Kia ora koutou ITP members and supporters, I am writing this pānui on the train into Wellington this morning, 5G coverage is sketchy on the Kapiti line so reading and writing offline are the go-to work activity for my train travel. In the reading pile today is the UN resolution UN SSE A/77/L.60 passed overnight, non-binding but really important in so much as it encourages NZ as a member state to recognise the value of the "social and solidarity economy” - very yay. Also on the reading list for me today was “Social Media is doomed to die” (didn’t quite finish this one), and how Michael Schumacher’s whānau are suing over a fake AI generated interview. 

Skills and talent

One of the projects I am working on right now is creation of a coordinating framework and body across the busy, extensive and highly fragmented skills and talent space. Last week we held a hui of the many government agencies involved in education and pathways into the workforce mahi from a digital technology lens, which served as a great communication and collaboration opportunity vehicle. You’d be surprised at just how much activity is in flight, the level of unintended duplication of effort, the fragments who are off on a new tangent all together, so it’s great to be able to brings us onto the same page. 

Speaking of skills and talent. I learned in an early morning hui tody with the SFIA Foundation they are mapping SFIA  (the Skills Framework for the Information Age) to the Cyber Security workforce framework NICE the Cyber Security workforce mapping framework. It will be great to have Cyber roles mapped ready for position descriptions and level progressions mapped for career progression.  

A lovely eagle eyed person shared the Scottish Skills Action Plan with me earlier in the week. It’s great to see the alignment with our own Skills and Talent Plan here in Aoteaora NZ. Skip to page 42 which is where their Priority Actions segment starts, I will be following up with their Digital Economy Skills Group (similar the model we are creating here in NZ as mentioned above) to find out what level of government funding and resource has been committed to these strategic priorities.  

Mission Ready are offering 40 x Inspire Scholarships for Māori and Pacifica learners to join their May Software Developer Accelerator. You can read all about their Scholarships and the Accelerator programme following the same link. 

Procurement consultation

The NZ Government is consulting on the future of government procurement with two opportunities to get involved - Co-Lab workshops and a consultation document. Earlier this morning I posted a link to my blog with all the info and the why we should care about this stuff and think one of the responses is worth repeating - “we should care because it’s our money as taxpayers”. Call to action folks, respond to this process, help create a fair, inclusive and transparent procurement system NZ companies (especially Māori and Pacifica owned) can participate in. 

Speak up, even if your voice shakes

London School of Business, Little Blue Book - Speak Out on bullying, sexism, harassment of women and individuals who identify as women. With a tagline of “Speak up, even if your voice shakes” this publication full of scenarios women face and tactics on how to respond. I love love love this publication, it’s simple to follow and contains empowering content. Well worth a read and useful for anyone who finds themselves being bullied or harassed in the workplace. 

AI Blogs this week 

Another AI themed week. Peter’s editorial is pretty complimentary of Bard and ChatGPT’s capabilities, he talks about Elon Musk threatening to sue Microsoft and the calls for copyright law reform coming from Big Tech.  “Copyright protection is looming large as a seminal issue to deal with as the AI revolution begins in earnest.”

Brendan also picked up on that thread this week with this great cartoon flexibility. 

Will AI ever reach human-level intelligence? We asked 5 experts. 

Microsoft’s Vasu Jakkal: AI will transform cybersecurity - and tackle the cyber skills shortage

My excessive use of Siri while driving this last week led to this blog post on Voice Search, why we need to optimise our websites for it and how it differs from text search. 

Finally 

Thank you to everyone who sent me kind thoughts and your own horrendous experiences with the health system (after I shared my own in last weeks pānui) my mother-in-law is vastly improving and we have finally taken her home from hospital so far less driving and Siri use for me. 

Someone taught me how to say “you are on mute” in Te Reo Māori earlier this week, “Kua ngū tō reo”  or “whakaarahia tō reo” is unmute yourself. I can see these being very useful. Kia pai tō rā - have a great day. Vic