Natalia's IT Girls BLOG

Women Code Breakers: Elizebeth Friedman

Natalia Andreu / July 18th, 2022

Elizebeth S Friedman was a writer and a cryptanalyst. She was one of the pioneers in U.S. cryptology. She would bust smugglers during the Prohibition that were using cyphers to communicate. She helped crack the Shakespearean Ciphers. She broke up a Nazi spy ring across South America in the 1940s. She was recruited by Colonel George Fabyan in 1916 to work on his estate, in which they exploited and solved enciphered messages. Later, her and her husband would move to Washington, DC in 1921 to work for the War Department. She worked for the US Navy as a cryptanalyst in 1923. She later worked for the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of Prohibition and Bureau of Customs during the Prohibition, then worked for the International Monetary Fund after WWII.


Artificial Intelligence: Teachable Machines

Natalia Andreu / July 19th, 2022

What was built?

We built a machine that can tell the difference between a black cat, a calico cat, and a siberian cat.

(linked here: Which Cat is it? Teachable Machine )

Machine

How can I see artificial intelligence being used in another way?

I see artificial intelligence being used for medicine, where it can help identify and diagnose different diseases. However, this should still require human supervision just in case the AI makes an incorrect diagnosis.


Scavenger Hunt: The Dean's Office

Natalia Andreu / July 20th, 2022

We went to the dean's office and learned about how the department is responsible for recruitment, appointment, and retention of academic administrators, staff, and faculty. They oversee student life, student services, and on-campus activities. They are also responsible for fundraising. Technology is used so Syracuse University can stay relevant, and they sometimes use social media to promote the school. They also had to use digital platforms during the pandemic for remote learning.


My Favorite HTML Tutorial

Natalia Andreu / July 21st, 2022

This video below shows how to create a video tag in HTML. It's short but easy to understand.


What is Citizen Science?

Natalia Andreu / July 21st, 2022

Citizen science is scientific research conducted in part by amateur scientists. It is public participation in scientific research. Some things done are analyzing, experiments, collecting data, etc. It could be used to spread data more without having to worry about spending additional funding.

Citizen Science


Cybersecurity

Natalia Andreu / July 22nd, 2022

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, devices, systems, sensitive information, and data from access that isn't authorized, criminal use, and digital attacks. An example of a threat is phishing (posing as legitimate institution to lure people into providing data), which teaches us that we have to be careful and alert of suspicious emails/attachments. Another example of a threat is insider threat, where a malicious threat to an organization comes from people within the organization. It's important to know about because we have to do background checks on people before giving them access to sensitive information. I think that there will always be hackers, adjusting to the changes that people in cybersecurity may bring. There will probably be better cybersecurity, but hacking attempts could be more frequent and more dangerous. They will probably both improve at what they do.


Cybersecurity

Natalia Andreu / July 22nd, 2022

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, devices, systems, sensitive information, and data from access that isn't authorized, criminal use, and digital attacks. An example of a threat is phishing (posing as legitimate institution to lure people into providing data), which teaches us that we have to be careful and alert of suspicious emails/attachments. Another example of a threat is insider threat, where a malicious threat to an organization comes from people within the organization. It's important to know about because we have to do background checks on people before giving them access to sensitive information. I think that there will always be hackers, adjusting to the changes that people in cybersecurity may bring. There will probably be better cybersecurity, but hacking attempts could be more frequent and more dangerous. They will probably both improve at what they do.


Bias or Bust Activity

Natalia Andreu / July 25th, 2022

We had to defend or debunk an idea that a person had. We would use sources that applied to the biases of the person we were presenting our case to. We would use statistics and information we found on the internet to support our arguments.


What Makes a Chart Compelling?

Natalia Andreu / July 26th, 2022

Graph

This chart shows important events that happened throughout the year in 2017. It isn't too complicated or confusing, and the subjects that are popular are important, such as the Russia investigation and the Vegas shooting. A compelling chart is organized, it catches attention, and tells the truth.


AI Bias - Algorithmic Bias

Natalia Andreu / July 28th, 2022

Algorithmic bias are systematic and repeatable errors that create outcomes that are unfair. This would usually privilege a group of users over others. To prevent algorithmic bias from occurring, you could screen each algorithm for bias, basically debugging the algorithms. You could also establish structures/protocols for bias mitigation.