ANU Computer Interns Available

Greetings from Canberra Innovation Network's First Wednesday pitch night. I am here to let people know the Australian National University has computer interns needing placements to hone their skills. 

Generative AI For Higher Education

Greetings from the Australian National University where I am taking part in a Generative AI Workshop Day. Professor Adam Bridgeman and Professor Danny Liu from the University of Sydney are taking ANU staff through how to Microsoft Copilot to create rubrics, multiple and choice questions. The also demonstrated using other AI to create a tutor chatbot to help e with the topic and even give feedback on their writing. One point emphasised is that experts have to test what the AI is producing. In February I attended a " Team-Based Learning Collaborative Asia Pacific Community Symposium" at USyd and was impressed with what they are doing. The state of the art has advanced since 2018, when I wrote a tutor bot to handled applications for assignment extensions: it always said "no". ;-)

As an exercise I had Copilot write a summary the ANU VC's PhD thesis, in HTML:

Telling Stories Out of School: Remembering the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918

Overview: "Telling Stories Out of School" examines the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first government-funded, co-educational, secular, non-reservation Indian School in the United States.

Key Points:

• Historical Context: Carlisle operated from 1879 to 1918 and influenced other non-reservation boarding schools.
• Goals: The study explores state policies, student experiences, and post-school impact.
• Student Population: Approximately 8,500 students from 75 Native American Nations attended Carlisle, learning academic and vocational skills while navigating their identities.

Can Canadian Graduate Education Be Redesigned Around Jobs?

In "Arts graduate education in Canada should be redesigned around students’ and society’s needs" Malloy, Young, and Berdahl (2024) suggest focusing on public good. The authors argue not mimicking STEM degrees for arts and social science. As it happens a decade ago I enrolled in a Canadian social science graduate program which does what the authors call for.

The authors make the point that course-based professional masters degrees tend to be focused on careers, research degrees are less so. This is no accident, but by design. Research degrees are for training researchers, professional degrees for professionals. Australia has formalized this at the doctorate level with separate definitions for research and professional doctorates. The professional doctorates have a smaller research component and are more focused on industry needs. However, this requires finding a needed bundle of skills, in specific jobs, which students want, which are currley not met by other forms of education, and which university academics are capable of providing. Teaching professional skills requires teachers with professional experience, not just researchers. It also requires skills in educational design.

Malloy, Young, and Berdah criticise arts graduate student training for being linked to academic career skills, when their are few such jobs for them. However, do current academics have the skills and knowledge to train students for other careers? I teach computer project students using my decades of experience in the computer industry. However, when it comes to teaching them how to apply for a job, I hand the task to staff in the university's careers unit, who are specialists in the field (I then just manage the classes and assessment). 

If university arts academics are to redesign courses to fit new needs, they will need skills in program design. They will also need to get the real world requirements from somewhere. As a computer professional who started teaching at university I had had to learn how to teach. I then learned about how to design courses. Also tough my professional body I helped define the skills which professionals in my field need. The skills definitions are used by universities to design courses and by government to decide who is professionally qualified. This requires careful application of design and testing skills. While academics in STEM disciplines, as well as medicine, law and business are used to having to comply with these forms of external guideice, it may be challenging for arts academics.

It might be asked why, as an Australia, I am writing about Canadian graduate education. As it happens I have a Canadian graduate degree. I had intended to follow the research path, but ended up a coursework student. My degree is a Master of Education in Open, Digital and Distance Education. This is far from the author's view of Canadian degrees being unrelated to careers or society's needs. In my degree I studied how to teach students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who otherwise miss out on education. I also looked at how to teach students if an emergency kept them from campus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these skills became vital. Not only was I able to teach my own students, but train tutors and advise colleagues on how to rapidly switch to online learning. 

VitiVolatics: Vineyards with Photovoltaics

Greetings from the University of Adelaide where I am attending the Sustainability spotlight series (seminar 1) on VitiVolatics, with Professors Cassandra Collins, Armando Corsi and their students. Professor Collins defined VitiVolatics as being about optimising solar power generation and wine quality. In retrospect, the idea seems obvious, and deceptively simple: use solar panels to shade grape vines, providing power while improving growing conditions.

AgrVolatics (Agriculture under PhotoVoltaics) have considerable potential in Australia. As well as the practical aspects, this could be politically useful, by allowing large solar farms which do not stop agricultural production and provide additional income for farmers. This approach is applicable to berries, fruit and leafy vegetables, as well as smaller livestock, but not grains.

An amusing aside in the seminar was that most of the carbon footprint of winemaking comes from packaging, so drink casks wine! ;-) More seriously, the temperature in winemaking regions is increasing, which PV could address. 

It would be interesting to see if the same pre-wired folded panels to be used on the large scale project to export power to Singapore could be used for agriculture. It would also be interesting to see if AgrVolatics are viable in Northern Australia, at a large scale. Interestingly the students have designed an approach to attaching lightweight flexible solar panels to a framework using common off the shelf hardware (steel from local hardware store and electronics from the local hobbyist store). This allows manual installation, compared to the machinery required for heavier rigid panels and the steel mountings used by the solar industry. 

One issue is the aesthetics of large expanses of solar panels across traditional wine growing regions. This seems a little odd, as shade cloth and plastic sheets are already used on a large scale for protecting grapes. However, renewable energy can be triggering for some, so requires research.

