diff --git a/_posts/blog/2021-03-25-2021-03-25-lab-meeting.md b/_posts/blog/2021-03-25-2021-03-25-lab-meeting.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..026660a --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/blog/2021-03-25-2021-03-25-lab-meeting.md @@ -0,0 +1,145 @@ +--- +tags: +breaks: False +--- + +# Whitaker Lab Meeting | 25 March 2021 + +Time: 9am-10am, every Thursday (unless stated otherwise) + +Room: All remote until COVID is clear :mask: + +[TOC] + +### Attendees + +* Laura :books: +* Emma :sunflower: +* Arielle :japanese_ogre: +* Maxine :giraffe_face: +* Sarah :headphones: +* Ismael :dolphin: +* Georgia :bird: +* Kirstie :dragon: +* Malvika :genie: +* Aida :ram: +* Sophia :taco: +* Maria :sunny: + +### Apologies :blowfish: + +* Isla :blowfish: I'm the on call engineer this week so I'll be lucky if I can make it +* Patricia :hammer: - on a DMP Tool panel + +### What do you want the lab members to know about? + +> *Please add a bullet point with something you'd like the lab members to know about. You may respond to any of the points before or after the lab meeting, no need to wait until the 1 hour time slot! Please add your initials and use the* đŸ€« *emoji if you would like the bullet point removed from the GitHub record.* :loudspeaker: for things you want in the blog. + +* [name=Laura] :goat: :books: **Goatherd recommended reading!** + * I'm going to share a reading in Slack each day that I think Lab might be interested in. I'll also put them here. + * [name=Maxine] Loving these! + * [name=Arielle] SAME :sparkles: + * I've tried to pick things that I think some/all of the lab might not have seen before, and I'll also talk a bit about why I like each piece and why I think Lab might be interested. + * Feel free to read as much or as little as you like - this is definitely not compulsory! + * :moon: Monday: **'The Women Men Don't See' by James Tiptree Jr.** This is a short story from 1973, which you can read [online](https://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe44/lsff-book/tiptree21.html). This is a science fiction story but also a story about how men are so often considered (and consider themselves) to be the main characters, and how this pushes everyone else's stories and lives to the side, no matter how interesting they are. + * :fire: Tuesday: **'Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics' by KimberlĂ© Crenshaw.** This is the 1989 [academic paper](https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8) in which KimberlĂ© Crenshaw introduced the idea of *intersectionality*. She talks about the ways that looking just at racial discrimination, or just at sex discrimination, ignores the specific experiences of Black women, who experience discrimination in ways that are not simply the sum of racial and sex discrimination. She uses the analogy of a traffic intersection (hence the term): if a Black woman is standing at the intersection of race and sex discrimination, she may experience harm from either - or both - directions. And as a result, addressing or eliminating one axis of discrimination does not necessarily address discrimination against people in the intersections. + * :droplet: Wednesday: **[‘Statement on Visit to the United Kingdom’](https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23881&LangID=E), by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.** The UN system is exactly as complicated as you would expect from a planet-sized network where most decisions are made by committee, but there are some parts of it that I think deserve to be a bit more well-known. One of those is the Special Rapporteur system. Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (an elected group of 47 countries) to be, well, special experts in a particular area of human rights. They investigate specific allegations of abuses, report to the Council on their area of expertise, and, once or twice a year, they conduct fact-finding visits to particular countries. In 2018, the then SR on extreme poverty visited the UK, and wrote a report about what poverty looks like in this country. He was particularly interested in the role of digital technologies in the welfare state, but the report also covers the impact of austerity and attitudes to poverty in the UK. It’s a sobering read. + * :deciduous_tree: Thursday: **'Size Matters to Lesbians Too: Queer Feminist Interventions into the Scale of Big Data' by Jen Jack Gieseking.** This is an [academic article](https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub/207) about what we can learn from small data, hidden data, and information collected by and about marginalised people. For queer people, for example, who have been historically stigmatised, pathologised, and erased from record, collecting and archiving information is a form of resistance but one that isn't captured in 'big data.' Data is always contingent on its context and fetishising size means we ignore tiny data sets: an archive might be small enough to fit on a floppy disk but contain a wealth of history and information that doesn't exist anywhere else. + * :moneybag: Friday: **'Killjoy Commitments' by Sara Ahmed.