ITP Pānui - power consumption, big tech media laws, and government websites
Kia ora koutou ITP members and supporters. I was asked yesterday why the government are allowing new data centres to be constructed in the North Island so far away from our primary electricity generation sources, when it would seem infinitely sensible for them to be located closer to our hydro generation saving the cost and losses of bring electricity north via the national grid and HVDC link. Good question.
While researching that point I found this fascinating article from the BBC - Future data centres may have build-in nuclear reactors - which explains the increasing electricity demands data centres need for AI processing. "A normal data centre needs 32 megawatts of power flowing into the building. For an AI data centre it's 80 megawatts," The crux of the article discusses how AI can grow capacity wise, when it requires so much power to function? Which leads to another question, are the new data centres being commissioned in Aotearoa being built in such a way our future compute needs will be accommodated? It seems the majority are being built in Auckland with one commissioned by the government inside a military base. There is hope however, one data centre is being built in Southland for all of the above mentioned reasons and bringing investment to the regions at the same time.
More on jobs - many of you have been in touch about government projects ending your contracts at the shortest notice possible, DIA, FENZ, Corrections, MBIE to name a few. I am continuing to hear that times are challenging here in Wellington. Keen to discuss how we can pull together to support each other? I will organise an online hui before the end of the month, just drop us a line if you are interested in this [email protected]
Blogs this week
Peter’s Editorial this week is on - News bargaining bill should mirror Aussie deal - and opens with the statement “There’s something in my being that has an allergic reaction to our media industry’s current demands for Big Tech companies to pay them to feature links to their content on their social media platforms and search engines.” A gem of an editorial today. Essentially Peter explores “The media layoffs will continue this year. At the end of the day, someone will have to pay to stop the decline.” If you haven't been following the select committee to date it's an interesting first test for the new government.
Another benchmark that doesn’t paint the New Zealand government in the best light. Our public sector website performance needs work, Adobe - Peter has summarised their insights describing government websites strengths and weaknesses and how Adobe gave us a score of 59.2 out of 100, up from 58 in 2022. Lots of great messaging in there for Minister Judith Collins, Minister of Digital Government, to focus on.
Cybercriminals are creating their own AI chatbots to support hacking and scam users - is our guest blog this week. A reminder of how Gen AI is being used for good and for bad purposes. Some of it is common sense like “Avoid sharing sensitive or private information with ChatGPT and LLMs more generally. Also, remember that AI tools are not perfect and may provide inaccurate responses.” Also some great insights into how large language models are being used for wholesale phishing scams.
Reminder - Are we using AI yet survey - will take you 3 mins to complete max
Bridging the Gap Podcast
Our first episode for 2024 is with Avi de Silva, such a great conversation about how much Avi loves working in tech, mentoring and volunteering, his transition to leadership and passion for others to join this amazing industry. You can listen to Avi on Spotify and Apple podcast platforms. Links to all of our great episodes so far can be found here.
Events
Tech Won’t Fix the Climate Crisis - an evening with Paris Marx in Auckland, this Sunday 18th February. You can register here. Paris Marx is a Canadian tech critic, author, and host of the award-winning podcast, Tech Won’t Save Us – at this event he will guide us through the issues around the technological push for climate crisis solutions, the intersection with politics, and where real change will come from.
Lots of ITP Events coming up in March
Fireside Chat with Kendra Ross - as scheduled in 2023, Kendra and I will be talking about all things Cyber Security, advice for the new Government and Ministers and what she thinks of our Cyber preparedness as a nation. Online, all welcome Wednesday 13th March at 4:30pm.
Networking in Auckland - in person at the GridAKL on 21 March at 5:30pm, an opportunity to welcome students and colleagues to the new year, lots of great speakers and opportunities to chat.
For ITP members only - Tech Chat Tuesdays are back starting on March 5th, online at 12:30, come along and have a discussion on topical issues. Register here.
ITP Members in Wellington - we had a great Third Thursday coffee catchup on my sunny office yesterday, coffee AND cake, interesting discussions and great networking. Next Third Thursday will be March 21st at 10am. Details here.
Next week I will be able to tell you about our exciting plans for ITx the ITP national conference - watch this space! yay.
Digital Technology in the news
Big transformation projects in Aotearoa in the news:
Two articles from the Spinoff that caught my eye this week:
Tech Talk - BlueSky
The ITP Team had a social media platforms discussion late last year and decided we were no longer going to hold a presence on X opting instead to move to BlueSky - ITP’s profile.
Our rationale for this was twofold - on one hand BlueSky’s decentralised model, transparency on data ownership and privacy and on the other hand our values as a team no longer align with the direction X has taken in recent times.
Wondering what I am talking about? Thanks ChatGPT for this explanation of what is BlueSky -
BlueSky is a decentralized social media protocol, initially proposed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, which has evolved into a functional app with over 2 million users as of late 2023. The platform, initially by invitation only, is set to introduce a public web interface, allowing non-users to view content. Additionally, BlueSky is planning to implement federation early this year, aiming to decentralize data storage across various servers. This approach will enable users to maintain control over their content and connections, even if they switch platforms or a service shuts down, making the network more resilient and user-centric.
Brendan reflects on his own experience leaving X and moving to BlueSky in todays cartoon - Into the Blue
Finally
Reminder - Are we using AI yet survey - will take you 3 mins to complete max
Something to make your heart sing this Friday! Shanon and the fabulous team at Tōnui Collab recently ran a hands on Robotics Expo for ākonga (learners) in their region Te Tai Rāwhiti (Gisborne) and produced this amazing video. Love seeing Kate from DFA’s face when she connects with tamariki like this. Looks like it was a fantastic day - ka pai. Have a great weekend. Vic
