Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Are you interested in studying computing but feel a bit daunted by entering a field that can seem overwhelming? As professional computer science educators, we are often asked questions by prospective students about what's actually involved in studying computing, the types of roles one can expect after graduating, the skills a student needs, and more. For this episode, we tried to distil some of those common questions into a podcast. If you're someone who thinks computing is only for math wizards and “hardcore” programmers, this is the podcast for you! (Spoiler alert: The answer is NO!) We discuss tech innovation and how ethical IT professionals can have a positive impact on the world. We also explore the hidden perks of IT careers, beyond the good salaries. Join Amanda Freeman-Gater, TJ McDonald, and Rob O'Connor - all from the Department of Computing and Mathematics at SETU - for an easy-to-follow conversation on why you should study computing. Useful Links: Articles Careers Portal – Information Technology https://careersportal.ie/sectors/sectors.php?sector_id=8 Brightwater Salary Survey 2024 https://online.flippingbook.com/view/692494949/ Technological university graduates more likely to be employed after leaving college (Irish Times) https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/12/19/technological-university-graduates-more-likely-to-be-employed-after-leaving-college/ The highest paying sectors for new graduates (BusinessPlus) https://businessplus.ie/business-insights/highest-paid-graduates/ Courses BSc (Hons) in Computer Science (SE600) https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-hons-in-computer-science-common-entry BSc (Hons) in Software Systems Development https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-hons-in-software-systems-development BSc (Hons) in Computer Forensics and Security (SE602) https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-hons-in-computer-forensics-and-security BSc (Hons) in Creative Computing https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-hons-in-creative-computing BSc in Information Technology https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-in-information-technology BSc in Creative Computing https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-in-creative-computing BSc in Software Systems Development https://www.setu.ie/courses/bsc-in-software-systems-development Personal profiles Amanda Freeman-Gater https://www.setu.ie/staff/amanda-freeman-gater TJ McDonald https://www.setu.ie/staff/tj-mcdonald Robert O'Connor https://www.setu.ie/staff/robert-oconnor
Coming out of our latest Computing Week on campus in SETU, Rob spoke with two members of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau – Detective Sergeant Eoin O'Connell and Detective Noel O'Gorman. They spoke about the work of the Bureau, how cybercrime threats have evolved over the past few years and what individual and organisations can do to help protect themselves. TRIGGER WARNING: the podcast includes discussion of offences around online sexual abuse and child pornography. The conversation is not graphic but listeners may want to exercise discretion. By an amazing coincidence, in the period from when the interview was recorded and published, SETU has been the victim of a cyberattack. At the time of podcast publication, all systems on the Waterford campus are offline and the site is under active investigation. So the podcast is particularly timely for the SETU community … For more information on the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, please visit https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/organised-serious-crime/garda-national-cyber-crime-bureau-gnccb-/ To keep up to date with The Machine or for any follow-ups, you can contact Rob via the SETU website https://www.setu.ie/staff/robert-oconnor
Autonomous Systems are the jumping off point for this podcast episode with Indrakshi Dey of the Walton Institute at SETU. We talk about how computer science research is progressing in this area, encompassing the world of AI and forming links with partners across all disciplines. This leads on to a chat about how we (humans) tend to anthropomorphise Artificial Intelligence systems. We also discuss Indrakshi's career to date and how being a woman of colour has given her unique insight across the sector. Here are some links if you wish to follow up the podcast: · Walton Institute Key Research Areas https://waltoninstitute.ie/research/key-research · CONNECT project https://www.connect-science.net · Indrakshi Dey's profile at the Walton Institute https://waltoninstitute.ie/about/staff/dr-indrakshi-dey · Indrakshi Dey's profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/indrakshi-dey-aa658839/ · Rob O'Connor on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertoconnorirl/
To help celebrate International Women's Day and Women's History Month, Rob spoke with Spanish computer scientist Nuria Oliver about her work to date, such as using big data systems to help unbanked people access credit in developing nations or combating bias in AI systems. Nuria recounted how she first became interested in computing and turned that interest into a career. They also discussed the gender imbalance in computing today and Nuria offered some thought-provoking suggestions as to how these issues might be addressed. Nuria is also a fellow with Association of Computing Machinery, so thanks to the ACM for setting up the interview. Here are links to projects mentioned during the podcast: ELLIS – European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems https://ellis.eu Data-Pop Alliance https://datapopalliance.org Nuria Oliver's Personal Website https://www.nuriaoliver.com Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) https://www.acm.org To keep up to date with The Machine, you can find the podcast on X/Twitter @machine_podcast or you can connect with Rob O'Connor via LinkedIn
Here's a live panel discussion we recently hosted at SETU, in which a bunch of computing professionals talked about what it's like to work in the tech sector in Ireland. This took place in front of approx. 200 Leaving Cert students, tied in with Computing Week at SETU. If you're a student or someone who's interested in starting a career in IT, this discussion might be very useful. The panel is comprised of: Padraig O'Neill – UNUM Sinead Queally – VoxGig Mick O'Brien – Kargo Donna Tilson – Sun Life Brendan O'Farrell – Red Hat Amanda Freeman-Gater - SETU Please excuse the poor audio in places. This was held as a live event and not a podcast. However, there were some great nuggets of info in there so we decided it was better to get it out there, warts and all.