Interestingly University of Adelaide is not just researching the engineering and viticulture of PV panels over grape vines, but how to market this to wine drinkers. The idea is to sell the resulting wine using a positive environmental message about carbon emissions. 

At question time I asked if green coloured solar panels would be more acceptable. This is possible using coloured film over conventional blue cells, without a large loss in efficiency. It would make the panels much less visible.

OK RDY Wins iAward for Diversity

Timothy McKay from OK  RDY and
Tom Worthington ANU at AIIA iAwards

Greetings from the AIIA awards. Way back in 2017, I had the pleasure of mentoring a team working on the OK RDY mentoring platform in the Innovation ACT competition. Timothy McKay accepted the iAward for diversity tonight. Good to see OK RDY going from strength to strength.

AIIA iAwards

Dr Catherine Galvin & Tom Worthington 
at iAwards in Adelaide. 

Greetings from Adelaide where I am attending the AIIA iAwards. Dr Catherine Galvin has a team competing for an award and I am mentoring a team of ANU Techlauncher students competing in another category. 

The Deputy Premier of DA is giving the keynote. In this she mentioned the merger of Uni SA and Adelaide Uni. It will be interesting to see what effect the Australian Government's decision to limit international enrollments will have on the merged entity.

Building the Australia Tech Industry in Adelaide

Tom Worthington with the student team:
Ethan Teber-Rossi & Steven Nguyen at Deloitte

Greetings from Deloitte in Adelaide, where a team of ANU Techlauncher students is competing in the national AIIA iAwards. It was only yesterday the students were told that I am not doing the presentation, they are. That required changing the outlook of the presentation to a student perspective, which made it much better. It is is difficult as the students have to talk about their own project, as well as the university's way to deliver experiential education. Ethan Teber-Rossi and Steven Nguyen, from the "FireApp" team in Techlauncher are presenting.

So far nothing strange in Adelaide

Greetings from the State Library of South Australia cafe. In Adelaide for the AIIA iAwards. So far nothing odd has happened. Last time I bumped into the now Vice Chancellor of ANU writing a report for the SA government. On a previous visit I bumped into another professor writing a report on tech development for government. 

On the last occasion I was giving a talk on open source software for submarines and before that inspecting a defence company at a tech park. This time I am mentoring students competing in the iAwards.

Untangling Australian Higher Education from Migration Policy

Professor Andrew Norton (Australian National University) makes a well reasoned case for Australia not needing caps on international student numbers. He suggests recent changes to regulations will be sufficient to correct problems with the system. However, I suggest some of these problems are political, rather than administrative, but the government's proposed close regulation will make things harder for them, rather than easier. Universities should be ready with alternative policy proposals, for when this government, or a future one, realises they need another solution.

As Professor Norton points out the pent up demand for international education caused by COVID coincided with a a shortage of housing in Australia. But as other commentators have pointed out, these are not necessarily connected: students have different housing needs. Reducing the number of students competing for inner-city share houses and on-campus dorms, will not provide suburban houses for Australian families.

The Australia government proposes to set quotas for the number of students in each course at each university. A political calculation has been made to set the quotas higher at regional universities in sensitive electorates, and lower for capital city universities. The elite capital city universities are perceived to be well off and it is assumed will not elicit sympathy from voters. It is likely a flawed calculation.

Apart from the politics, Australia needs universities to provide a trained workforce to service the community and support the economy. International student revenue has been used to supplement decreasing funding from government. 

In my submission to the accord panel, I suggested Australian universities need to design an education product which appeals to both domestic and international students. These should not be reliant on a work visa to be attractive to international students. They should not be dependent on students, international or domestic, being at a particular location, country, or on a campus. The universities should end the arms race of offering more and more advanced degree programs to each student. Vocational and university offerings should be combined to meet current real world work needs. Education should be offered online wherever the student is, in small nested packages, which can build into degrees.

Designing Tomorrow: Strategic Design Tactics to Change Your Practice, Organisation, and Planetary Impact

Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty at ANU. 
Photo by Tom Worthington CC-BY 2014.

Greetings from the Australian National University, where Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty are talking about their book "Designing Tomorrow: Strategic Design Tactics to Change Your Practice, Organisation, and Planetary Impact". The event is hosted by ACM SIGCHI Chapter for Canberra and the ANU School of Cybernetics. The approach advocated in the book will be very familiar to engineers, computer professionals and other design based disciplines, but may also be of interest to others.

Google on Designing Tech Policy for AI

Greetings from the"Special Conversation with Kent Walker: President of Global Affairs @ Google" hosted by the Australian National University. Dr Walker cautioned against over regulation of AI, suggesting this be by application depending on the output, not input. Regulation of technology is not easy. The Australian Computer Society elected me a fellow for my work on public policy for Internet regulation (or it may have been for bravery fronting up to explain the Internet to the Senate).

Dr Walker gave the example of requiring someone to walk with a red flag in front of motor vehicle as an example of over-regulation. However, this was at a time when roads were not designed for motor vehicles, there were no safety standards for cars, or driving tests. It was not acceptable then, and I suggest not acceptable now to see how many people the technology mames and kills, before considering regulation. That may sound an exxeration, but the Australian government is acquiring up to 10,000 smart sea mines, each capable of sinking a ship, along with funding the development of robot aircraft and submarines. 

Dr Walker argued for shorter qualifications to keep up with needs and provide more flexibility. 

