GRAICE Foundation Training Principles of Responsible AI Governance

I am pleased to share I have completed the GRAICE Foundation Training Principles of Responsible AI Governance and am certified for foundational competency in GRACIE, Humanity's Operating System for AI. 

GRAICE is a robust governance operating system geared toward instilling confidence and accountability in AI systems on a global scale. It has 6 foundational values, 7 operational pillars and a 3 teir assurance model. 

Introducing the Model for Responsible Innovation

The Responsible Technology Adoption Unit have published a model for responsible innovation as part of DSIT It looks at the practicalities of ethical risks associated with AI or data driven projects. This model has been tested over many years originally being built in 2021 by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.  Trustworthiness is at its heart with eight fundamentals areas that teams should strive for to build trust: 

• Transparency
• Accountability
• Human-centred value
• Fairness
• Privacy
• Safety
• Societal wellbeing

Read more here

Responsible Technology Adoption Unit Blog

Data Erudition

I have been thinking about data governance, Azure Purview and data research. How these areas link together and enable innovation, that democratisation of data and holistically thinking about data as a strategic asset. A combination of above in my diagram covers my thoughts.

A Summer Retrospective: a bygone era

A few weeks in rural France is just the place to contemplate life and take a step back into a bygone era. An era where there are no phones, no internet and no television. Life can quite easily pass you by and you could go for weeks not speaking to a sole. The fruit on the trees ripen in the orchard, the birds waiting for the perfect moment to swoop and eat the fruit. The roads are mostly empty with the occasional car or logging lorry passing by. Cycling is heaven with the roads to yourself.

This rural area, 214 million years ago, had all life within 300 miles of Rochechouart wiped out when a meteorite, around one of the 15 largest ever to come crashing down on earth. The geological signs of he creator are still present today. This bygone era was also rife with conflict. From the last battle of Richard the 1st - the Lionheart, who laid siege to the Chateau of Chalus-Chabrol, located at the border between Aquitaine and the French kingdom, to the hideouts in the forest of the Maquis du Limousin, who were one of the largest groups of French resistance fighters in the Second World War. The village of Oradour-sur-Glane remains an empty ruin as a memorial for the massacre of its inhabitants.

In this backdrop, technology seems a lifetime away. I can't stress enough the tremendous benefits of taking a technological break for your mental health. You can dream and innovative without the interruption of everyday life.

The age of cloud computing, big data and the algorithm requires a 360-degree perspective. A socio-technical perspective is critical. Reflecting on the changes to the earth, made to this unique landscape from space, you realize that data is in the environment. It is not possible to be an expert in all areas as data is the environment. Data is history, is in the maps, is used in conflict resolution and is used for impact analysis. Data is completely inseparable from life and it drives life, not only business. The  choice of tools available help you navigate through data are vast.

The question is can one truly ever master the entirety of life. Data is life, the past, the present and the future. To truly be a master it requires collaboration, communication and control, as data weaves its interconnected complexity throughout life. A holistic view of this diverse scientific area is required to provide a sustainable future. There is no one best practice that can help navigate this web of graph vertices and edges.

To that end I summise that taking a technological break enables the mind to contemplate and blue sky thinking roam free. Happy Summer break. 

2021 The year of hope and change

Happy New Year. It is 2021 already with a sense of hope.  The dawn of a new year brings excitement of what lays ahead and what changes we will bring into our lives. The world has changed in incomprehensible ways and i'm not sure it will ever go back to the way it was. A sense of family and local community connectedness has grown throughout last year and I hope this is a positive out of the dark days. A great sense that ripples around us is that protecting the environment should be a core of our everyday lives.  

Whilst we have a difficult few months ahead there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

I watched an inspirational film over Christmas Hidden Figures (2016). I hadn't seen it before. It was about an African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race from a book by Margot Lee Shetterly. I must read the book. 

I wish everyone a safe, healthy and prosperous new year. 

Microsoft Ignite 2020 - digital event

 It is exciting to see  Microsoft Ignite be a digital event experience on September 22-24, 2020. Despite this being a strange year the 

The sessions catalog is here.The catalog contains some amazinf learning experiences. The session Building Digital Resilience with Satya Nadella will be an interesting session to watch. I find Satya Nadella such an inspirational speaker.

Have you completed your event list?

🗹 Register 🗹 Download Digital Swag 🗹 Schedule sessions 🗹 Schedule Fun & Wellness breaks 🗹 Get favorite comfy outfit

The Future of Tech

I enjoyed watching this The Future of Tech session, with Kevin Scott and guests at Microsoft Build. The session discusses advances in large scale models for natural language generation and AI on the intelligent edge among other things. Watch it here

Rainbows of the new world

I have been working at home since mid March, living in a world that doesn't seem real. The pandemic has changed the world we live in currently. We have homes full of family, or none at all, we shop for those needing to be shielded and those selfless brave NHS staff, carers, shop worker, rubbish collectors and all, still work everyday to help the people with essential services.

This is a new age where an opportunity awaits for us to improve our lives. Many of us have been enforced into a social experiment which has shown working from home is possible with new tools that exist. Also saving the planet became possible without all the car emissions created by people travelling to work and delivering children to school by car. Our local communities became more connected and peoples started walking round their local areas.

Putting the planet and our health first is crucial to our survival. The need for urban parks and gardens has increased within cities for people mental health. With the windows full of rainbows, it has given hope and activity. Open air trim trails, local heritage trails and outside museums could help keep learning fresh.

We are seeing the need for a connected world by default and the major upgrade of internet services enables a rapid transition to the cloud services for business and home life. Cyber protection is required more than ever in this diverse world. Self driving cars and robots have the potential to increase deliveries to the door. Investment in health and AI for health has never been higher.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is fast approaching. It is celebrated on 8 March every year. It is a celebration of women globally. It is a chance to network, be inspired and share your stories to empower each other.

The Official UN theme for 2019 is Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change. The theme will focus on innovative ways to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure.

I am excited to be contributing to a webinar for International Women's Day 2019. The webinar discussed women's roles in the field of technology.

Azure Cloud Collaboration Center

In May Microsoft in Redmond shared the news of their Azure Cloud Collaboration Center. This facility is a first of its kind. The Cloud Collaboration Center space shows customers a snapshot of what is happening with their data 24/7 and enables real-time troubleshooting of issues by multiple teams simultaneously from across the organization.  It combines innovation and scale to address operational issues and unexpected events in order to drive new levels of customer responsiveness, security and efficiency. 

It is great to see a space for correlation of information with the possibility to pull the data up on individual workstations. I think this kind of collaboration is great news for customers.

Data Story Telling Booklet and Video

Story telling is an important facet when working with data. Whilst I was working on my research PhD, I thought it was important to share the main stages of my research.  The storyboard is shared as two resources. These are:

A PhD storyboard booklet
A collated storyboard video

More research articles see http://sqltoolkit.co.uk/

Innovative Designs for Innovative Thinking

These Spheres in Seattle will be home of a botanical garden, waterfalls, a river and tree-house like. They are disruptive, pioneering and futuristic to let Amazonians break free for innovative thinking. What an amazingly cool idea.