Byte Into IT

Although the podcast format of Byte Into It has now wrapped, this show continues to be broadcast on Triple R. You can now listen to new episodes on Triple R's FM On Demand service at rrr.org.au/explore/programs/byte-into-it.Thanks for listening!

On this final episode of Byte Into IT for the year, the whole crew is in and they're joined by Kate Crawford, an internationally-leading scholar of artificial intelligence and its impacts. Her most recent book, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics and The Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence explores AI's rising impact.

Eric Jong and Dan Salmon have a chat with with multidisciplinary artist and educator, Sandy Ma, to discuss her installation work Touching Wires which invites softness into our technological relationships and articulates what collaboration and co-creation means when artificial intelligence is involved. In her works Sandy explores the intersections of computing, electronics, and sound, and is currently completing her Honours research project exploring tactility in Human-AI interaction.

Vanessa, Dan, Eric, and Mike are joined by Alison Bird, program manager at Climate Salad. Bird is an advocate and connector in Australia's growing climate tech scene, working with a range of innovative startups across the country, with a focus on supporting those developing groundbreaking solutions for a sustainable future, Alison fosters partnerships and brings people together to drive climate tech innovation forward. She discusses the 2024 Australian Climate Tech Connect & Awards and explores Climate Salad's goals and network.

You're due for an update, luckily Lily, Vanessa and Eric are here to upgrade your tech knowledge software! Jongkil Jay Jeong knows human error is the weakest link in the cyber security chain. He speaks to Byte co-hosts Lily, Vanessa and Eric in response to his recent Conversation article Human error is the weakest link in the cyber security chain. Here are 3 ways to fix it and to remind us to stop using the same password for everything! Plus, Alexar Pendashteh tells us all about this year's SXSW and auIGF. Listen to hear an important tip for any future SXSW attendees (hint: it has to do with lunch).

This week Rowena Murrey, Dan Salmon and Eric Jong chat with games composer and freelance reviewer Meghann O'Neill about all the indie games and they saw at PAX during Melbourne International Games Week.Plus, Dr Jessica Court , researcher at the Queensland University of Technology joins the team to discuss how they've been trying to make train travel a little bit easier for the Hearing Impaired using AI Techology.

Vanessa and Eric are joined by CEO of WorkVentures, Caroline McDaid, to discuss 'digital poverty' during Anti-Poverty Week. They are also joined by Eduardo Araujo Oliveira, Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Information Systems at UniMelb to chat about how AI tools can help clean up online spaces that are rife with toxicity.

Vanessa Toholka and Dan Salmon are joined by Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow at RMIT, Dr Sam Whiting, to discuss his four-year project on crisis in the Australian music industries, with a focus on the impact of generative artificial intelligence, automation technologies, and other contemporary challenges. They also chat about the evolving landscape of audio production in the Australian videogames industry.Vanessa and Dan then discuss technological developments involving smart glasses and privacy risks following a Havard student experiment on Meta Ray-Bans Smart Glasses successfully being able to access personal data of strangers through facial recognition technologies.

Lilly Ryan chats with Nick Thorpe and Karen Stewart on 'Live Music Locator', the platform that compiles the where, when, and what for all the live gigs in City of Yarra.

This week, Hosts Vanessa Toholka and Lilly Ryan are joined by Alexar Pendashteh to discuss AI standards. They're also joined by Dr. Jessica Balanzategui discuss Childrens use of streaming services and content discoverabilty.

This week, Vanessa Toholka and guest co-host Jack Knight take us through their Games Week ep! First up is Amy McNickle, one of High Score's co-curators, on High Score and Melbourne International Games Week. APRA AMCOS's High Score returns on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th October as part of Melbourne International Games Week 2024, bringing together music creators and game developers to explore the important role that audio and sound plays in game design and experience. Plus, Raelene Knowles COO of IGEA and key organiser of Games Connect Asia Pacific, discusses why, in the current economic climate, GCAP offers a great opportunity for Australian game developers. Schedule and tickets available now!

Vanessa and Rowena invite Charles Darwin University professor Dr Bharanidharan Shanmugan onto the show to discuss their concerns about smartwatches and whether they're just as vulnerable to hackers as our other devices.The team also chat to Monash university research-fellow and film-maker, Jeni Lee, who explores the interaction between people and digital government systems in their documentary 'I am not a number'.

Dan Morganti, Dan Salmon and Eric Jong have Hamid Sohrabi on the phone revealing a new self-reporting tool that detects early onset of dementia. Susan Rossell from Swinburne also dials in to chat about the link between different tech and its positive influences on cognitive health.