Presumably Dr Walker will be having a similar discussion with lawmakers in Parliament House, just up the road. It is useful to know the thinking of one of the companies involved in developing AI. Google was caught out by the popularity of Chat GPT and it is good to see them now taking the issues seriously.

Trying Mastodon in Plance of Twitter/X: So far So Good

Recently I have noticed more annoying messages on X/Twitter than interesting content. Not the extreme stuff reported in the media, just annoying. So I am trying Mastodon. As I understand it, Mastodon is a free open source self hosted social network, similar in spirit to the old Usenet. So far I am not seeing much content, which is good. My first post drew criticism, but it was mild, and from an acquaintance, which is a kind of welcome to the system. I have tried looking for some education, defence and computing conference, but I am not exactly sure where to look. But it took me week to work out hot to use Usenet (a long, long time ago). Every now and then I get a hankering to look at Twitter, but so far am resisting the temptation.

AUKUS Beyond Nuclear Submarines

Last week I attended "AUKUS: Assumptions & Implications": a two day conference organized by the Academy of the Social Sciences. AUKUS is a partnership between Australia, USA & UK, announced in 2021. Originally it aimed to provide Australia with conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines, but has more recently broadened with other defence cooperation. The conference was held at the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW), which was apposite, given some of the discussion was about China's reaction to AUKUS. his conference showed the value of academics and researchers in giving an independent perspective on contentious issues, and offering a platform for discussion of important public issues. 

Coffee before formalities was a meeting of the old guard. I was asked by someone if I recalled them from Defence Capabilities Branch in 1997, when I worked on technology policy at the Department of Defence. I can't even remember the branch. ;-)

Normally I would include a photo of the event, but this was a strictly :"no photographs" conference. This was odd as there were numerous journalists in attendance and the event has been reported in the media.

Some of the high profile speakers

Professor Ross Garnaut

Professor Ross Garnaut's keynote took us back to the power politics and economics of WWI. He traced Australia's transition from the UK to the USA as our major ally. He talked about the "golden age" of the 1980s, with Australian economic prosperity based on exports. He warned that AUKUS was returning to the old and familiar, rather than the difficulty of a relationship with Asia. Also he warned "We are becoming a cranky and divided community". Professor Garnaut argued Australia should be exporting "immense" amount of energy and green refined metals, using equipment supplied by China, with US protectionist policies assisting this.

Professor Garnaut described AUKUS as an economic opportunity for UK submarine exports and questions how long US commitment to the Pacific west of Hawaii will last. He then told an anecdote about discussions with the Bush administration on Australia standing by US to defend Taiwan (and saying Australia would not).

Getting back to economic,s Professor Garnaut showed a chart of the rapid Chinese exports from 2000, and it becoming a larger trading partner for most countries than USA by 2011. He suggested going to war without a consensus was undemocratic. He suggested India and Indonesia could balance China's dominance, but without drawing them into a close military alliance.

Professor Garnaut suggested China military occupation of Taiwan would be prohibitively expensive. In closing Professor Garnaut argued Australia could remain a US ally without joining a war over Taiwan. He suggested joining such a war would result in isolation of Australia from Asia.

An interesting question, from a banker, was about Australia deepening ties with Korea and Japan. Professor Garnaut said he would leave it to other speakers, but suggested military purchases were not the best way for Australia to secure relations with Korea and Japan. That may be the case, but I suggest the combination of their expertise with manufacturing, plus Australia's AI skills, could produce weapons systems to match the best in the world.

Professor Gareth Evans

Professor Gareth Evans view on AUKUS is detailed in an article published concurrent with the conference: "AUKUS is terrible for Australian national interests – but we’re probably stuck with it". In his address, Professor Evans argued that missiles and drones would be more important to defence than submarines, but Australia was already committed to AUKUS by both major political parties. I agree with the first part of this, but not the second. 

Ghost Shark prototype built in Sydney.
Photo from DoD 2024

Australian Government funded development of the Ghost Shark autonomous extra-large unmanned undersea vehicle (XLUUV) is reported to be proceeding well and ahead of US government sponsored technology. It would be possible to redefine the AUKUS agreement by placing more emphasis on Pillar 2, with Australia's contribution being autonomous technology, rather than crewed submarines. 

Rear Admiral Peter Clarke (RAN Retired)

In the introduction to his presentation, it was pointed out that Rear Admiral Peter Clarke was the only one in the room who had commanded a nuclear submarine (before joining the RAN). The former Admiral gave an expert assessment of the advantages of nuclear submarines over conventionally powered ones. However, other speakers had pointed out there were alternatives to both. 

UUVs will be superior to crewed submarines for their primary mission of  surveillance. In addition an Australian fleet of 500 XLUUVs would be able to place the 10,000 smart sea mines Australia is acquiring, around harbour entrances and sea lanes, denying an enemy the ability to operate their warships (without hindering civilian trade). UUVs would be less useful for maritime strike, and not at all suited to land strike, but the strategic value of those missions is questionable. Conventional weapons would have limited effect, and if they did have a significant effect this might prompt a nuclear response.

Australian Universities Campaign Against International Student Cutbacks Takes to the Airwaves

Universities Australia has ramped up its "Universites Matter" campaign, with  advertisements on broadcast TV.  The advertisement depicts research helping Australian health and industry. There is no direct mention of recent government moves to restrict the numbers of international students, but clearly the campaign is being run in response. 

