In May 2018, Twitter officially released the Account Activity API to help developers build solutions that enable businesses to create better customer engagement experiences on its platform. On the team of engineers that worked on the API is Babatunde Fashola, a Nigerian software engineer that has worked at Twitter for the past three years building products now used by millions of people around the world. Many Nigerians may recognize the Twitter software engineer’s name as that of the former Lagos state governor and current Minister of Power, Works, and Housing.
At the start of Black History Month 2019, Google designed its daily-changing homepage logo to include an image of African-American activist Sojourner Truth, the great 19th-century abolitionist and women’s rights activist. But what would Truth say about Google’s continual lack of care and respect toward people of color? While bringing more attention to Sojourner Truth is venerable, Google can do better. As a professor and researcher of digital cultures, I have found that a lack of care and investment by tech companies towards users who are not white and male
Netflix is hiring on pocitjobs.com In his career of more than 13 years, Chris Cochran has witnessed how the cybersecurity industry has changed and gained in popularity. Now, as a threat intelligence lead for Netflix, he is on the frontline of innovation, dealing with threat issues that no one has encountered before. Speaking at a high school event, Chris Cochran tells the story of the Bangladesh cyber heist. A group of North Koreans allegedly used the Swift financial system to defraud the US Federal Bank account of Bangladesh Bank of
According to Terragon’s Digital Trends for Nigeria in 2018 report, about 6 million Nigerians use Twitter actively every month. Over the years, the social media platform has changed the way Nigerians interact with one another online and with other users all over the world. It has also bridged the gap between citizens and the Nigerian government as many government officials and agencies have active Twitter accounts. In Silicon Valley, San Francisco, California, the tech giant’s headquarters, various teams of diverse specialties, educational backgrounds work together to ensure that users of the platform all over
AI ethics: Diverse teams are a great start but we need a wider cultural change in tech AI ethics is a hot topic in the tech industry. As a result of work by pioneering researchers like Joy Buolamwini we’re learning more about how algorithms can discriminate against underrepresented groups, most alarmingly ethnic and gender minorities. While AI and machine learning hold great promise, many are concerned about the impact new technology will have on society. Giants of the tech industry like Google and Facebook, government and academia are all trying
Originally posted by Wogrammer, written and edited by Shruti Kumar Sundas Khalid had never considered attending college, let alone a profession in engineering. As a young woman coming from a conservative family in Faisalabad, Pakistan, she says receiving an education and building a career was unheard of. Shortly after finishing high school in Pakistan, Sundas got married and came to the United States in 2004 to live with her husband. After a six-year gap in her education, she decided to pick up where she left off and further her studies. Sundas
This post was originally posted here. I sometimes struggle to figure out the best way to convey something that is important to me to others. That may come as a shock to many of you because of all the articles and blogs I write, and the speaking gigs I have, and the fact that I’m in the business of recommending things to millions of people — but it’s true. For much of 2014 and 2015, I banged my head against a plane window flying back and forth between Austin and Silicon Valley
Like most children, Asta Li grew up with ambitious and ever-changing career goals. One day, she would envision herself as an artist, or perhaps a designer. Another day, it seemed as though architecture was the perfect path to pursue her interest in art. As a first-generation American, she wanted to continue something that would guarantee financial security. Asta first began coding at the age of 13, when she took a C++ class at a local community college. She settled upon this course while looking to expand her skill set, as
This article is a snippet from the postgraduate thesis of Alex Fefegha, the amazing technologist and founder of Comuzi. Here he breaks down concrete examples of racism and sexism perpetrated by A.I. So here it goes: Suggestions have made that decision-support systems powered by AI can be used to augment human judgment and reduce both conscious and unconscious biases. However, machine learning data, algorithms, and other design choices that shape AI systems may reflect and amplify existing cultural prejudices and inequalities. While historian of technology Melvin Kranzberg (1986) constructed the viewpoint
Tell us a bit about yourself? So I’m Aniyia Williams, and I wear a couple of hats. One of them is being the executive director of Black and Brown founders. Which is how I spend most of my time these days – its a nonprofit that helps Black and Latinx people launch and build tech and tech-enabled businesses from the lens of doing that with modest resources. Our whole principle is pushing profitability over fund-ability and doing everything from the lens of if you never saw a dollar of investor money
