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Essays
I have entitled this section "essays" as opposed to publications
even though some of them have in fact been published. These are mainly pieces
that reflect whatever I happened to have on my mind at the time. Therefore the style
tends to be less formal and rigorous than an article intended
for journal or conference publication.
Perhaps you will find some of them thought-provoking.
Essays
Should You Be Teaching Artificial
Intelligence?
Sometime in the early 1990s was invited to give a lecture in Munich to a
congress of high school teachers. I decided to talk about a subject that was
much in the news at the time – artificial intelligence – and consider the issue
of whether this subject could or should have a place in a high school
curriculum. I took the opportunity to explore some of the more interesting
questions that were being debated both in engineering and philosophical circles
at the time. It became the basis for the first Viareggio lecture.
The Computer Programming columns
I wrote a number of columns
for the Italian edition of the trade journal Computer Programming. Most
of them dealt in some way with topics related to agile methods, and
some are more informal discussions of themes from the
published articles and other current literature. The original Italian versions can be downloaded from the
site of the publisher (http://www.infomedia.it).
Here are some English versions.
A Quiet Revolution in
Requirements Management
An expanded, more informal discussion of the agile approach to requirements
management outlined in the IEEE
Software column.
The Empowered Programmer
A general introduction to some of the most important characteristics of agile
methods, with a discussion of the central role of the individual programmer.
The Agile Theater
Surprising but true: software engineers can learn a lot from improvisational
theater. Written together with a professional theater director and
communications consultant.
The Next Economy
What has happened when previous economic revolutions have ended? Interesting
ideas about what's in store for the Information Revolution from Thomas
Fischermann by way of Paul Erdman.
The Prophet Alexander
Why is the father of design patterns so controversial in his own community?
Reflections on a conversation with my architect brother.
The Piranha Pond
A well-functioning software project can resemble a pond full of piranha. Here's
how.
The Anglo-Italian Club of Viareggio lectures
Viareggio is a resort town about fifteen kilometers up the
coast from Pisa. The Anglo-Italian Club of Viareggio brings together people
from the area who like to speak and hear English. Many of them are teachers;
some are retired; some are students; and few are computer experts. Since 1992 I have given a
(mostly) yearly lecture to the
Club on some aspect of Information Technology. .As anybody knows who has
ever had to give a lecture on IT for non-experts, it can be a greater
challenge than a lecture for professionals.
Here are many of the lectures I've given over the years. The
contents of most will be well-known to IT professionals; in fact, some are so dated now that
their main value is nostalgic: it is fun to look back at what we
were thinking in those days. But some of the topics might be unfamiliar - if so, I hope you enjoy learning about them as much as I did.
Artificial Intelligence
The first lecture, in late 1992. Gathered together many of the principal
arguments swirling around in the field of artificial intelligence at the time.
Chaos: The Mathematical Beauty of Nature
First given in 1993, when fractals and the Butterfly Effect had not yet
entered the common vocabulary. This was the topic that most captured the
imagination of the
audience (who doesn't find fractals fascinating?), so I gave it a second time in
2002. This is the updated 2002 version.
The Information Superhighway
Written in 1994, just as the Internet mania was about to begin in earnest. It's
amazing how many of the things we take for granted today were so new even a few
years ago.
The World in Your Computer: Geographic
Information Systems
Including a story of Leonardo in some Machiavellian mischief.
Virtual Reality
From Toy Story to Plato's cave, the state of virtual reality in early
1997.
The Internet Music Revolution
MP3, Napster, e-novels by Stephen King, it was all just beginning then.
Slightly Out of Tune: The Story of
Musical Temperament
Inspired by a birthday gift from a brother, a book by Stuart Isacoff.
Nineteen Eighty-Four: Twenty Years
Later
In 1984 I co-authored a series of television shows in Germany on the state
of computer technology in the Orwellian year.
The Online Auction Phenomenon
Want to get rid of something? Sell it in an online auction, whether it's the
World Bank or your mother-in-law. The 2005 lecture.
The Rise of Virtual Internet
Communities
Wikipedia, open source, orkut - we're all connected now in 2006.
You Too! The Rise of Internet
Video
It's all about You in 2007.
Get a Life - A Second Life
Virtual worlds and avatars in 2008.
The Blogosphere
.Was 2009 the year in which the epitaph for mainstream printed journalism
was written?
The Crowd: Wisdom or Madness?
.Collective intelligence, financial disasters, geosocial networking in 2010.
The Vodka Was Great (but the Meat was
Rotten)
.Natural language processing in 2011, the year computers beat humans at
their own game.
Innovation
.An icon has died and the world looks to innovation for salvation in 2012. | 