Another #ComputingWeek talk turned into a podcast! Two Red Hat software engineers, both recent graduates of SETU, returned to discuss the issues surrounding running your own LLM on a local machine, how models and datasets are built and reduced (quantised) so as to run on a laptop rather than an array of servers. Mark Campbell and Dimitri Saradkis provided excellent insight on the technical issues surround this topic, before getting into some of the ethical and moral issues with host Rob O'Connor at the end. You can connect with all the people on this podcast on LinkedIn at: Mark Campbell https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-campbell-76846b194/ Dimitri Saradakis https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitri-saridakis-32a087139/ Rob O'Connor https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertoconnorirl/ Here are links to some of the tools referenced in the podcast: Red Hat OpenShift AI https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/cloud-computing/openshift/openshift-ai LMStudio https://lmstudio.ai/ Ollama https://ollama.ai/ HuggingFace https://huggingface.co/
On the back of a packed #ComputingWeek talk at SETU, Rob nabbed two speakers from UNUM Ireland – Gary Kenneally and Shourjya Sanyal – and recorded a conversation about the pace of change in the ICT industry, how AI tools can be integrated into a workflow and why new developers should even care about AI. The lads discuss why the think AI won't be replacing anyone anytime soon – but it may help us work smarter. To keep up to date with The Machine, you can find the podcast on X/Twitter @machine_podcast Or you can contact Rob via the SETU website. Thanks for listening
Don't know your q-bits from your bytes? This is the podcast for you! Quantum Computing is one of the next-gen technologies that can truly usher in a new era in computing. Quantum Communications has the potential to provide a truly secure infrastructure for communications across small or vast distances. Deirdre Kilbane (Director of Research at the Walton Institute) joined Rob O'Connor in the studio to talk about all of this and the recent announcement of a large research investment in Ireland QCI (Quantum Communications Infrastructure). Deirdre breaks down some of the theoretical elements in an easy to understand manner and lays out the practical applications for this technology across Europe (and beyond). For more information on Ireland QCI, check out this web story https://waltoninstitute.ie/projects/ireland-qci For more information on Deirdre Kilbane, check out her profile https://waltoninstitute.ie/about/staff/dr-deirdre-kilbane Stay up to date with The Machine podcast by following us on Twitter @machine_podcast
Hazel Farrell and Pete Windle are academics at SETU who have been playing with ChatGPT (and other AI tools) to see how they can be used in the classroom to assist teaching and learning. They both take an open approach towards the technologies, rather than shutting down conversation. They sat down with Rob O'Connor to talk about the potential of these technologies to be a useful tool in education. Pete is a lecturer in Computing, whereas Hazel is a lecturer in Music - so there is a cross-disciplinary aspect to the discussion. The podcast doesn't lead to many answers for academics or students who may be struggling with AI, but it does spark some interested questions and dialogues. This is definitely a topic we'll be discussing again. During the podcast, Hazel recommends following Mushtaq Bilal on Twitter @MushtaqBilalPhD for interesting threads on ChatGPT. Pete recommends the ChatGPT Insights Facebook group. You can follow Hazel on Twitter @renshigirl. Pete's profile on LinkedIn can be found here. Rob O'Connor is on Twitter @roboconnor_irl or on Mastodon http://mastodon.ie/@roboconnor. Follow the podcast on Twitter at @machine_podcast
Red Hat are the world's largest open source software company. Senior Engineers at Red Hat - Brendan O'Farrell and Leigh Griffin - joined SETU lecturers Rob O'Connor and Amanda Freeman-Gater to chat about Red Hat Academy, an online portal that provides free resources for students of computer science. They discussed the kind of material you can find there and why students might be interested in this. There's a lot of conversation about Linux in here, but it's not confined to CentOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. They also talked about the characteristics that they look for when hiring graduates and their thoughts on learning as a life-long activity (not something that ends when you complete your degree). You can learn more about Red Hat at redhat.com. You'll find general company info there, as well as details on the Red Hat Academy. You can follow The Machine podcast on Twitter @machine_podcast. Staff profiles for Rob O'Connor and Amanda Freeman-Gater can be found on SETU.ie
Two colleagues at SETU from the School of Engineering, David Alarco and Natalie Romanyatova, joined Rob in the podcast studio to discuss additive manufacturing (3D printing), how it dovetails with computing and how it's changing the way "stuff" is made. They have a new course starting bout it too. More information about Additive Manufacturing Advancing the South East (AMASE) can be found at amase.ie This is the last episode of The Machine for the season. We'll be back in the new academic year with more interesting chats about technology. Enjoy your summer holidays!
