Erica Williams / July 28th, 2022
Today in class we learned about different biases in AI. Biases in AI range all the way from how face identification recognition works to hiring tools to google image searches. For example, amazon was busted for using a biased hiring technique that favored men over women. This is because the software was trained to look for applicants that resembled some of amazon's most successful workers. Since the most successful workers at amazon tended to be white, male workers, the algorithm would instantly look down upon resumes that included the word woman. Since then though, this algorithm has been taken down and they are now working on making the field more inclusive. Hiring processes need to be trained to look at an applicant as a whole and not make immediate decisions just based on someone's sex or race.
Erica Williams / July 26th, 2022
What makes a chart compelling? That's what I will be discussing with you today. Compelling charts tend to tell a story. They will also probably include narrative structure and visual narratives to bring viewers in. Some of these elements include visual structure, highlighting, transition guidance, imagery, and messaging. These all help people easily follow along in a chart.
Part of what we had to do in class today included looking through a few charts and picking ones that we found compelling. The one that caught my eye the most showed an image of the world split up into seven sections of one billion people. This chart called out to me because it was so interesting to see how three out of seven continents combined (North America, South America, and Australia) had the same amount of people as not even one entire country (India). The entirety of Europe is also smaller than India, which is just outstanding. This really shows how much parts of our world are overpopulated compared to others. This overpopulation also leads to a load of other problems, including why we might see these areas of the world being more underdeveloped. To me, this chart was very to understand, and all the different colors definitely helped when catching my eye. A picture of this specific chart us attached below for everyone to check out.
I also created my own chart using data about rural vs. urban population spread in the world. If you would like to check that out you can click this link!
'The World is Divided Into 7 Regions, Each With a Population of 1 Billion' chart:
Erica Williams / July 25th, 2022
Today in class, we did played a game called 'Bias or Bust'. It was a game that helped us learn how to analyze our sources of bias. We were divided into two teams, Team Defend and Team Debunk. We had to defend or debunk different statements that were provided to us by presenting different sources. One example is we had to convince a five year old kid if the Earth was flat or round. Another one was convincing a college stundet if they should stay in America for college or go to Australia.
We tailored our statements based on who we were talking to. When we were talking to a five year old kid, we used pictures because that's what a kid would understand. However for a college student, we were able to use sources that had explanations they would understand. Different news sources were able to help us with this because we were able to bring up statistics from surveys or reports.
It was really cool learning about all the different types of biases and I realized I didn't even know about some biases that I naturally have.
Erica Williams / July 22nd, 2022
Today we had a speaker come in and tell us a little about cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. It ensures networks, devices, critical systems, sensitive information, data, and more is protected from certain threats. A few threats cybersecurity fights include phishing, data leaks, and ID theft. Going into a little more detail, phishing is is when targets are contacted by email, phone, or text message by someone posing as a legitamite institution to get people to release sensitive information. Data leaks and ID theft on the other hand are more self explainatory.
I see the field of cybersecurity expanding in the future, especially as we see continue to see how widely technology is growing. New types of technology means new threats that will need to be combatted. I think the systems and skills used when it comes to cybersecurity will improve in the near future but coming with that is the improvement of the skills hackers possess. The threats we see today aren't threats people predicted would occur years ago, so I think the same circle will continue into the future. Threats come out of nowhere and we always need to be on the lookout for it. In the meantime, keep fighting cybercrime!
Erica Williams / July 21st, 2022
In class today we learned about Citizen Science and the work citizen scientists do. Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through citizen science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs. We were split into groups and had to create a pesentation about an existing or new citizen science project. My partner and I did ours on a project about solar jets that shoot off of the sun called Solar Jet Hunters. Summarizing the project, an organization has been collecting data on these solar jets, but the technology isn't always that accurate so the citizen scientist come in and find their own solar jets in hopes of finding more efficient technology for data analysis. It was really cool to learn about. We used the website Zooniverse to find out about our project, which is a website that people can post about their projects and others can join in.
If you want to join a citizen science project of your own, click this link to explore!
Erica Williams / July 21st, 2022
The video below gives an up to date tutorial on developing a website, from design
principles to using different databases. The video is great for beginners or experts
trying to brush up on their skills. Check it out!
Erica Williams / July 20th, 2022
Today everyone participated in a scavenger hunt around campus. For the hunt, we were split into groups of two or three and we had to go around campus interviewing different people in different departments about how they use technology and data in their careers. My personal favorite interview was with Mike McGrath, an admissions officer for the college. He recongized me from the college prep workshop he held the day before and I felt that we were able to have a good conversation. In his department, they get lots of data for all the different students applying, and they use updated technology to be able to shift through all the data. He also mentioned how they use technology from years and years ago to improve their current systems. It really shows how technology is full circle.
Erica Williams / July 19th, 2022
Today in class we were tasked with creating a teachable machine that could accomplish a goal. We used the site 'Teachable Machine', which is a form of Machine Learning (a subsection of AI). In the teachable machine, the computer is able to recognize different images, poses, and audios and is able to tell the difference between all of them.
For my specific project, me and my partner Sophia decided to create a teachable machine with the goal of reading different people's emotions. We were able to track the emotions happy, sad, angry, shocked, thoughtful, and nuetral.
Click this link to check out the project
Outside of teachable machine, I think AI can be used for a multitude of things. One simple example is how when your typing out a message sometimes the phone suggests words to finish your statement based on previous messages you've typed. Another example is speech recognition. AI can also be used for more complicated objectives like navigating Mars.
Siri is a type of AI:
Erica Williams / July 19th, 2022
Elizebeth Smith Friedman was an American expert cryptanalyst and author who deciphered enemy codes in both World Wars. She is also known for helping solve international smuggling cases during Prohibition. Her career in the workforce lasted from 1916 and carried on throughout 1971 when she retired. Over the course of her career, she worked for the United States Treasury, Coast Guard, Navy, Army, and the International Monetary Fund. She has been called "America's first female cryptanalyst”.