PhD graduate and engineer, Bautik Joshi, sits down with the Byte team to discuss what could really be in store with the world of AI. Following their experience at Adobe, CSIRO and Canva, Bautik provides their own professional insight and how we may actually need to retract AI tools back to their fundamentals for the utmost productivity.

Dr Cath Latham provides some insight on the Australian National University's latest report regarding schooling and digital literacy. The team later investigate what Instagram's recent AI update may mean for the consumer and whether we may start seeing some trends in 'social-based' AI.

Lilly Ryan speaks with technology, politics and public policy expert Verity Harding on her book: AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own.

This week, Dan Salmon, Dan Morganti and Vanessa Toholka welcome socio-technology ethicist and founder of Trustworthy By Design Nate Kinch onto Byte Into IT to discuss Marc Andreessen's Techno-Optimist Manifesto. They also chat about the nostalgia of FPS video games and boomer shooters.

Hosts Vanessa and Rowena speaks to Tom Howard (Breeze) regarding a range of technologies involved with wine and agriculture industries. They also discuss security issues with WiFi networks.

Lilly Ryan speaks to Justin Warren on his recent Freedom of Information Act win in the Federal Court regarding early Robodebt documents. Plus Dan Salmon dives into the week's tech news including the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and a woman with over 7,000 browser tabs!

The Byte Into It crew say goodbye to presenter Jo Eaton, discuss digital rights with chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia John Payne and chat with Jen Payne founder of STEMpals (stempals.org.au)

Join Dan and Lilly for today's show with special guests Susan Carter, the new Director of Code for Australia chatting about solving civic issues and driving positive change, and Eric Jong on delivering researcher training on 3D Print and Design. Dan and Lilly take you through updated news on Apple's partnership with OpenAI, and all the weird tech news of the week! A fan of Roblox? IKEA might have the job for you!

Vanessa Toholka and Dan Salmon discuss recent tech news, such as Medibank being taken to court, a DdOS attack of the Internet Archive, the breaking of Ticketmaster's monopoly and more. They also get into their thoughts on travel for the holidays.

Hosts, Vanessa Toholka and Dan Salmon chat with Louie Roots and Mads Mackenzie about the return of Freeplay Independant Games Festival and new 'Angles' Conference, bringing game creatives together for events throughout June. They also have a chat with Deputy Director of Enterprise AI and Data analytics hub at RMIT, Chao Chen on AI evolving and how we can keep ourselves safe.

Nick Thorpe & Ethan Thorpe join the show to discuss the launch of the Live Music Locator - a new website service tracking every gig in every venue across Naarm, partnering with the City of Yarra as well as the Leaps & Bounds Festival.Later, Laura Summers & Linda McIver from the Australian Data Science Education institute chat about teacher guides for AI, a survey for teachers to fill out to help guide their resources.

Lilly Ryan and Dan Salmon chat to Sarah Vivienne Bentley, Research Scientist for CSIRO, on her new article for The Conversation on how the digital divide is already hurting people's quality of life and will AI make this better or worse? The team also get to chat to Amelia Johns, Associate Professor at the University of Technology of Sydney, about how conspiracy theorists get around Facebook/meta's content moderation policies and how much more can be done for content moderation.

Jake Goldenfein, senior lecturer at Melbourne Law School and tech expert, joins the show with some illuminating facts about how governments use automated decision making processes, and the implications of this usage; as well as talking about data set economies, facial recognition, AI and proposed changes to Australian privacy law. Hosted by Lily Ryan ft. Karl Chapman on panelling

Jo and Lilly chat with sarah Young, Senoir Cloud Security advocate at Microsoft about responsible A.I and how to manage it. Also on the line is InfoXchange CEO David Spriggs to talk about the 20th Technology for Social Justice Conference on the 1st and 2nd of May

Join Vanessa and Row on all the new tech news and weird news this week! On the line is Sam Gavern, a "Vinemaker" to chat about a new startup Grapevine, exploring systematic changes that minorities experience in the tech world. In the studio, Vanessa and Row is joined by Ray and Fee, two information workers, who deep dive into the challenging aspects of work in the tech industry.

Vanessa Toholka & Dan Salmon discuss online security with Adam McKenzie, and his recent tech-focused show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: "Hacked". Later, they speak with Dr Margarita Vladimirova on the lack of privacy or consent when it comes to the commerical usage of everyone and anyone's facial data.

Lilly and Row speak to Tully Arnot about BIRD SONG, a work in the Not Natural exhibition at Science Gallery in Melbourne. They also chat to Meta whistleblower, Frances Haugen on her mission and online safety.

