Data Science for Social Impact

Our Africa, Law &[Emerging] Technologies Policy Hackathon 2024 is 6 days away and we are excited to introduce our stellar lineup of judges for the hackathon challenges. Our next judge is Peter van Heusden, the Senior bioinformatician at South African National Bioinformatics Institute. With over two decades of experience in both science development and social justice, Peter van Heusden's current focus is in increasing accessibility of new diagnostic modalities including sequencing of pathogens that drive Africa's infectious disease burden, through a combined focus on technical innovation, capacity building and advancing a health equity agenda on the continent. Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2024 Venue: Akanyang Building, Hatfield Campus, University of Pretoria and online. Free Registration Link: https://lnkd.in/e7YXdPPi Time: 10:00am (SAST) See you there! Dr. Chijioke Okorie Data Science for Social Impact CENTRE FOR CHILD LAW University Of Pretoria, Faculty of Law

A couple of weeks ago, at the truly inspirational Design Justice AI Institute in Pretoria (follow Data Science for Social Impact for more about that), I gave a tentative talk about an idea: the Project on Open and Evolving Metaliteracies, or POEM. Focused on three types of literacy (algorithmic; data; and dis/information) I conceived of POEM as a collection of teaching and learning materials to help high school and college students gain the skills not only to understand the contemporary knowledge landscape but to critically evaluate it, take control of their own engagement with it, and work within it as informed actors rather than passive consumers.  This morning, I learned that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is going to help make that idea a reality, thanks to a generous National Leadership Grant for Libraries, and I am so, so grateful. POEM will be a process, a product, and a robust platform (modeled on the excellent Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities, edited by Katherine D. Harris, Ph.D. , Matthew K. Gold, Rebecca Davis, and Jentery Sayers and published by the Modern Language Association) for iterative, curated, bilingual open educational resources that support the development of critical skills in algorithmic thinking, data analysis, media literacy, and digital citizenship, to help its users gain a deeper and critical understanding of the ways data and computation, algorithms and AI, and media and dis/information, are produced, deployed, and used in everyday life. Stay tuned for opportunities to get involved! https://lnkd.in/grzXX5be

News is out. I have joined the Partnership on AI board and look forward to shaping our joint future in AI. University of Pretoria UP Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology

Keynote delivered at #ICML2024. Talk (in time) will be available here https://lnkd.in/dJt_pWyG It was great covering what we have been doing in the space of African NLP over the years and how we have grown the continental community in AI. Thank you Mbangula Lameck Amugongo, PhD for taking the pic :D My links socials https://linktr.ee/vukosim DSFSI Links https://linktr.ee/dsfsi - Data Science for Social Impact Lelapa AI https://lelapa.ai/ Deep Learning Indaba https://lnkd.in/dD3qTN5A Masakhane https://www.masakhane.io/ University of Pretoria UP Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology Anna Nascimento Gavin Cope

Let’s go!!! 🔥🔥🔥 Vukosi Marivate Data Science for Social Impact CENTRE FOR CHILD LAW

#AI sector likely to replicate existing extractive and often unethical labour practices in Africa. The problem of AI #exclusion in Africa is expected to continue – even in countries with low barriers to access to generative tools and platforms. Over the past decade, generative #AI has become a powerful tool for creating #jobs for tertiary-educated youth in Africa. But access to devices and data as well as exploitative labour practices suggest a need for policies that could #ethically harness AI’s economic potential, writes Wachira Kigotho. #highered #universities #employment #employability #dignifiedlabour #equity African Union Development Agency-NEPAD University of Oxford Microsoft Centre for the Future of Work (CFoW) University of Pretoria Barbara Glover Jacki O'Neill Vukosi Marivate International Labour Organization International Monetary Fund

🎙PODCAST In this episode of iAfrikan Bytes, we speak with Vukosi Marivate, a well-known authority on data science and AI. We delve deeply into the revolutionary possibilities of Data Science and AI in tackling societal issues. A new age of research and development in Africa is being ushered in by his work at the University of Pretoria and his participation in events such as the Deep Learning Indaba. 🔗WATCH https://lnkd.in/dVH3c_Vu

To the moon Fiskani Banda

We are exactly two weeks to our long-planned Africa, Law & [Emerging] Technologies Policy Hackathon 2024. This year, the policy hackathon focuses on Data Privacy as a key aspect of Artificial Intelligence, Policy and Society. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear hackathon participants pitch creative policy solutions that address the intersection between Privacy and Data Protection Laws and Data (access, use, reuse and management) in the application of AI to child privacy and public health issues. Details: Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2024 Venue: Akanyang Building, Hatfield Campus, University of Pretoria and online. Free Registration Link: https://lnkd.in/esiA4vb8 Time: 10:00am (SAST) Dr. Chijioke Okorie Data Science for Social Impact University Of Pretoria, Faculty of Law CENTRE FOR CHILD LAW

Spending this week in #Nairobi creating new imaginaries on the future of #AfricanNLP with many friends and colleagues from across the continent. Fuelled by Kenyan coffee and Mandazi. Mimi ni mKenya for this week.