field. The conference will be held on the campuses of the Claremont Colleges. Deadline date for the submission of papers is January 15, 1973. This work is difficult to assess due to the misleading prominent reference to computer simulation in its title. The reader anticipating a sophisticated application of computer simulation is unlikely to find much of interest in Shaffer's anai~rsis. However, Shaffer's treatment of different models of voting behavior should prove useful to those familiar with the literature on voting behavior. Shaffer discusses four models of voting. His review of the simulative efforts of Pool, Abelson, Popkin and McPhee, Ferguson, and Smith is good. Both the theory and the methodology of these two pioneering computer simulations are reviewed intelligently and extensively. The two other models selected by Shaffer are the rational-man model of Anthony Downs (An Economic Theory of Democracy) and the components model of an~ysts affiiiated with t~ University of Michigan's Survey Rsearch Center (Stokes, Campbell, and Miller). Neither of the two latter models are computer simulations. Although he discusses four theories of voting, Shaffer applies only two to electrical phenomena. The bulk of his work consists of the empirical application of the Downsian and SRC models. Curiously, after discussing in some detail the simulations of Pool, et al. and McPee, et al., Shaffer virtually ignores them in the last four of the book's seven chapters. The models of Downs and the SRC are both based at the individual psychological level. In each the citizen decides whether to vote and for whom to vote. (Although the former decision is not considered by the original SRC model, Shaffer modifies it to account for abstention.) The emphasis of Downs is on the rational cost-benefit calculus of the citizen. The citizen makes a number of calculations (e.g., information costs, expected utility flows from candidates, etc.) which govern his electoral decision.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"110 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1972-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122594976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review of \"An Introduction to Data Management in the Behavioral Social Sciences, by Sheldon Blackman and Kenneth Goldstein\", Wiley, 1971","authors":"Ron Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1103259.1103261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103259.1103261","url":null,"abstract":"This is to register a strong disagreement with the review in the last SIGSOC Bulletin, which favorably described the Blackman and Goldstein book. The book was described as \"a useful book to recommend to people beginning to work on dissertation research projects or in a programming course aimed at social scientists.\" While the book is quite readable, it glosses over the techniques involved in setting up analysis for computer data processing and omits problems of even minimal complexity. Its chief weakness is the perspective that it leaves the reader. For one thing it suggests that the BMD and P-Stat packages are the major packages for social data analysis, but even more disturbing it suggests that one can get along quite well using the ccmputer without much understanding of techniques and principles involved. It most certainly would not be appropriate for \"a programming course aimed at social scientists,\" because not only does it suggest that programming skills are unnecessary, but it avoids interesting problems that programming is required to resolve. The negative consequences of teaching package usage alone have been previously stated at last year's Dartmouth Conference on ccmputers in undergraduate curriculum and at the ACM 1971 Panel on Social Science Computing Curricula. It is not clear to me why a book of the Blackman and Goldstein character should even appear in print given a more urgent need for other approaches in the social sciences. It certainly is justified as a mimeographed manual to be used as a supplementary resource for undergraduates utilizing computing for course projects. But the institutionalization of this kind of approach is most certainly questionable. I feel that much of the attitude of social science toward computing as low level, undesirable tedium results from an approach which over simplifies the techniques of computer utilization and implies that the most reasonable social scientists can go about their way quite well without understanding any computing. How can we stimulate students to tackle computing problems creatively, to optimize the potential of computing for the future of social sciences if we limit their exposure to control cards setups?","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1972-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131908517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review of \"Computers in Knowledge-Based Fields, by Charles H. Myers\", M. I. T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970","authors":"Ronald E. Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1103245.1103247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103245.1103247","url":null,"abstract":"This useful little book surveys several knowledge-based areas where computers are being used. Myers has written a readable and concise summary of the field. The study covers only the following major fields: I. Formal education-including administration of educational institutions and computer-assisted-instructions. 2. Library systems and subsystems. 3. Legal and legislative services, administration of justice, crime-prevention and law enforcement. 4. Medical and hospital services. 5. Social information systems. A single chapter is devoted to each of these five areas. Each chapter briefly discusses the needs of the area, the principal initial application of computers, recent efforts to utilize computers in the area, and implications of computers for the nature of the work performed. Each chapter includes extensive footnotes and provides a very valuable introduction to the literature of each of these application areas up through the 1960's. The approach taken in the book is to first present the issues involved in a particular field and then to conclude with the author's own opinion which generally turns out to be one of moderation without excessive preoccupation with any extreme position. Another important consideration in the book is the problem of social resistances to computer introductions. Myers discusses how people, e.g., medical professionalsp frequently resist introduction to computer-based systems; he discusses the legitimate and illegitimate bases of these resistance tendencies, The chapter on social information systems is entitled \"National and Centralized Local Data Banks.\" First, he discusses the development of local data banks as they are relevant to the privacy issue and the initial proposal for a national data bank. This chapter is of direct relevance to those in social computing. The author is to be lauded for the broad coverage of material in only 126 pages. The liberal use of footnotes and outline form used makes for a very packed introduction to each of the knowledge-based areas. The most serious criticism that should be made about the books is that certain important knowledge-based fields are completely omitted from the book, for instances the impact of computers upon science is largely neglected.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1971-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117145759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A cognitive-conceptual dictionary, and its application in computer analyses of content","authors":"J. Laffal, Laurence MacNaughton","doi":"10.1145/1198284.1198285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1198284.1198285","url":null,"abstract":"This is a report on an operational technique for the content analysis of free flowing text, employing a conceptual dictionary. The method has been applied in numerous studies, and while it is undergoing constant revision, currently stands as a feasible approach to automatic content analysis. The dictionary is like an interlingual dictionary, translating words into a cognitive-conceptual language by substituting concepts for the words. The cognitiveconceptual language consists of 114 content categories empirically derived by grouping words related in meaning. About 25,000 words of English are so categorized. A text may be analyzed for total content or for selected categories. A recent advance in programming, which we call a \"fall back\" routine, permits the program to process a virtually unedited text and to match text words with dictionary words even where they differ by suffix. The procedure does this by taking the dictionary word which matches most closely to the text word.