Half jokingly I had previously suggested dressing students in high visibility vests and medical scrubs and show them building houses and caring for the aged, which is essentially what this campaign is does. Universities have been relatively restrained in response to government restrictions on international students. Campaigns by industries such as mining, when threatened by government action, have been far more direct. Government members and ministers will have made a careful political calculation that votes from being seen to cracking down on foreigners will play well with the electorate. Universites, I suggest, need to remind voters that it is themselves, their friends and families, who will suffer as a result, from loss of jobs, income and services.

Skills for Career

Joe Schmetzer,
Head of Software Engineering,
Applied AI at Penten

Greetings from the Australian National University where Joe Schmetzer , Head of Software Engineering, Applied AI at Penten is talking to ANU Techlauncher students about "Skills for a Tech Career". Beforehand I introduced a small assessed task for students, which is to find a job or other opportunity and explain why they have the skills and knowledge for it.

This morning I was interviewed by Kristina Hoeppner for her Portfolio Podcast series "Create. Share. Engage". I explained that for Techlauncher we have disguised the capstone e-portfolio reflection exercise as a job application. Joe is now taking students through what he likes to see from applicants. He has students do a short coding exercise, which is not unusual for a technical job but a "cultural interview" is. After the code test the Penten Head of Operations asks the applicant why they are there and they have an idea of what the company they are applying to. This is something STEM graduates tend to have difficulty with. It helps if students have done some sort of practical project. Joe then talked about the Trident Career Model. 

Later the ANU Careers and Employability staff took students through a series of careers exercises. The RIASEC categorised me as being Realistic, Artistic & Investigative, suggesting I could be a Landscape Architect. As it happens I did an introductory design course for architects and industrial designers. 

Stackable Micro Credentials from UNSW Canberra

  Professor Blackburn, UNSW.
Photo by Tom Worthington CC-BY 2024.

Greetings from First Wednesday Connect at Canberra Innovation Network. The pitch from Professor Deborah Blackman hooked me with on Stackable Micro Credentials UNSW Canberra. UNSW offers very short training modules (called microcredentials). These can be used for credit towards a larger qualification, usually a graduate certificate. The idea is to supplement, rather than replace, conventional courses and qualifications, to top-up skills and knowledge quickly where needed. 

UNSW Canberra were hosting the event and this was a good opportunity to learn more about the business model behind their new Canberra CBD campus. What I couldn't understand was where UNSW was going to get all the students to fill the new classrooms: where they expecting to attract undergraduates to canberra from around Australia, or the world? The answer which became clear from a series of pitches from UNSW staff was that the new campus would focus on postgraduates, work shills and the needs of the Australian Public Service, the defence community and industry.

Australian industry, the public service and defence needs workers with new skills. Outbidding other employers for experienced staff is expensive, as is headhunting abroad. The better way to acquire stared staff is to take the staff you have and train them further. In 19 years with the Australian Public Service I was regularly sent on training courses run by top people in their field*. One problem in that system was the training was not formally recognised. Systems of nested microcredentials allow for recognition. I suggest this is the core of the future of Australian higher education. Unfortunately Australian universities are well behind their international competition, especially Singapore, with this.

ps: * Sometimes the training could be excessive. I was sent on two project management courses back to back. After a few days of intensive training I was ready to knot the sheets together and escape from my monk-like room in the Melbourne Business schools, but the windows did not open. ;-)

Water Politics Young People and Rap

Greetings from "Intersectional voices in water politics: an exploration of the Menindee fish death disaster, and what public discourse and research can do better" by Dr Hannah Feldman. They identified the difference between older and younger people's approach to issues such as climate change and water politics. 

It occured to me that part of this is the mode of communication. On a trip to Menindee, at the Yaama Ngunna Baaka Corroboree Festival. 2019, I saw a jaw dropping performance by Dobby. He was later able to bridge the gap from performance in the outback to a national art gallery, Warrangu River Story.

Killing Bushfires with Drones

Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley,
Head of Disaster Solutions,
ANU Institute for Climate,
Energy & Disaster Solutions

Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley, Head of Disaster Solutions, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions is taking about ways to prevent natural disasters. One of these being worked on at the Australian National University is to detect lightening strikes, resulting bushfires and quickly targeting them from the air with drones. This is a very challenging application as bushfires can start in large areas of Australia, and there can be thousands of lightning strikes which can potentially start a fire. Such a system can't simply water bomb every potential fire. This was at the ANU Disaster Solutions Update 2024.  The event is available live online.

The approach Professor Prinsley outlined was for small spot fires to be detected by UAVs and targeted with water dropped by steered parachutes. Such as system would be similar to those needed to defend Australia. Such a system has to scan large areas, decide what is a potential target deploy assets & assess results. Recent conflicts have shown it is no longer feasible to do this with crewed systems & human decision making. There are too many potential targets to be serviced & too much happening too quickly.

Minister says we are still putting homes in harm's way

The Hon Stephen Jones MP,
Assistant Treasurer and Minister
for Financial Services

Greetings from the ANU Disaster Solutions Update 2024, with Stephen Jones, Minister for Financial Services giving the keynote at the Australian National University's Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions. He pointed out that in the past government have not done a good job, for example building low cost housing in areas which flood: "Its the fact that we are still putting homes in harm's way" , "We have to stop doing dumb things." He then went on to point out the importance of insurance, not only in paying out, but also influencing what gets built where. He went on to discuss what measures government needs to take to reduce the risk, encouraging people to put in place mitigation measures, as well as action by government.