** Sara Ahmed is an independent feminist scholar: she wrote Living A Feminist Life (which I am currently reading, albeit slowly) and this is a [blog post](https://feministkilljoys.com/2021/01/04/killjoy-commitments/) from her blog Feminist Killjoys, which looks at why the 'let's debate' tactic used by racists, sexists, transphobes, etc. is harmful, and how to oppose dangerous ideas without engaging with them as legitimate positions. I find it a really useful piece to come back to every time I get the urge to pile on to someone being unpleasant on the internet. It's satisfying, sure (I can't always resist the urge!) but it's not helpful and there's always a better way to spend my time! + * [name=Kirstie] Holy moly these resources are incredible Laura!! What an absolute dream interpretation of :goat: herdin! + * I haven't found the time this week to read them but I'm going to set aside time on **Saturday** morning over coffee / breakfast to have a peruse. If anyone in lab wants to read at the same / similar time please let me know. + * (I have read a lot _about_ intersectionality but I haven't ever read the whole original text (shame!)) + * I might tweet them to help with accountability. Would that be ok Laura? + * [name=Laura] go for it! + * [name=Georgia] +1 These are awesome suggestions Laura! I've reada the Crenshaw but a while ago now. She is incredible + * [name=Ismael] Crenshaw tweets -- I find it weird when I learn about people who are still alive and working xD Laura, this is all excellent and I am really unhappy about having to follow from this next week, haha. +* [name=Emma] Finished writing first draft of authorship chapter for The Turing Way, it's a rough first draft so very open to any and all comments to improve it, see it here: https://hackmd.io/LiIUt_KhQammHmuQ-CACkQ, + * [name=Georgia] :tada: go Emma! Will check this out today. + * [name=Arielle] Looking forward to reading this! + * Working with Malvika and Batool on CW21 session about project design :loudspeaker:. + * [name=Kirstie] YES to both of these!! + * I'll add the authorship one to my reading list & get some feedback back early next week. +* [name=Georgia] :loudspeaker: The amazing Susanna has been doing great things for the AutSPACEs project. Sharing her personal [blog](https://skfantoni.com/) + * [name=Kirstie] Such beautiful writing - I'm so delighted that she's part of the AutSPACEs project! +* [name=Georgia] Meet-up session for AutSPACEs today 12:20-2:30 anyone interested welcome to join for any or all of it. + * [name=Kirstie] I'm so sorry that I can't make this session. I hope everyone has lots of fun :yellow_heart: +* [name=Arielle] good thing about online conferences: easy to attend, can get snacks whenever, can wear PJs should the mood take me, back channel convos very fun! Bad things about online conferences: difficult to stay focused on talks, still trying to balance daily tasks with attendance, less "random" convos. + * [name=Maxine] +1 to all of these + * [name=Kirstie] Yeah - I enjoyed working on the couch all day. That elevator music really became part of my work groove :joy_cat: I didn't get the insight that I would have done if I'd been fully engaged and live tweeing tough. I'm glad for the events team that it seemed to go well. That was 18+ month in the making :sweat: + * :loudspeaker: Also, I think a lot of us would be interested in the Wellcome Reimagine Research Culture Festival that's happening at the moment - I went to one live session this morning which had: BSL interpreter, closed captions, live captioning, adjustable video vs slides, presenters sharing pronouns and describing themselves for visually impaired attendees... real masterclass in accessbility and inclusivity :sparkles: + * Link to festival: https://wellcome.org/what-we-do/our-work/research-culture/reimagine-research-solutions-summit + * Link to Royal Society report on research culture: https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/Publications/2018/research-culture-workshop-report.pdf + * Also I think we should invite this team to a TPS seminar: https://www.heartnsoul.co.uk/the-hub-page + * [name=Kirstie] EXCELLENT! Great stuff! (Maybe we could write a little interview with the organisers to go in the Turing Way? On accessible events?) + * [name=Georgia] Lots which is super interesting here - hopefully I'll get some time to check them out. + * [name=Malvika Sharan] I have been following it on twitter but didnt have the bandwidth yesterday to join. Hoping to attend it today. +* [name=Ismael] I don't know why, but this week is very busy!!! Please read [something I wrote over the weekend](https://ismaelkg.medium.com/consistency-as-a-value-for-the-design-of-organisational-values-d18a3f87253d) :koala: + * [name=Kirstie] Super interesting!! I love the idea of developing the thought around consistency as change! I think I want April & May to be spent thinking about TPS's theory of change as part of its strategy and I'd be super keen to incorporate values as best we can... + * [name=Malvika Sharan] I have shared this with Ismael, but posting it here :D I like the analysis of consistency as interoperability. Super valuable insight into how it can fragment groups with different values and not engage them into a common value system where they individually contribute to. Interoperability