Sunday, 1 April 2018

More Serious Stuff

In addition to the cultural and social events I've just mentioned, I had two very serious and important invitations to major economic / technological / quasi-political engagements connected with my abiding interest in local economic development in high-technology futures.

First came the formal opening of TAFE's digital hub. TAFE stands for technical and further education often involving formal schooling for tradesmen such as electricians carpenters and plumbers. But TAFE, like universities and the school sector, is undergoing a rapid transformation in educational delivery in the light of burgeoning ICT. In NSW, the TAFE sector made a fundamental decision a few years back to deliver increasing content on-line rather than in a class-room. And it chose Armidale as the location to develop both the platform and its content. That's because this town has been a long-time world leader in on-line education and has many skilled practitioners. Well, the digital hub here has been developed and that was opened ceremoniously before a large crowd a week or so ago. The heavies on the stage so to speak included our local member of state parliament, Adam Marshall, and mayor Simon Murray. I've a lot of time for Adam who is well-educated, young, energetic and future focused. In the opening, Adam and Simon played a game on a screen using VR and AI (virtual reality and artificial intelligence) which really roused those present!

This digital hub will mean the in-migration to Armidale of many people with the great skills needed to establish on-line education and I can see the material produced having markets across all Australian and states and internationally. Rural development these days is no longer about serving local markets but also focusing on national and international markets.

Here's the digital hub with all its computer equipment, servers, access to cloud content and so on, along with a poster advertising the benefits of TAFE digital.




There were lots of speeches by various head honchos watched by a surprisingly large crowd





Screens also displayed content as they talked.



And we also saw on-screen the digital game played using VR / AI performed by Alan and Simon shown here with their control gadgets.



It was an interesting morning!

So, too, was my other 'political' engagement for which I've - perhaps mercifully for you - got no photos. Last Wednesday I flew down to Canberra at the invitation of the House of Representatives Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation (SCRDD) to be part of an Expert Panel advising them. Our discussions between the members of parliament and the panel of which I was a member went on for about 150 minutes. It went out on air live ad every word spoken will be reported in Hansard. Yes, Australia has a Hansard system just like the UK parliament. 

Let's just say now that the discussion was energetic, sometimes critical, informative for both parties, and potentially valuable in terms of outcomes. Regional development is desperately wanted across much of rural Australia and hopefully our work will translate into a better understanding of what Parliament can realistically do to accelerate such development in a cost-effective way. All members of the Panel, whom I personally know from attending conferences and memberships of learned societies, made excellent contributions in my opinion. It was literally a flying visit because I made it home the following day!

So, to reiterate earlier comments on various blog posts, retirement these days can be full of energy and ability to contribute to the future of society. Thinking of this reminds me that 9 days from now I'll be on a one-day visit to Sydney for another technological extravaganza. I've been invited by Amazon to a high-technology session in the morning followed lunch with a cabinet minister. The downward flight is at 6.30 am and I'm home just after 8 pm. It looks like my frequent flyer points will reach about 200,000 shortly!

AS

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