Can we detect an excess of carbon in a field using equipment that already in place? Rob spoke with SETU academic Bernard Butler and his graduate student Thakshilla Wedage about their work in... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
What place does religion have in video games? Why should developers be concerned with religion, theology or morality when creating games? Frank Bosman is a Dutch academic with Tilberg University who... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
A rerun of an episode we published a few years back - Rob sat down with some final year students who'd just completed their undergraduate degree. He asked them to reflect on their time studying in... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
StudyAtHome is a collection of eLearning courses approved by Universities across Europe where students can pick up extra credits in a variety of specialist computing courses, such as Data Ethics and... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
To kick off a short season at the end of the academic year, Eamonn Deleastar and Siobhan Drohan joined Rob O'Connor in the studio to discuss issues around learning your second (or third!) programming... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
A documentary tracing the 50+ years history of Waterford Institute of Technology, from its initial creation as Waterford Regional technical College in 1970, through to its re-designation as the South... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
It's not a new episode, but Rob gives an update as to where The Machine podcast current stands (HINT - will be back soon!) and also reposts an episode of their new podcast 9plus which was recorded... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Continuing our series looking at sub-disciplines of computer science, in this episode we're discussing Automotive Computing (yes, the computers that run cars!) On the panel are Brendan Jackman, head... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Mícheál Ó'Foghlú is a former computing faculty member at WIT, one of the founders of the TSSG research group (now Walton) and instrumental in the spin-out of FeedHenry and its evolution into Red Hat.... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Continuing our explorations of sub-topics of Computer Science, WIT lecturer Frank Walsh and student Dominik Wawak joined Rob O'Connor in the studio to discuss the Internet of Things. The discussed... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
In the first episode of the new season of the podcast, the panel have a chat about cloud computing, what's involved, some of the big techs to watch out for and what you might need to know if this is... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
An unexpected episode for the academic year 2020/21. What does 3rd Level need to know about Leaving Cert Computer Science? This podcast is an edited live recording from the ACM SIGCSE Eire's annual... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Rob chats with Brett Becker, one of the co-authors of the Computer Science for Leaving Cert book. They talk about computing as a 2nd level school subject, why certain topics were emphasised and... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
A different episode to our normal programming. 'Gianluca Wants a Record Player' is a documentary that follows an Applied Computing student's quest to get into vinyl music. What is so appealing about... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Final Year Projects are one of the most exciting (and daunting!) parts of an undergraduate degree. WIT have a close relationship with Sun Life, a multinational company with a strong presence in... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
VR/AR and MR are acronyms that are becoming increasingly prevalent in the tech world. We delved into what that means from a tech and business perspective in this episode, with contributions from... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
In March of 2021, the TSSG (tssg.org) will rebrand as The Walton Institute. Rob spoke with co-directors Sasi Balasubramaniam and Kevin Doolin about the change is taking place, the shift in focus of... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Despite the ongoing COVID situation, work placements and internships are still going ahead in the tech industry. Rob spoke with three stakeholders to get different perspectives on how things have... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Ho ho ho! Five of the regular podcast hosts from WIT got together to record a joint episode recommending some books, TV programmes, films, podcasts and tech that you (or a loved one) might enjoy over... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