is important but may lack a global understanding of why we do what we do, instead lead to how we can do what we do better. Both are important questions but are incomplete without each other. I would love to explore "consistency as collective progress" which you have touched in "change" section. Lovely read. +* [name=Malvika Sharan] :loudspeaker: A thread with all my talks so far: https://twitter.com/MalvikaSharan/status/1374803146262908940?s=20 + * This week I am finalising what analytics to use for The Turing Way, but I got to see the data for the first time and apparently we receive over 5000 visits every month (4000 Unique readers last month). Sad to realise how much data we have missed, but glad to have this recorded now to evaluation and impact study. + * Thanks to Kirstie, Aida and Maxine for some really insightful chats on planning my projects and career. I will use April as my wind down deep-thinking month for "Turing<-TPS<-The Turing Way" scoping. + * [name=Arielle] :tada: :tada: :tada: :tada: :tada: + * [name=Aida] :tada: + +### What would you like lab members' opinion(s) on? + +> *Please add a bullet point with something you'd like lab members' opinion on. You may respond to any of the points before or after the lab meeting, no need to wait until the 1 hour time slot! Please add your initials and use the* đŸ€« *emoji if you would like the bullet point removed from the GitHub record.* :loudspeaker: for things you want in the blog. + +* [name=Laura] I can't figure out how to change the link for this hackMD to have the date in. If anyone can fix that for me, that would be much appreciated! + * [name=Kirstie] When you click on the Share icon up in the top right you'll see a box - I've put in the date there now. In future you can just type in a string and it will create a human readable link for you :heavy_check_mark: +* [name=Laura] Any recommendations for sending baked goods to a friend in south London? It's my friend's birthday and I would like to send her something chocolatey and delicious. + * [name=Sarah] My friend baked me flamingo cookies recently and posted them overnight with Royal Mail - admittedly some of them arrived missing legs... and heads... + * [name=Emma] Marks and spencer have lots of foodie gift boxes - I like the colin the caterpillar one! - https://www.marksandspencer.com/l/gifts/food-and-wine-gifts/biscuits +* [name=Sarah] I'm playing a waiting game and it's taking longer than I (or anyone) expected. How do I keep grinding on until the waiting game is over without grinding myself to nothing? + * [name=Arielle] It's tough, but it will end! Give yourself permission to coast as well - focus on being good to yourself, enjoy as much of the springtime as you can, eat nice things, catch up with friends etc. + * [name=Maxine] +1 to Arielle's response. I totally burnt myself out grinding and running really hard when the pace was very much out of my control. I'm not a natural coaster but when I decided to coast a little bit, it made SUCH a difference to how much/little I was tiring myself out. + * [name=Patricia] Gosh, I wish I knew. :hugging_face: + * [name=Kirstie] Time off, coasting, prep for future fun, joy projects. All of the above advice too :sparkle: +* [name=Maxine] Specific question for Turing folks, but what's ONE thing the Turing/a programme does really well and why do you think that is? + * [name=Laura] When I was an Enrichment student, the student services team really did try really hard to make it a good experience: they definitely tried to get to know everyone as an individual, and to keep track of them. I don't think they always got it right, but it did feel like they prioritised student interests as best they could. + * [name=Arielle] I have been impressed with AI UK tbh! And getting a laptop/equipment has been relatively smooth (except for stationary :notebook_with_decorative_cover:) + * [name=Kirstie] I think having centralised programme / project management is really valuable. I know the team isn't perfect but it does feel like they're _trying_ to be really helpful all the time and the boundaries they're putting up in the last year or so are related to facilitating research not "computer says no". + * That goes for REG too I think. I like that they're trying to put more processes in place to be purposeful about what they choose and why. + * In terms of research programmes... yikes... hard to come up with something, right?? I think the partnerships teams are doing good work trying to avoid siloes ... but too many of the directors aren't onboard (they're still thinking like universities do) so its an uphill climb (although I do think we're making progress...) + * Ah - I thought of one - Christine F said that the Public Policy Programme "eat the elephant one bite at a time" and I think about that _every day_. It isn't the strategy that I would take BUT that programme DOES know what it wants to do and it DOES make steady progress towards that goal. And for engaging with government that might be a very effective and purposeful style. (It isn't radical enough for me, I think they sign too many NDAs etc, BUT they do justify all of their decisions against their strategy and I respect that a lot.) +* [name=Patricia] I'm having FOMO