Newsletter Volume 31 Issue 1, Jan 2019
From The Editor
As we move into 2019, a 24/01/2019 article in The Mandarin summarises the most effective public policy and practice nudges of 2018, e.g. “A teachable moment doesn’t have to arise naturally; even a simulated one helped make British police officers 21% less likely to be hooked by a phishing email, in one of a series of behavioural nudges tested in 2018.” See below, The most effective public policy and practice nudges of 2018.
“Democratizing data science is the notion that anyone, with little to no expertise, can do data science if provided ample data and user-friendly analytics tools. Supporting that idea, the new tool ingests datasets and generates sophisticated statistical models typically used by experts to analyze, interpret, and predict underlying patterns in data.” So says a 15 January 2019 ScienceDaily article from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which notes that “Researchers are hoping to advance the democratization of data science with a new tool for nonstatisticians that automatically generates models for analyzing raw data.” See below, DIY with IoT.
The DIY with IoT article also notes, in the context of occupational health and safety (OHS), that many organisations take the wrong approach to implementing digital technology. It seems the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) administration of the Biometric Identification Service (BIS) project also took the wrong approach. The 21 January 2019 Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Report notes that “While CrimTrac’s management of the BIS procurement process was largely effective, the subsequent administration of the BIS project by CrimTrac and ACIC was deficient in almost every significant respect.” See below, The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Administration of the Biometric Identification Services Project, for the Summary and link to the full ANAO Report.
Apart from deficiencies caused by human misunderstandings, are we exposed to risk from artificial intelligence (AI) misunderstandings? A January 25, 2019 article in The Conversation says that the current Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) “is already problematic and the next generation, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will have advanced computational powers and human level intelligence. AGI systems will be able to learn, solve problems, adapt and self-improve. They will even do tasks beyond those they were designed for. Importantly, their rate of improvement could be exponential as they become far more advanced than their human creators. The introduction of AGI could quickly bring about Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI).” See below, To protect us from the risks of advanced artificial intelligence, we need to act now.
Current Issue
Articles in the current Issue cover:
The most effective public policy and practice nudges of 2018
Here in Australia, applications for rural teaching jobs tripled from 4.2% to 12.6% when a paper application form was replaced by a quicker and easier online version and combined with several other types of nudges known to be effective.
DIY with IoT
“Ultimately, the tool addresses a bottleneck in the data science field… There is a widely recognized shortage of people who understand how to model data well. This is a problem in governments, the nonprofit sector, and places where people can’t afford data scientists.”.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Administration of the Biometric Identification Services Project
“ The findings from this audit provide a range of learnings for other government departments managing technical bespoke procurement, which contains inherent risks due to its complexity or untested suitability.”
To protect us from the risks of advanced artificial intelligence, we need to act now
“Risks will emerge from the fact that super-intelligent systems will identify more efficient ways of doing things, concoct their own strategies for achieving goals, and even develop goals of their own..”
QESP Blog
AI in 2019.
Posted this youtube video on Dec 31, 2018
2018 has been an eventful year for AI to say the least! We’ve seen advances in generative models, the AlphaGo victory, several data breach scandals, and so much more. I’m going to briefly review AI in 2018 before giving 10 predictions on where the space is going in 2019. Prepare yourself, my predictions range from more Kubernetes infused ML pipelines to the first business use case of generative modeling of 3D worlds. Happy New Year and enjoy! AI in 2019
Events
QESP/ACS BLOCKCHAIN WORKSHOP Sydney
Thursday, 14th of March. 6pm to 9pm, at the Swissotel, 68 Market Street Sydney.
Blockchain expertise captured the No. 1 position on the latest skills index by Upwork for being the hottest in the U.S. job market (Forbes). In Australia, Blockchain was one of the factors whereby ACS became the first professional association in the ICT sector to be admitted as a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in September 2018, and multiple incubators and accelerators developed and grew massively.
The Workshop is focused on use cases of the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies. We will answer questions about how to apply blockchain, why and “is it right for us?”.
The workshop will feature Keynote presentations by Blockchain experts, and a panel will answer questions from the audience.
The first Keynote presenter is Dr Liming Zhu, Research Director, Software and Computational Systems of the CSIRO and a Blockchain GURU, who has participated in many international forums. The second Keynote presenter is Steve Lennon, Digital Partner for Cognizant in Australia and NZ. He has been an active contributor with the IoT Association of Australia since its inception. His role covers the key digital technologies now impacting the business landscape, including IoT, data analytics, Blockchain, AR/MR, robotics, automation and 360? customer experience.
The 3rd Keynote presenter will be announced shortly.
Everyone interested in this new exciting area is welcome to participate, senior decision-makers from the public and private sectors, experts, students, academics and stakeholders in general.
For more details See the Abstract and Brochure Here.
Non Members: $40
QESP and ACS members: $20 – ACS Members can earn 2 CP Hours
Students or seniors: $20.
YOU CAN REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT NOW: Tickets are purchased through Eventbrite. Please
follow this link to purchase your ticket – Purchase Ticket
Quotes
Quote of the Day
I’m fascinated by the idea that genetics is digital. A gene is a long sequence of coded letters, like computer information. Modern biology is becoming very much a branch of information technology. Richard Dawkins
Quote from Yesteryear
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. Bill Gates
Ted Smillie
QESP Chair