Wouldn't it be fun to meet the people on the other side of the screen? Share ideas? Learn new stuff? This week on Byte Into IT, Vanessa Toholka and Dan Salmon tell us about some great conferences coming up in 2024.Raelene Knowles, Chief Operating Officer at Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA), tells us all about Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP), Australia's premier professional development and networking event for the game development industry. It is one of the first official events for Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW), starting on the 5th of October, 2024. Olga Goloshchapova, Engineering Manager at Zepto and one of at least seven organisers at the Programmable Tech conference. Olga joins Vanessa and Dan in the studio to discuss the conference, which she says celebrates fantastic software developer content with a focus on human connection. Programmable Tech is happening on March 19 2024. PLUS Vanessa catches a bug - listen now to find out whether it's malware, illness or midge… Infoxchange: technology for social justice

Should internet providers and social media platforms self-regulate? Professor Jeannie Marie Paterson doesn't think so. In this episode of Byte Into IT, we hear all about why the government should be doing more to protect the community against AI-generated pornographic and abusive deepfake material. Professor Jeannie Marie Paterson talks to Vanessa Taholka, Dan Salmon and Lilly Ryan about the huge problem that's leaving women vulnerable to non-consensual images of themselves circling the internet and how Taylor Swift was the catalyst for stronger protections in getting this media off line. Read more here: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/picture-to-burn-the-law-probably-won-t-protect-taylor-or-other-women-from-deepfakesPlus, Carla Wilshire, CEO of Social Policy Group, delves into how the algorithm can work against women when it comes to job recruitment, why we need more women in tech and the virtual but real dangers faced by women in video games. Her book, Time to Reboot: Feminism in the Algorithm Age comes out March 1st.

Program regular, John Payne, Chair of the Board of Electronic Frontiers Australia, joins the Byte team for a forecast into the digital rights agenda for 2024. They delve into AI, privacy acts and data brokers.Plus, Artist Thomas Marcusson phones in to discuss his installation project for 'Not Natural' at the Science Gallery Museum. Get down to the gallery to see just how random jellyfish can be... With hosts: Dan Salmon, Vanessa Taholka and Paul Callaghan

Tully Water, futurist, trend forecaster, & cultural strategist at 'Soon Futures', joins the Byte Into It team to discuss all things AI and dating. From Tinder to ChatGPT, we hear a well-researched and nuanced discussion about the online dating space and the ways that it has been interacting with language, culture and socialising, as we look to predicting what effects, if any, this may have long-term for human connection.Hosted by Vanessa Toholka, Lily Ryan and Dan Salmon

Lilly Ryan & Row Muray dive into the 'State Community Management Report 2023' with Vanessa Paech (she/her). They also chat with Dr J. Rosenhaum (they/them) about Nightshade & other 'poisons/preventions' that may impact/help the growth of AI art.

Vanessa Toholka, Dan Salmon and Paul Callaghan are joined by Dr Dang Nguyen, Senior Research Fellow at the RMIT University node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. Dang discusses the role of AI and automated decision-making in news and media.

Lily and Dan discuss issues with accessing Playstation online store content, following the video game brand's decision to pull titles. They also chat with City of Melbourne Councillor Jamal Hakim about the new technologies and spaces at the recently-opened Narrm Ngarrgu Library.

Lily and Dan get stuck into applying AI to pharmaceutical processes with Professor Sally Gras, Director of ARC Digital Bioprocess Development Hub. And, John Pane, Electronic Frontiers Aus Board Member helps to pick apart and interpret the Commonwealth governments new 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. Plus, the hosts tell you all the latest and not-so-greatest in the world of tech.

Joining Vanessa and Jo this week is Anthony Agius, independent tech journalist behind the daily newsletter The Sizzle.

Vanessa Toholka and Rowena Murray tackle spying workplace managers with Swinburne University's Professor Peter Holland who says productivity paranoia is at an all time high with the prevalence of working from home setups. Plus, Nashin Mahtani talks about the development of Yayasan Peta Bencana (Disaster Map Foundation) which is a South-East Asian NGO creating humanitarian technologies for community-led disaster co-management.

In this podcast we interview Jongkil Jay Jeong, Senior Research Fellow in Cyber Security at Deakin University on the national digital ID scheme.We also discuss the Optus outage, cryto currency, Elon Musk and AI chatbots.

Dr Sam John, a senior lecturer in neural engineering at the University Melbourne, joins our hosts to talk about his work with a group of biomedical engineering students to develop gaming consoles for people with cerebral palsy, and looking generally into adapting existing gaming controllers to make them more accessible for people who are differently abled. They speak about prototypes they've developed for this purpose, as well as the commercial possibilities of these developments.The hosts also talk about the updates in AI regulations globally, local changes to emergency mobile roaming, and the results of the first lawsuit against self-driving cars.Hosted by Dan Salmon, Dan Morganti and Ash Keller.