Events › Open Data Day 2023

EPL is thrilled to host Open Data Day 2023!

Open Data Day is an annual celebration of open data all over the world. Join us for an afternoon of engaging presentations and discussions as we hear from local open data experts and enthusiasts. Presenters will share thoughtful insights, eye-opening data-sets, and provide great strategies and tips for engaging with open data. You may bring your own laptop or device to follow along, but it is not necessary.

Speaker schedule:

Opening Speaker – Katrina Ingram: AI Ethics & Data Dilemmas (1:10 p.m.)

Lightning Talk – Stephanie Husby – How it Works: Machine Learning 101 (2:10 p.m.)

Lightning Talk – Kyra Markov – When news and numbers collide; the intersection between data and journalism (2:25 p.m.)

Brief Intermission 

Live Session – Eugene Chen – Exploring ChatGPT *Live*, with Useful, Wacky, and Scary Examples (2:50 p.m.)

Workshop Session – Fareeza Khurshed - Tracking Alberta's inflation compared to Canada using R Studio (3:20 p.m.) (Optional: bring a laptop to participate along with this session)

Session Details

Katrina Ingram - AI Ethics & Data Dilemmas

Artificial Intelligence is a technology that is quickly becoming part of our digital infrastructure and woven into aspects of daily life. AI has the potential to impact society in many positive ways. However, there are numerous examples of AI systems that are operating in ways that are harmful, unjust and discriminatory. How can we build and deploy better AI that's informed by societal values? In this talk we'll cover the high level essentials of what you need to know about AI ethics. We'll also explore some "data dilemmas" and discuss how data management professionals can help organizations make better choices about the data used in AI/ML projects.

Bio:

Katrina Ingram is the Founder and CEO of Ethically Aligned AI, a company focused on helping organizations to drive better outcomes in the design, development and deployment of AI systems. A seasoned executive, Katrina has over two decades of experience running both not for profit and corporate organizations in the technology and media sectors as well as experience in the public sector. She is a member of DAMA and volunteers with several AI ethics organizations including Women in AI and Ethics (WAIE), For Humanity and All Tech is Human. She was named to the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. Katrina holds an undergrad in business administration from Simon Fraser University and a master of arts in communications and technology from the University of Alberta. She combines her love of audio and interest in AI as the host of the podcast, AI4Society Dialogues. Katrina is a member of the Calgary Police Services Technology Ethics Committee and recently developed Canada's first micro-credential in AI Ethics in partnership with Athabasca University. Katrina is also working with the City of Edmonton as their Data Ethicist.

Fareeza Khurshed - Tracking Alberta's inflation compared to Canada using R Studio

This interactive tutorial will walk you through how to use R Studio to automatically download a Statistics Canada data table, create a report including a table and graph. The tutorial will demonstrate how to access the Consumer Price Index monthly data, and create a report comparing Alberta CPI to Canada with breakdowns for different product categories.

If you wish you to participate along with this session please prepare the following: 

R Studio installed on your computer including the tidyverse and cansim packages. R Studio cloud version may be used, but is reliant on an internet connection.

Bio:

Fareeza Khurshed is a graduate from the University of Alberta and has worked in the Data Science field for almost 20 years. She currently works for Alberta Blue Cross, leading the Analytics team and has previously worked for the Government of Alberta in several ministries as well as the BC Cancer Agency and private consulting.

Eugene Chen - Exploring ChatGPT *Live*, with Useful, Wacky, and Scary Examples

There's so much news and hype around AI and ChatGPT, it can seem slightly dystopian and scary. Whether you've tried it or not, you can experience the hype firsthand in this talk with a live run that will include audience feedback, see how it can directly help you, and watch as Eugene dives deeper into what it can and probably shouldn't do with a series of examples (that will include Connor McDavid, Mickey Mouse, our upcoming election, and the incredible things it can do around open data for, in one example, the EPL).

Bio:

Eugene Chen is an award-winning creator of interactive data visualizations and enjoys creating elegant tools, several of which have been featured in media outlets like the New York Times, CBC, NPR, and CTV. He is the Chair of the Canadian Open Data Society and co-organizer of BetaCity YEG, Edmonton's civic tech meetup, and you can find him experimenting with new visualizations, trying to finish his Masters thesis in computing science, or covering Edmonton bike routes with a 360 camera through his self-imposed sabbatical year of "only-work-on-interesting-projects".

Stephanie Husby - How it Works: Machine Learning 101

In this lightning talk we will dive into the nuts and bolts of machine learning. We will look at common applications of machine learning, such as classification, and see how machine learning models are built and used.

Bio:

Stephanie is currently the Program Chair of Technology at NorQuest College. She holds advanced degrees in both Computer Science and Business and is passionate about teaching and learning, having taught at five different post-secondary institutions in the Edmonton area! Prior to joining NorQuest, Stephanie worked as the Director of Curriculum for the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.

Kyra Markov - When news and numbers collide; the intersection between data and journalism

We’ll dive into which data-based stories Albertans genuinely care about, how data can both strengthen and generate new content, and how to make open data relevant, exciting and easy to understand for the general public.

Bio:

Kyra Markov is an Assignment Editor and Data Journalist. Kyra earned her Radio and News Television Broadcasting Diploma from NAIT in 2015 and has been with CTV News Edmonton for eight years. Kyra is behind CTV Edmonton’s weekly COVID-19 and influenza data update articles. She enjoys data tracking, and utilizing it to discover trends over time and conveying that information through graphs. She tracks in detail data surrounding COVID-19 and influenza, as well as local crime and the opioid crisis.