The event is available live online. 

Research to Product

Greetings from the  InnovationACT: Research to Impact Panel at the Canberra Innovation Network. Damith Herath nominated a coin operated robot he built at school as his first innovation. Inger Newburn described her Thesis blog as a career saving strategy. Elizabeth McGrath nominated her space research project.

I asked the panel if enterperur skills should be in the curriculum. The panel's consensus was this would work for undergraduates but not research students.

This event was part of Innovation ACT a competition for tertiary students.

ANU Multimedia Studios

Greetings from the new ANU Multimedia Studios at the Australian National University. These are a collaborative effort between the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT), and the College of Arts & Social Science. With Canvas replacing Moodle as the ANU learning management system there is the opportunity to add more Multimedia.

Future History of AI

Greetings from "AI and Other Scientific Fables" at the ANU School of Cybernetics. We have tech storytellers exploring how AI is changing our lives. Note that the term "Cybernetics." is used in a more social was in this school, than the way the computing profession understands it, as being about technical control systems. The first reading was by Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker of "Campfire". The event ends with a screening of Moonrise and Requiem by Ceridwen Dovey and Rowena Potts (Dovey is the author of "Life After Truth"). The event is in person and live online.

I wrote some future history for an ACT Government project "Canberra 2020: World Information Capital" (Informatics Magazine, September 1993). In this I had Canberra as the capital of the world, with a massive computer complex providing world government from under the Bruce Technology Park. The original version had an automated missile defence system nicknamed "Skywalker" shooting down an off course light aircraft. In a case of life imitating art, decades later I was tutoring a team of students helping test the radar for Australia's anti-missile system (there is a test radar for this in Canberra). 

Magic of Cybersecurity

Greetings from a panel on Cyber Security: Exposing the  THE magic involved in product evaluation, at the Australian Computer Society in Canberra. This is timely with Friday's Microsoft Windows/CloudStrike outage. The discussion so far is focused on the Australian Information Security Evaluation Program (AISEP). One topic of interest to me is that the Australian Signals Directorate is looking at training for security certifiers with other countries. Some of my uni students have been interns at companies carrying out government security checks.

The panel has:

Dr Hin Chan, Manager – Australian Certification Authority (ACA), Australian Cyber Security Centre, ASD

Erin Glenn, Director of Product Management, Belkin International, US

Patrick Campbell-Dunn, Securus Consulting Group 

Folding LED Screens for Temporary Classrooms

Greetings from Tech in Government 2024 in Canberra. The most interesting product on the exhibition floor is a folding LED screen on wheels being demonstrated by Mark Lazare from Viewsonic. This is designed to fit through an ordinary doorway and then he unfolded. The joins don't show at all when unfolded.

Welcome to the Next War: the AI Triple Black Box and Accountability

Professor Ashley Deeks

Greeting from "The Double Black Box: National Security, Artificial Intelligence, and the Struggle for Democratic Accountability" by Professor Ashley Deeks, University of Virginia. This is a public part of the conference "Anticipating the Future of War: AI, Automated Systems, and Resort-to-Force Decision Making" hosted by the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. Professor Deeks' thesis is that defence AI is a block box both because even the programmers don't know what it is doing and if they did it would be secret. I suggest the situation is not that bad: it is possible to build AI systems which can be asked why they made a decision. But as the recent Microsoft/Crowdstrike failure shows, even non-AI systems can do surprising things. There is also cause concern, as Professor Deeks pointed out, due to the scale of use.

At a practical level it is not that difficult to test if an AI weapon is at least as reliable as a human operator. This could improve procedures by making explicit the decision making processes. There will be pressure to use advanced automated systems, just as there are for current simple ones, such as mines. 

Professor Deeks is presenting a US-centric view of the issues. However, the US is not a leader in development of AI weapons. Any country with a university having a computing school has the capability to make advanced AI weapons. Recently I was assessing a university student project for a small autonomous vehicle. This was for civilian purposes, but one version was tracked, and just needed a weapon added to be a robot tank.

The problem, I suggest, could be far harder than Professor Deeks suggests. The magic sauce for an AI weapon is in the software. The physical weapon can be upgraded over the air to have new capabilities. Some of this has been seen with missiles, where air launched missiles have been adapted for surface launch & surface for air. An example is the US Navy's SM-6 ship missile adapted for air launch against surface, air and space targets. Deciding of something is an anti-satellite weapon or not is a matter of software. 

Professor Deeks mentioned her paper "The judicial demand for explainable artificial intelligence" (2019) which argued for lawyers to get AI savvy. Some are thinking tech, such as Herbert Smith Freehills.

Commenting on the Great Computer Outage of 2024

Stop Error on a Screen
at Coles Leichardt, 26 July 2024.
Photo by Tom Worthington CC-BY

My phone started ringing on Friday afternoon. First it was the SciMex Science Media Center in Adelaide: could I talk to the media on the computer outage? What computer outage? I had been driving interstate and hadn't noticed many shop, airline, and other systems were down. What I had noticed were that both ABC Radio Sydney, & ABC Radio National were off the air (more correctly  broadcasting  apology loops, indicating the transmitters were okay but programs were getting to them).

