In this episode of #LØRN, Silvija talks to Letizia Jaccheri, Professor at NTNU, about software engineering for society. Letizia is part of the board of Informatics Europe and leads the Women in Informatics Research and Education (WIRE) Working Group. In the episode, Letizia talks about how we can create software that will not harm society, but rather have a positive impact on communities. If we don´t think before we create, can software become the new plastic?
Full transcript (Available soon)
Who are you and how did you become interested in innovation/technology?
I was born in Italy in 1965 and I learned to program in Latin school sometime in the early '80s. I have written a lot about the old days with data both in my book and in my blog letiziajaccheri.org
What is the most important thing you do at work?
We educate the best students in Computer Technology in Norway and we think of new research projects, we apply for funding, we hire new researchers, we follow up projects, travel around the world to present results. My lecture is now part of ACM distinguished speakers.
What do you focus on in innovation/technology?
I have worked for many years and have worked a lot interdisciplinary, technology and art, technology and children, technology for social innovation. Now I want to work with Processes for sustainability. The world lacks programmers. We have been very stressed to try to educate more, hire more. At the same time, the world must solve many problems, social and environmental. How we make technology and what technology we make and do not make can have effects globally. Think of UN Goal 5 Gender. Here I have worked a lot with and for.
Why is it exciting?
For me, the most exciting thing is to work with young people from different cultures. They have so much to contribute and it is very educational. Sometimes it does not go well. We simply do not understand each other. And then we have to repair. And I still cry a little, almost 55 years old, I cry like a girl in front of colleagues. Shameful right? Better to cry than to make others cry, I think.
What do you think are the most interesting controversies?
That we believe that technology should solve all problems, I myself have been involved in processes where it has been decided to create an app to solve a problem and other alternatives have not been investigated at all. Will we ever say that the apps (or software) were the new plastic? I really hope not.
What do we do uniquely well in Norway from this?
Norway was digitized earlier than other countries. In Norway, everyone has the opportunity to get an education.
A favorite future quote?
It is important that as many people as possible understand the technology and the choices the world makes. We must encourage young researchers to be generous.
Samle deg med en venn eller en kollega for å se om du klarer å svare på spørsmålet nedenfor.
Spørsmål:
Hva mener Letizia når hun sier software er den nye plastikken; vil software-utviklingen og bruken av den, bli fremtidens bekymringskilde på lik linje som dagens bekymringer plasten medfører, ovenfor klimaproblemene?
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Download summary (Available soon)
Experimentation in Software Engineering written by Claes Wohlin and others, in 2012.
Kjærlighet og Computer written by Jaccheri in 2006.
