Our Top Three Reads of May

Welcome to the 6th edition of Advances in Computing, a biweekly newsletter series presenting exciting research, viewpoints, and more from leading computing experts around the globe, handpicked for you by ACM's flagship magazine, Communications of the ACM (CACM). Curious what we are reading this May? Hit the subscribe button and scroll down!

Happy reading,

ACM

Recommended Reads:

1) Computer Vision, ML, and AI in the Study of Fine Art

Artworks pose several profound problems that require sophisticated methods beyond those in traditional digital humanities. These represent a grand challenge to AI, well beyond what is generally addressed in research in digital humanities programs and even mainstream artificial intelligence.

First, the article offers an example of how computer image analysis can help art scholars by expanding traditional non-automatic approaches. Then, we refer to some debates and issues in art scholarship that have been aided significantly—and in some cases solved—thanks in large part to computer methods. The article then turns to broad problems in image-based intelligence that arise in art analysis that are inadequately addressed by mainstream AI research and hence present great opportunities for research. The article concludes with thoughts about future directions. Check it out here.

2) Resistance Is Your Friend

You work hard to propose something of demonstrable benefit to your clients or community and their first inclination is to resist it. Logical arguments do not change their minds. Optimists unhelpfully tell you to keep your chin up because resistance signifies you are doing something important. You start to wonder if anyone takes you seriously. Resistance is so common and intractable that it has a name: Valley of Death. Everyone wishes you good luck in getting through it alive. What is the story about resistance?

The most strenuous resistance arrives as you implement the innovation rather when you merely propose it. Implementation asks people to commit to the new practice whereas proposals only ask them to consider it. Resistance to adoption is a social issue, not a management or production failure. Overcoming resistance is a social skill. Learn how to master it here.

3) The Return of Age Verification Laws

The most significant legal case in the history of the Internet is the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, which held that a federal law against online indecency was unconstitutional. Reno was one of the earliest truly “Internet” cases, and it established two foundational precedents.

First, adults have a First Amendment right to speak and listen to each other, even if some of that speech is indecent, offensive, or unsuitable for children. Second, Internet services are not responsible for verifying the ages of their users, even if some children manage to see speech meant for adults. For years, these propositions were so deeply woven into the fabric of Internet law that they were often simply taken for granted.

But times change, and we are now living through the most eventful era in Internet law since the 1990s. The post-Reno consensus around how the First Amendment applies online may be unraveling. In this column, the author James Grimmelmann will start by looking at a new wave of U.S. state laws that explicitly require age verification. Follow the story here.

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