Panui 27th October
Fakamālo atu kia te koutou uma, greetings ITP members and supporters. It’s Tokelau language week and the very cool language card from MPP includes the phrase for it’s gym time, Taimi o te koleni!
In amazing and somewhat surprising news this week “Pope Francis encourages more children to code” the "Code with Pope" initiative is designed to bridge "the glaring disparities in education" across the globe - how awesome is this. The team behind the initiative are focused on teaching python via a free online platform for students aged 11-15 in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Luckily we have great free python resources here in Aotearoa already or we might feel like we are missing out.
Other news that caught my eye this week was learning that 33 states in the USA are suing Meta over the dangers of Instagram for young people, "Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens," according to the complaint filed in the Oakland, California federal court. "Its motive is profit." Specifically the lawsuit talks about "depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes." In my podcast I ask the question doom scroll or shut it all down, most people have said they do a bit of both which rings true for me as well but we are adults who have not had lifelong exposure to technology like this and (for the most part) understand the implications of doom scrolling. It’s not just Meta being sued, YouTube (Google) and TikTok are also subject to similar suits. Upshot here is society faces a range of technology challenges, many with terrible consequences. We need to address the impacts on young people and if these lawsuits go some way to ensuring age-appropriate solutions can be developed then they are a good step forward.
Reminder to ITP members - our AGM will be held this coming Tuesday 31st at 4pm, it will be short and focus on the strategy for ITP moving forward. If you haven’t already you can register here. Thank you to everyone who voted in our recent election as well.
Lunch and Learn
I thoroughly enjoyed our first lunch and learn last week - All about Insurance - where Jake and I discuss the basics of liability insurances, why contractors, consultants and small businesses need this kind of cover and have a few side discussions on the wider insurance landscape here in Aotearoa, fascinating stuff. If you didn’t manage to join the webinar you can watch it here.
Advice for the incoming government on Cyber Security
Kendra Ross will be joining me for a Fireside Chat on Wednesday 22nd of November where we will discuss all things Cyber Security, the recent changes to CERT and other aspects of the government cyber system. It will also be timely for us to discuss what the incoming government should be considering in the cyber space.
You can register for this event here.
Emily Blythe and I are just trying to firm up a date for us to discuss her Kiwibank award, success as an entrepreneur and the role of mentors in her life. So watch this space for this Fireside chat in November.
Blogs this week
Brendan’s cartoon this week focuses on X’s decision to charge new accounts created in Aotearoa - Not a Lot.
Peter’s editorial today talks about two topics - The crunch coming for consultants and the recent boost in digital advertising for the big tech companies. Consultants crunch, digital ads boost Big Tech. Peter talks about enjoying the lull in political media coverage but warns us of the first 100 day changes National / Act plan to bring in which will impact the workforce of the New Zealand government and inevitably impact contractors and consultants along the way. He refers to a LinkedIN post suggesting the cutting could focus on the Big 4 first.
Earlier in the week Peter wrote - NZ researchers propose framework to bridge gap between AI principles and governance - an initiative led by former chief science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman. The proposal is to develop a framework to evaluate artificial intelligence as part of the International Science Council submission to the AI Safety Summit. There should be some great papers coming out of that event.
Our guest blog this week - Quantum computers in 2023: how they work, what they do, and where they’re heading - is a great piece describing the basics (what is Quantum computing), why Quantum computing matters, the current landscape, some technology terms and then leads into the where this technology will take us in the future. A great read.
My AI wrap today covers a couple of really great articles, Gartner’s latest top 10 strategic technology trends which are dominated by AI which also includes a summary of their strategic predictions. Plus a great concept A day in the life of AI. I’m planning to map my own interactions with AI one day next week to see how much this technology has breached into my own life. Lots of other interesting AI news as well to catchup on in the wrap.
Connecting those needing and providing digital support in Aotearoa
DECA (the Digital Equity Coalition Aoteaora) is looking to connect those in need of digital technology support with those who can provide it. If you know of a community group or initiative, small business or whānau in need of digital tech support - or if you are involved with an organisation who provides support in this space, then please complete this form.
Other Tech news this week
Have I mentioned I’ve been on holiday? just rubbing it in. It also means I haven’t done much reading so less news to share than usual:
Bridging the Gap podcast
Recording will resume for the podcast next week - yay, I love meeting people and learning about their roles and career choices and the fact that our industry is just so diverse. We have had a request for publication on an open source platform so will release for this next week as well.
If you don't have 20 minutes to listen to the full episode or you're not a podcast person, check out this short clip with Raj explaining what it means to be in the life changing business! the way he describes his role.
You can listen to Bridging the Gap eposides on Spotify or Apple.
Digital Technology Te Reo terms
This week was inspired by tech I needed on holiday. Here is a link to the full list of terms we have shared this year.
ahokore - wifi
rākau pūmahara - memory stick
papa pātuhi - keyboard
Tofa koutou, I hope you have all enjoyed this short week! Vic