"LOVE: A Puzzle Box Filled With Stories" is the recent release from Canadian studio RocketShip Park Games. Rob spoke with their chief games designer and programmer Shane McCafferty (originally from... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Quantum communication! Cybersecurity! Controlling tractors from space! Rob spoke with Mark White (Head of Research WIT) and Niall Smith (Head of Research CIT) about the newly formed SEE (Society,... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
We have three IT security and forensics experts in the virtual studio for this episode! Rob knows next to nothing about cybersecurity so was able to honestly ask questions like "what is a denial of... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
The COVIDTracker app, developed by NearForm in Tramore Co. Waterford has become the basis for exposure notification apps across the globe. In this episode, Rob O'Connor speaks with Conor O'Neill,... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
A companion piece to our last episode, this time Rob is speaking with two computing students - Sinead O'Neill (2nd year Computer Forensics & Security) and Dimitri Saradakis (3rd Year Applied... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Rob O'Connor discusses the new academic year with Colm Dunphy and Siobhan Drohan and the shift from on-campus to remote teaching and learning. They discuss some things they enjoy and dislike, some... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Following on from our previous episode, here's a discussion about two more Covid19 projects that are being actively worked on during the lockdown by researchers from TSSG at WIT. Rob chats with... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Applying their expertise in information communications technology (ICT), researchers from TSSG at WIT are working to develop both short as well as long term solutions for COVID-19. Rob O'Connor spoke... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Mark White (VP for Research & Innovation) and Kathryn Kiely (Industry Services Manager) spoke with Rob about research activities at WIT. What kind of work goes on? How important is it to the... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Rob and podcast regular Colm Dunphy sat down with former student Danny O'Dwyer, now well known across d'internet for the documentaries he's created at NoClip and his work in the world of video games... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
As a special Christmas treat, we present a radio nativity play which was produced by computing students from WIT back in 2012, made in conjunction with Beat 102-103. It was shortlisted for a number... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
WIT has an Open Day coming up for prospective students. We thought it'd be a good to publish a podcast answering some of the frequently asked questions we're regularly asked about computing courses... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Two students of the HDip in Computer Science at WIT were drafted in to describe their experiences of being a student on a totally online programme. Sarah Barron and Bernard Thompson were very... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
It's hard to imagine life without the Internet. Podcasts wouldn't exist without the infrastructure provided by a collection of interconnect technologies and networks. But how does it all work? Rob... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
As it's #CodeWeek across the EU, we thought we'd record an episode offering advice on starting coding with younger folk (primary and secondary school age children). We spoke about some of our... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
We've all gotten questions like "what laptop should I buy?", "any recommendations for a computer?" or "is this a good deal for a PC?" The short answer to all those questions is "it depends!"... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
In what is likely to be the final episode of The Machine for this season, Rob chatted with some outgoing final year undergraduate computing students about their time at WIT: Dimitra Zucharelli,... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Rob is joined by Siobhan Drohan and Brenda Mullally to discuss a few tech news stories making headlines this week. - Canada is becoming a tech hub thanks to President Trump's immigration... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Four women chat about how they began their careers in computing & technology. Features Phil Healy (Irish Athlete and postgraduate computing student at WIT), Aisling Furlong (digital media consultant... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
Ahead of the AI2 Applied Artificial Intelligence (www.ai2.ie) conference taking place in Kilkenny this week, Rob sat down with Glen Collins (Conference Director) and Susan Gallagher (Engineers... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
How can technology assist in the learning experience? How have these systems evolved over the years? What kind of access opportunities to education can they provide? A very interesting discussion on... Faculty and students from Waterford Institute of Technology explore a wide range of topics related to computing and technology. Hosted by Rob O'Connor. All opinions are personal and do not represent Institutional views.
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