At this stage the indication was it wasn't a cyber attack, and was not at the network level (my mobile phone still worked). It was the operating system. So I made a general comment to go out from SciMex to the media. At this stage the ABC had a report suggesting it was from the Crowdstrike security software. 

My phone then starting ringing. Sky new wanted to interview me, but their Zoom and phone interview facilities were not working (due to the it outage?), and it was not feasible to get to the studio. I talked to ABC Radio Queensland, who said they had one microphone and a CD player working. A little known fact is that if all the fancy automation fails in an ABC studio, one microphone is connected to the transmitter for emergency broadcasts. At the end of the interview I asked them to play "A Walk in the Black Forest" (the only track Radio Goodies had), but the joke went flat. 

One 24 hour TV news network wanted me to come to their studio across town because they could not do a Zoom or phone interview (presumably because the equipment for that used Microsoft Windows). I was tempted to suggest they hold the phone up to the camera.

I made the right call to say it was not a cyber attack, & resisted the temptation to criticize Microsoft Windows. Something I found surprising was the range of devices apparently running Microsoft Windows. Why would you use it for an airline or supermarket machine, rather than an operating system designed for real time embedded applications (such as one of the Linux variants)? 

See also (updates):

• Can we avoid a repeat of Friday's CrowdStrike crash chaos?, By Allan Lee, Biwa Kwan, Presented by Allan Lee, SBS News, 22 July 2024 11:49 am.
• Hot Takes from the CrowdStrike Global Tech Outage, Professor Johanna Weaver, Director Tech Policy Design Centre, Australian National University

Chatbots for More Rounded Employable Graduates?

Greetings from the weekly ASCILITE MLSIG webinar. One of the members had a positive report on using Cogniti (developed at University of Sydney), to build chatbots to help students. With this, the software simulates a patient in conversation with the student acting as a therapist. The chat-bot then switches to tutor more and provides feedback and advice to the student. It occurred to me the same would be useful for students "soft" skills.

Many STEM students have difficulty with the part of the job where they have to talk to people, especially non-technical clients. This also creates problems when talking to potential employers. It may seem odd to suggest the students talk to a machine to imp[rove personal communication skills. However, this way students can get a lot of practice with an infinitely patient tutor. Also client and work communication is increasingly using digital technology. In a way reality s becoming more like the simulation: you apply for a job not by writing a letter but via a web form, do online tests & get interviewed via Zoom. The graduate will likely communicate with their client, and perhaps colleagues, mostly online. So talking to a chat-bot online will be a more realistic simulation of the workplace, than talking face to face in a classroom.

Thinking assessment in the large as an answer to AI

Greetings from the CRADLE Seminar "Assessment beyond the individual unit/module and AI". Associate Professor Jason Lodge is talking about how to see how students progress over time, rather than assessing in small packets of instruction. While he did not explicitly say it, I assume he envisions this makes it harder for the student to cheat, using AI, or otherwise, as they would not be showing consistent progress. 

Mentioned by someone was "Assessment reform for the age of artificial intelligence" (TEQSA, 2023). 

Margaret Bearman took us through the logic of current unit based assessment and asks about "big picture" outcomes. My reaction was "Inst that what capstones are for?". You have the student do a big project at the end of their study, where they have to demonstrate the skills needed. 

Surprisingly, there was little mention of AI, which is refreshing. The approach is to get the assessment right and cheating will be harder, however it is done.

I asked the panel:

'Will technology help? Could we give the AI each student's CV and have it suggest what degree requirements they have already met? I help out with applications for course credit and there is a lot of stuff students have done they really don't have to do again. More than once I have thought we should have the student teach the course. ;-)

The next seminar is: "Second Handbook of Academic Integrity (2024) launch".

CIT Timber High-rise Campus Going Up

Greetings from the Woden Town Centre in Canberra, where the timber frame of the new Canberra Institute of Technology is going up.

Digital Technologies education in Australian schools

The Australian Computer society has released "Tech skills for the next generation: Digital Technologies education in Australian schools". The report makes 11 recommendations, in 4 categories. Initial Teacher Education is the area where I suggest there is the most scope. Teachers could be trained using digital technology to effectively use it in their teaching and administration. Rather than this being seen as adding to the burden of teaching and administrative responsibilities teachers already have, digital technology could be a way to make their jobs easier.

Ensuring there are accessible ready-to-use teaching resources

1. Expand support for, and increase visibility of, the online Digital Technologies Hub to ensure teachers have access to best practice exemplar teaching modules for the DTC.

2. Improve schools’ internal information management processes regarding digital teaching resources to ensure they reach teachers who need them in the classroom.

3. Support cross-fertilisation amongst professional associations and communities of practice for the DTC.

Embedding digital-readiness training in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

4. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) should incorporate into ITE accreditation a requirement that ITE programs demonstrate their capacity to prepare our future teachers to: 

• teach with digital technologies (as expected by AITSL standards)

• use digital technologies within all learning areas (including Digital Literacy development)

• teach the F–10 Digital Technologies subject and/or senior secondary computer education courses.

This could be supported through the Australian Technologies Teacher Educators Network (ATTEN) to provide end-user input from Digital Technologies teachers based in each state and territory.

Supporting ongoing professional development and training for teachers

5. Ensure that training courses suitable for teachers are available and accessible across all essential areas of digital technologies knowledge and skills.

6. Identify and promote existing recommended courses that provide training in software tools and core principles of digital technologies for teachers of all year levels.

