Interview
Ellen Broad – Her Surprising Path to Big Data…
Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next
This week’s episode features a woman who never dreamt she’d end up working in a high tech environment. In fact, Ellen Broad imagined she would be a lawyer or librarian when she was younger.
However this tech exec and academic is now a Senior Fellow at the 3A Institute at the Australian National University. The Institute is a multi-disciplinary department created to help humans prepare for, and navigate, a world that will be forever altered by AI-powered ‘cyber-physical systems’.
A little bit more about Ellen, she trained as a lawyer (more about that in our conversation) and she’s worked in data-related roles in the Hague and in the UK, including being an expert adviser to the UK Secretary of State on Data, and head of Policy for the UK’s Open Data Institute.
Not only that, but Ellen has also written an award winning book on AI and its impact on humans called ‘Made By Humans’.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Ellen navigated moving countries, and finding work, without having any network in her new home-base
- How she’s found her voice to speak up against gender bias
- What it’s like working in a truly diverse team – hint it’s not always easy
- Why she’s using social media a lot less these days, and
- Where she thinks technology will go in the next five years.
Enjoy this episode with the unassuming and very smart Ellen Broad.
Links
Griffith Review Article – Computer Says No
Resources Recommended by Ellen
Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
The Coding Train – Daniel Shiffman