about CollabW21 - so many interesting sessions happening in parallel, like last year, I almost regret putting in a proposal because that means I miss out on really cool stuff. How have people managed to catch up on recordings of talks? I barely do it but I do listen to podcasts intensely, so I'm wondering if turning recordings into podcasts would mean I catch up with more stuff (if visuals aren't important)... Any tips are welcome! + * [name=Laura] I miss podcasts! I used to listen to them while commuting/travelling and now that I don't do that any more I have months of backlog since there just isn't a podcast-shaped space in my routine. I catch up on watching talks while I'm doing non-brain intense work - going through my folder of newsletters and mailing lists to check if there's anything interesting, or doing my uni data extraction job, for example. + * [name=Kirstie] If you pay for youtube premium you can play it in the background of your phone, which means you can turn the screen off and listen audio only. I used it for commuting because it also allows you to download videos so you can watch underground etc. Your question is making me feel like I might start that subscription back up again... although I'm also loving my chromecast that means I can watch youtube on my TV. + * (When I'll have the time to do _more work_ though I'm not sure... so maybe also forgive yourself if you don't catch up on everything!) +* [name=Arielle] Here's the slide for my Lightning Talk next week (thank you everyone for the previous rounds of feedback!) - more feedback always welcome! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i6LKVE1rUNd70PWApt4PWELyf--Ecmok/view?usp=sharing + * [name=Kirstie] My feedback here is that it isn't clear from the slide if you're 1) advertising the chapter as having answers to these questions or 2) inviting folks to discuss the questions in a discussion session. + * My recommendation (but feel free to disagree!) is that you go with 2 which would mean putting the activism chapter link at the top - saying you've written it but THEN spending most of your time talking about questions that you would like to hear more thoughts on in the discussion session. Does that make sense? +* [name=Ismael] The end of *Inception*: did he get out of the dream or is he living in a dream forever? + * [name=Patricia] I don't know, just here to say that I hate Christopher Nolan movies, they confuse me. + * [name=Ismael] A very valid opinion, but just an opinion nonetheless :wink: (Tenet was not excellent) + * [name=Georgia] I watched this with someone who had already watched it and explained everything while we were watching it and I still odn't know what happened :laughing: + * [name=Laura] Still dreaming. Those kids did not age. + * [name=Georgia] It's a meditation on Schrödinger: he is both awake and dreaming/all the dreamworlds are part of the multiverse. + * [name=Kirstie] WOAH - Georgia's answer is better than anything I could have come up with! + * [name=Kirstie] Should I rewatch Inception? I saw it at the cinema I think and I liked it but I'm not sure if I want to see it again... does it stand up? +* [name=Georgia] Who (if anyone) has a moral obligation to communicate in a way that can be understood by many, which isn't niche and obscure? + * Scientists? + * Philosophers? + * Artists? + * Political activists/commentators? + * [name=Kirstie] Everyone on the list except for artists. I think they don't have an obligation, they can choose to push the boundaries if they want to. + * Scientists should be working in teams to translate the knowledge. So individuals can communicate as they feel but TEAMS have a moral obligation to make the work accessible. + * (Fun question!) + * [name=Arielle] +1 to Kirstie's answer + * [name=Ismael] Excellent question! Haha. I want to say everyone -- artists cannot talk amongst themselves and be (as) exclusive (as they can be). +* [name=Kirstie] What additional resources should accompany a paper to make it super awesome?! This is specifically thinking about the DECOVID project + * Code - well documented in a GitHub repository + * Data - this is hard with sensitive data... maybe we can make some fake demo data though?! + * Interactive figures? Or figures that can be re-created? + * (Keep going!) + * [name=Sarah] I'd like to see interactive figures in a more-accessible blog post, such that I take on board the main points without having to actually read the paper :sweat_smile: When I was on the AIDA-Lloyds project, I kept coming back to [this interactive blog](https://distill.pub/2019/visual-exploration-gaussian-processes/) to cement my knowledge of Gaussian Processes because the literature was just far too dense and this gave me a more conceptual/intuitive grasp of the core concepts +## Agenda + +* Laura: go through hackMD +* Kirstie: tps jobs repository (if we have time?!) +* Sophia: presenting one of her PhD ideas for feedback! + * Resource from GA: https://ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/76/100/5610/ + * Compatible with https://www.openhumans.org/explore-share/ ? Embedded ethical data management + * Have you thought about consent models? E.G. would you be able to offer dynamic consent? Or some kind of specificity? +