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1969-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134154145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DATATRAN: a data transformation facility","authors":"Ken Jacobs, L. Cooprider, R. F. Teitel","doi":"10.1145/1198277.1198278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1198277.1198278","url":null,"abstract":"DATATRAN was designed to meet the need for a general, easy-to-use data transformation facility. This need exists because of the requirements most statistical processors impose as to the nature of input data. Although several of these processors include limited data transformation abilities (such as the BMD package) and almost all permit user supplied FORMAT descriptions of the data, several serious drawbacks can be seen. First, these capabilities, when present , differ widely from program to program. Second, users often find such facilities difficult to use, and even harder to debug. Lastly, no matter how general such a facility is, it is likely that some user will have data in a form which the program is unequipped to handle, or will desire a transformation which the program cannot perform. The intended use of DATATRAN is as a preliminary job step to prepare data for processing by a statistical processor of some sort. However , DATATRAN does include some arithmetic and functional abilities to allow limited data processing. The philosophy of the design of DATATRAN called for maximum transformational capabilities completely under the user's control in an easy-to-read and write syntax. Hopefully, this philosophy has been fulfilled. DATATRAN operates on data groups, or observations. If, for example, a survey produces 2 cards of data per respondent, the transformations the user desires are performed on the data in 2 card blocks. A block of data is read, each of the DATATRAN statements is executed, and the transformed block of data is placed on the output file the user designates. Each record in the block is designated by a letter of the alphabet. Thus a block which contains four records contains records A,B,C, and D. The length and number of the records in both the input and output blocks are specified by the user. Within a record, positions are referred to by column number. Thus, A3 refers to the third column on the first record, while B33-40 refers to columns 33 through 40 of the second record of a block. DATATRAN recognizes three data types: punch, value, and literal. Although it is expected that DATATRAN input will most often be from tape or disk, it is especially easy to picture these data types with respect to a punched card. The following descriptions are applicable to data placed on any type of device, though the references will be to card data. A punch variable consists …","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1969-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121956938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of OSIRIS IV","authors":"R. Roistacher","doi":"10.1145/1103009.1103010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103009.1103010","url":null,"abstract":"The Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research has begun the dissemination of OSIRIS IV, the latest version in Michigan's series of statistical systems. OSIRIS IV is designed to be an eventual replacement for the OSIRIS III system. OSIRIS has long been the ugly duckling of statistical systems. Data analysts find its six volumes of documentation forbidding and unintelligible, and dislike the cross-tabulation program's control syntax and lack of category labels. As a result, most data managers have remained unaware of OSIRIS III's unequalled power at managing sequential data files.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121252120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"SOCK: a sociometric analysis system","authors":"R. Alba, M. Gutmann","doi":"10.1145/1103251.1103252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103251.1103252","url":null,"abstract":"The SOCK system is intended to provide a set of procedures for sociometric clique identification. The procedures in SOCK are based upon numerical clustering techniques which isolate highly interrelated subsets of individuals. Since clustering techniques do not generally work well when operating on simple dichotomous choice data, i.e., on adjacency matrices, these procedures involve the derivation of some matrix of pairwise social distance or proximity from the dichotomous choice data.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117017753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Some effects of considerate and inconsiderate systems","authors":"Ronald E. Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1103312.1103314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103312.1103314","url":null,"abstract":"Concern for the human factors in computer systems continues to grow as computerization becomes more and more pervasive. In the early period of computing such concern was expressed in terms of \"user orientation\" and \"user requirements.\" As interactive systems evolved it became more common to hear terms like \"responsive systems,\" and \"end-user requirements.\" In the early Seventies, when the computer profession experienced a wave of social responsibility, discussions emerged on \"humanizing\" systems [1]. More recent discussions on these issues describe ideal systems as people-oriented, convivial, or friendly [2]. Despite this attention to human factors there is relatively little systematic knowledge about what system features actually take human needs and desires into account, and, in this sense, are considerate.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127864204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review of \"The tracker: a threat to statistical database security, by D. E. Denning, P. J. Denning, and M. D. Schwartz\", ACM Trans. Database Systems, 1979","authors":"J. Belzer","doi":"10.1145/1103009.1103012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103009.1103012","url":null,"abstract":"The authors point out that queries to the system compute raw statistics for a query set. Questioners with prior knowledge of a given individual can divide their queries into parts such that when reassembled into a special characteristic, formulas will isolate the proprietary information about the individual. These formulas are called trackers, The paper reviews the literature on the extent and limits of trackers, provides excellent information to show how they can extract individualized information and so subvert the confidentiality of database files. The paper also reviews individual trackers and defines ranges within which they work, and shows how statistical responses to queries do compromise confidentiality of information, positively or negatively; positively if the individual falls into the given category and negatively if not. The authors then proceed to develop a general tracker and show how it can be applied within restricted subranges to extract individualized information. Under conditions where this fails, they show how a double tracker can be used. In general, trackers for most statistical database systems exist within the database, or can be easily obtained, thereby compromising the confidentiality of the data.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130204960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}