If you’ve been on my site before, chances are you’ve seen the link in the menu to the 2022 gender pay gap database. When I set up this page on my website last year, I had to work around a number of tricky limitations and ended up having to insert custom code into WordPress to […]
Email your representatives about Facial Recognition Technology
In light of the recent riots in Dublin, Helen McEntee is calling for an expansion in the use of facial recognition technology. As I have discussed on this blog, there are numerous ethical, privacy, and civil liberties issues with facial recognition technology. While McEntee has said “There will have to be safeguards – codes of […]
What we owe to each other
I attended a talk recently about migraine, and included in the talk was a demo and a quick blurb about a new-ish medical device to potentially treat migraine and other headache conditions (an external vagus nerve stimulation device, for the curious). It seems an interesting development, since previous incarnations of the same required surgery and […]
Facial recognition is terrible at recognising faces.
If you’ve ever used a Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok filter, you’ve probably used facial recognition technology. It’s the magic that makes it possible for the filters to put the virtual decorations in the right place, it’s why your beauty filter eyeshadow (usually) doesn’t end up on your cheeks. It’s fun and cute, but chances are […]
On Gender Quotas
The Citizens’ Assembly has today voted for a program of reforms on gender equality in Ireland, including some recommendations around extending gender quotas, and ahead of the predictable backlash for gender quotas, I want to share some thoughts on the inevitable “best person for the job” rhetoric. A frequent refrain when people mention gender quotas […]
Have you ever been told that your name is incorrect?
Your name is one of the first things you say to people you meet, it is how you present yourself to the world. It is personal and special. But what if you are told that your name is incorrect due to lazy or thoughtless programming every time you try to book an airline ticket, access […]
Actually inclusive engineering
I want to talk about ethics, diversity, and inclusion in engineering, how we often miss the mark, the impact that has, and the changes we can make to truly bring change from the inside out. My goal is to explain why this is important, and show you some examples where a simple decision resulted in […]