Dear Community,
It’s been another week of discussion and debate here at EdgeRyders. While some countries across Europe are beginning to see an easing of lockdown restrictions, the real impact Covid 19 has had on our societies and economies is beginning to show.
It’s been reported that many of the large tech companies have profited from the new normal. With swathes of employees asked to work from home, large tech companies like Amazon have benefited from an uptick in online retail. The company reported a $33 billion increase in profits.
While the rich get richer, our community has been discussing the imbalances that Covid 19 has brought to society. Those who have the luxury of working from home and utilising the technology of the US giants are experiencing a very different reality during these times compared to our essential workers - many of whom are underpaid and are on the frontline facing the disease every day.
Why don’t you join us in the discussion on how the crisis has affected tech giants and changed power structures. How do you think technology used in everyday remote work could become independent of big tech and stop lining the pockets of billionaires?
Speaking of changes to our society, in the wake of Covid 19 some of our data scientists at De Lab have collated data on the virus and its companion illnesses. We need some assistance in analysing it, so please come along to our webinar on Wednesday 3rd of June to help make sense of the data.
Food For Thought
One of our very own interviewed Britta Schneider, assistant professor of Language and Migration at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and shared a shortened version of the transcript of their talk here. They discussed how language appropriateness appears in programming and machine learning, which in turn reproduces biases in an algorithm’s decision making.
In Case You Missed It
EdgeRyders’ Resilient Livelihoods Summit is taking place in September and October but we are already workshopping our ideas.
We are going to have a few pre-summit listening sessions in June and July. The first one is happening next week and asks for community-oriented solutions for food businesses challenged by the current crisis.
Check out the full programme here and don’t be afraid to comment on threads like this - if like David Graeber you think bullshit jobs should be scrapped.
Take care, and have a good week of solving.
Text by: @lroddy