CETPS: Books

Provocative, hopeful essays imagine a future that is not reduced to algorithms. What is human flourishing in an age of machine intelligence, when many claim that the world's most complex problems can be reduced to narrow technical questions? Does more computing make us more intelligent, or simply more computationally powerful? We need not always resist reduction; our ability to simplify helps us interpret complicated situations. The trick is to know when and how to do so. Against Reduction offers a collection of provocative and illuminating essays that consider different ways of recognizing and addressing the reduction in our approach to artificial intelligence, and ultimately to ourselves. Inspired by a widely read manifesto by Joi Ito that called for embracing the diversity and irreducibility of the world, these essays offer persuasive and compelling variations on resisting reduction. Among other things, the writers draw on indigenous epistemology to argue for an extended "circle of relationships" that includes the nonhuman and robotic; cast "Snow White" as a tale of AI featuring a smart mirror; point out the cisnormativity of security protocol algorithms; map the interconnecting networks of so-called noncommunicable disease; and consider the limits of moral mathematics. Taken together, they show that we should push back against some of the reduction around us and do whatever is in our power to work toward broader solutions.

This book presents contemporary empirical methods in software engineering related to the plurality of research methodologies, human factors, data collection and processing, aggregation and synthesis of evidence, and impact of software engineering research. The individual chapters discuss methods that impact the current evolution of empirical software engineering and form the backbone of future research.

Following an introductory chapter that outlines the background of and developments in empirical software engineering over the last 50 years and provides an overview of the subsequent contributions, the remainder of the book is divided into four parts: Study Strategies (including e.g. guidelines for surveys or design science); Data Collection, Production, and Analysis (highlighting approaches from e.g. data science, biometric measurement, and simulation-based studies); Knowledge Acquisition and Aggregation (highlighting literature research, threats to validity, and evidence aggregation); and Knowledge Transfer (discussing open science and knowledge transfer with industry).

Empirical methods like experimentation have become a powerful means of advancing the field of software engineering by providing scientific evidence on software development, operation, and maintenance, but also by supporting practitioners in their decision-making and learning processes. Thus the book is equally suitable for academics aiming to expand the field and for industrial researchers and practitioners looking for novel ways to check the validity of their assumptions and experiences.

Cybersecurity has traditionally been the purview of information technology professionals, who possess specialized knowledge and speak a language that few outside of their department can understand. In our current corporate landscape, however, cybersecurity awareness must be an organization-wide management competency in order to mitigate major threats to an organization’s well-being—and be prepared to act if the worst happens.

This book focuses on the development and implementation of cloud-based, complex software that allows parallelism, fast processing, and real-time connectivity. Software engineering (SE) is the design, development, testing, and implementation of software applications, and this discipline is as well developed as the practice is well established whereas the Cloud Software Engineering (CSE) is the design, development, testing, and continuous delivery of service-oriented software systems and applications (Software as a Service Paradigm). However, with the emergence of the highly attractive cloud computing (CC) paradigm, the tools and techniques for SE are changing. CC provides the latest software development environments and the necessary platforms relatively easily and inexpensively. It also allows the provision of software applications equally easily and on a pay-as-you-go basis. Business requirements for the use of software are also changing and there is a need for applications in big data analytics, parallel computing, AI, natural language processing, and biometrics, etc. These require huge amounts of computing power and sophisticated data management mechanisms, as well as device connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) environments. In terms of hardware, software, communication, and storage, CC is highly attractive for developing complex software that is rapidly becoming essential for all sectors of life, including commerce, health, education, and transportation.

The book fills a gap in the SE literature by providing scientific contributions from researchers and practitioners, focusing on frameworks, methodologies, applications, benefits and inherent challenges/barriers to engineering software using the CC paradigm.

As threats to the security of information pervade the fabric of everyday life, A Vulnerable System describes how, even as the demand for information security increases, the needs of society are not being met. The result is that the confidentiality of our personal data, the integrity of our elections, and the stability of foreign relations between countries are increasingly at risk. Andrew J. Stewart convincingly shows that emergency software patches and new security products cannot provide the solution to threats such as computer hacking, viruses, software vulnerabilities, and electronic spying. Profound underlying structural problems must first be understood, confronted, and then addressed. A Vulnerable System delivers a long view of the history of information security, beginning with the creation of the first digital computers during the Cold War. From the key institutions of the so-called military industrial complex in the 1950s to Silicon Valley start-ups in the 2020s, the relentless pursuit of new technologies has come at great cost. The absence of knowledge regarding the history of information security has caused the lessons of the past to be forsaken for the novelty of the present, and has led us to be collectively unable to meet the needs of the current day. From the very beginning of the information age, claims of secure systems have been crushed by practical reality. The myriad risks to technology, Stewart reveals, cannot be addressed without first understanding how we arrived at this moment. A Vulnerable System is an enlightening and sobering history of a topic that affects crucial aspects of our lives.