7. Invest in initiatives that support teachers to attend suitable training for digital technologies skills and in turn this will increase the number of skilled teachers at each school.

Elevating awareness of the Digital Technologies Curriculum in the community

8. Empower parents with the tools and capabilities to understand and communicate at home the value of digital technologies, including the types of technology careers that can be pursued and how the skills can be applied to solve problems in a range of industries.

9. Ensure that tools and capabilities that empower parents are inclusive and increase visibility of underrepresented groups in STEM fields, such as women and girls and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

10. Establish a national coordinated data collection of DTC learning outcomes, and communicate these outcomes to the community to build better understanding and awareness of learning and career outcomes.

11. Recognise and reward excellence in digital technologies education to increase visibility to parents and the education community and promote best practice-teaching in Australian schools.

The Cafe and the Education Revolution

Greetings from the just opened TASA Cafe in the sport building at the Australian National University in Canberra. TASA adds Philippine cuisine to the selections on campus. I am having the pulled pork with coleslaw on a bun. More importantly, it is just across the road from my office in the school of computing. The campus cafes have an important role for informal discussions.

Already I have scheduled a meeting on exemptions and credit for recognition prior learning and experience, in the cafe. Granting students credit for what they did somewhere else is something academics are reluctant to do. This is partly out of a concern for standards, but also because it is not something part of academic training. Some of this is relatively simple: a course in discrete mathematics is much the same in Sydney or Shenzhen. However, soft skills are another matter: a course where students work in a team is not the same as one where they just read books about working in a team. Is work experience at a computer company in another country equivalent to Australia?

Innovation in Canberra

Greetings from the foyer of ACT Government HQ where they are hosting the 109th First Wednesday of Canberra Innovation Network. The ACT Chief Minister is doing the honours before the pitches.

ps: Interesting building.

High ceilings give low exam results

I suggest Bower, Broadbent, Coussens and Enticott receive an Ig Nobel Prize for their paper "Elevated ceiling heights reduce the cognitive performance of higher-education students during exams". The researchers found the higher the ceiling, the worse students do in exams. This is based on analysis of 15,400  exam results at three Australian campuses over eight years. At first I thought this an April fools day joke, but it seems to be real serious research. The work is deserving of an Ig Noble, recognizing research which has humor, but provokes thought. The key point of the research for me is not that high ceilings disadvantage some students, but that exams do. This can be corrected, I suggest, not by lowering ceilings, but by replacing exams with better assessment techniques.

The research comes at the time when exams should be on their way out. This is  like inventing a more efficient steam engine in the 21st century: an obsolete dangerous technology which no amount of technical improvement can save. Exams cause students stress (I have spent decades avoiding any course which had an exam). That a high ceiling might increase stress is interesting, but I doubt it could be lowered enough to make me comfortable with an exam. I stopped setting exams around the time I stopped giving lectures (2018).

The obvious factor which would cause the effect is the size of the room (bigger rooms having higher ceilings). However, the authors appear to have considered room size as a factor, and controlled for many other possible causes. One not mentioned might be that large rooms may have students from different classes taking tests at the same time, which could make students feel less comfortable.

If this is a real effect it could be easily corrected for by lowering the perceived height of the exam room ceiling. This could be done with lighting.

Reference

Bower, I. S., Broadbent, J., Coussens, S., & Enticott, P. G. (2024). Elevated ceiling heights reduce the cognitive performance of higher-education students during exams. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102367

Impact of Digital Technology on Children Webinar 5 July

Dr. John Worthington,
Educational and Developmental Psychologist 

Educational and Developmental Psychologist, Dr. John Worthington, will be speaking on "Discussions and Case studies of the Impact of Digital Technology on Children and Teenagers, a Clinicians Perspective" at the Mobile Learning Webinar of ASCILITE, 5 July 10:00 am (free, all welcome). For the Zoom participation details, see the ASCILITE website. 

MLSIG Webinar: Discussions and Case studies of the Impact of Digital Technology on Children and Teenagers, a Clinicians Perspective

Title: Discussions and Case studies of the Impact of Digital Technology on Children and Teenagers, a Clinicians Perspective

Speaker: Dr. John Worthington, Educational and Developmental Psychologist

Date: 10am, 5 July 2024 Via Zoom

Abstract: The three case studies drawn from clinical cases. While occasionally, the leading concern may be to do with the child’s use of or interaction with devices, typically the technology concern is a secondary, or even a non-issue until revealed by the history provided and or the assessment itself. Often, when the issue is exposed, the impact is not only on the child but can be wide ranging, and involve parents, siblings, peers, teachers, relatives etc.

About the speaker: Dr. John Worthington provides independent clinical, school and home based assessment and consultation services to support individuals aged 3 years through to adults. http://www.jweducation.com/

ps: Dr Worthington is my brother. 

Canberra's Digital Creatives Like Lunch

Creative Connect Panel at CBRIN:
Lucy Sugerman, Elvis Gleeson,
Emma Laverty, & Owen Walter

Greetings from Canberra Innovation Network, where I am taking part in "Creative Connect", sponsored by the ACT Government. We were surveyed beforehand and it turns out the largest group are digital creatives (which I guess I am) and we like meeting over lunch (CBRIN have put on a good spread). We have a panel with Lucy Sugerman (Music ACT), Elvis Gleeson (Blank Creative),  Emma Laverty (Project Dust), and Owen Walter (Oculo Digital). So we have a musician, writer, dancer, and video maker. This was a revelation, as most people think of Canberra as a place for public servants, and government contractors. I knew we also have a large education sector, but hadn't realized there was also a "creative" industry. Some of that supports education and government. One of the panel talked about getting paid to make "Beats to sound-cloud rappers". From this limited sample creatives don't fit the pattern of university fine arts degree and then work. 

The question for me is what can Canberra do to help this industry? One surprising answer is "Be a nice place to live". I had assumed creatives would want a grungy inner city squat, but apparently the novelty of that wears off quickly. Another answer was that it is a place you go when your partner gets a job in Canberra.

What is on in Adelaide in late August?

iAward to ANU Techlauncher

What is on in Adelaide, 28 to 30 August 2024? I will be attending the 2024 National iAwards on 29 August, as on of the teaching team fior the Australian National University's Techlauncher Project which is in the running. Are there any computer or education events on, while I am in town? I would be happy to give a talk, if someone has a venue. My next scheduled speaking engagement is on academic integrity in assessment.

Conjecture or Inference in AI Decision-Making

Assistant Professor Luke Stark,
from Western University (Canada)

Greetings from ANU school of Computing where Assistant Professor Luke Stark from Western University (Canada) is speaking on "Conjecture and the Right to Reasonable Inference in AI/ML Decision-Making". Professor Stark argues that AI follows a long standing human practice of conjecture. This is different to the scientific process of deduction. I don't find this a convincing argument as testing hypotheses is a conjectural process. 

More interestingly Professor Stark compared attempts in past centuries to correlate facial shape with behavioral characteristics to current AI work which is similarly misapplied. He suggested there are open questions on how inference should be applied. Also Professor Stark suggested AI could learn a lot from medicine and the discussion around the applicability of evidence based treatment. On the surface it seems obvious that medical treatment should be based on evidence from trials, but if the people conducting the trails are not like the patients, then the results may not be applicable. 

Professor Stark's analysis seemed a little idealistic, in that it assumes users of AI (and previous technology) were driven by a quest for the truth and equity. However, researchers repeatedly produce AI systems, which discriminate against particular groups. Rather than see this as an unfortunate side-effect of the technology, I suggest it be acknowledged as one of the main uses of AI, and measures to minimize it be put in place.

Government Keynote: RAAF's journey with Agile methodologies Wing Commander Mike Moroney, AI Lead for the Royal Australian Air Force

Wing Commander Moroney,
RAAF AI Lead

Greetings from the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, where Wing Commander Mike Moroney, AI Lead for the Royal Australian Air Force, is speaking on "RAAF's journey with Agile methodologies". He pointed out that crew-less aircraft are being experimented with having AI onboard. Curiously he mentioned US based projects, not the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, being built in Queensland. 

Wing Commander Moroney said he never finished "The Phoenix Project" (BY GENE KIM, KEVIN BEHR, GEORGE SPAFFORD), about DevOps, as it was "too triggering", but "The DevOps Handbook" (BY GENE KIM, JEZ HUMBLE, PATRICK DEBOIS, JOHN WILLIS, NICOLE FORSGREN) is okay. Also he recommended Accelerate (BY NICOLE FORSGREN, JEZ HUMBLE, GENE KIM).

Securing Government Data Used with AI a Jobs Growth Area

Jayden Cooke, ASD on 
Secure by Design

Greetings from the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, where Jayden Cooke, Technical Director, Secure Design and Architecture | Cyber Uplift | Cyber Security Resilience, Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), is speaking on "Secure by Design and Default" (SbD2). This is a keynote presentation at a GitLab event organised by Public Sector Network. ASD not only has a website on Secure by Design, but also detailed documents on how to do it.

This was a refreshing change from the proceeding GitLab sales pitches. It was still a sales pitch, especially with claims of by in from "Five Eyes" partners. The idea is a reasonably simple one: rather than build software and then think about how to make it secure, instead think about security from the start. This requires a systematic approach which ASD has been attempting to have universities teach to their students. At present there is a golden opportunity for this. A few months ago we asked computer project students participating in the award winning ANU Techlauncher Project to write a couple of sentences about what they see as their future career. Many nominated AI, and other cyber security. The intersection (or collision) of the two I suggest will be an area of demand for staff as AI security flaws come to light. 

Project proposals needed for computer student teams

For several years I have been one of a large team teaching project management to computer students. The ANU Techlauncher Program continues to gain in popularity, and we are in need of more projects for more students due to start their studies in the next few weeks. The project can be something from a small business, startup, large corporation, government agency, or a not-for-profit. You might have a glimer of an idea, and want a prototype to see if it makes sense, or something well specified, and just needs doing. In the past I have tutored students building software to test hydroelectric generators which keep the lights on in much of Australia, while others helped develop an anti-ballistic missile radar which protects Australian warships. At the other end of the scale, a team produced an app for a health professional, to help their patients with a fear of flying.

Time to shake up the Insurance Industry

Greetings from Canberra Innovation Network where Emily-Rose Srbinovska & Stuart Russell from Austbrokers Canberra are talking on insurance for startups. This dry sounding topic is being made exciting by the passion of the presenters. As they point out startups are seen as high risk by insurers resulting in higher premiums. It seems to me there is scope for more startups to offer innovative insurance to startups. Also keep in mind that if you join your professional body you may get a legal liability cap, so cheaper insurance.