The Tech Bubble

An exclusive DLC panel, the guests unpack the major technological headlines in 2020. Jessica and Chloe pick up some of the major roles that big tech has played this year, highlighting the issue of misinformation; Ryan briefly discuss fact-checking; Rohan and Paul explore the nuanced implications of social media presented in "The Social Dilemma" documentary on Netflix and Jaron Lanier's "10 Arguments for deleting your social media account right now"; Maxine, Chloe and Mr Williamson discuss some major programs and software that emerged in 2020 that particularly stood out; To conclude, the guest reveal what emerging technologies they are most excited about.

The Tech Review team begins by discussing gender equity in technology and the marked increase in the amount of women in tech; The discussion moves on to the recent Blue Origin launch and its implications on the future of space travel; Janis begins by discussing her differences from working online in comparison to face-to-face along with her life in Hong Kong and the UK; Mrs Chapman and Ruthie then discuss the implementation of the one-on-one laptop system along with other aspects of technology at South Island school such as the transition from Microsoft Office to Google Drive; Janis and Ruthie then discuss the importance of coding in education in education and its importance within our lives, along with an overall discussion about the importance of digital literacy in education; The discussion then moves onto the importance of video essays and other formats of information presentation in school; Finally the discussion concludes with the challenges of women in technology and increasing gender diversity within the technological sector.

Is privacy policy consent an illusion? Should we abandon WhatsApp and pivot to Signal? Is data the new oil? In this long-awaited Internet Safety Week 2021 special, our SIS-alumni bring a spectrum of perspectives on the hard-hitting topic of data privacy, metadata—or as one of our guests put it, data about data—and the thought-provoking debate of surveillance capitalism. Fear not, dear listeners; as with all our episodes, we close with our guests sharing their advice on safeguarding our data and mitigating privacy risk.

This week's episode on The Tech Bubble:

An exclusive DLC panel, the guests unpack the major technological headlines in 2020. Jessica and Chloe pick up some of the major roles that big tech has played in 2020, highlighting the issue of misinformation; Ryan briefly discusses fact-checking; Rohan and Paul explore the nuanced implications of social media presented in “The Social Dilemma” documentary on Netflix and Jaron Lanier’s “10 Arguments for deleting your social media account right now”; Maxine, Chloe and Mr Williamson discuss some major programs and software that emerged in 2020 that particularly stood out; To conclude, the guests reveal what emerging technologies they are most excited about.

Episode 10 marks the final episode of 2020! We would like to thank all our listeners for their continued support. 

The Tech Review team begins by discussing gender equity in technology and the marked increase in the amount of women in tech; The discussion then moves on to the recent Blue Origin launch and its implications on the future of space travel; Rohan begins by discussing the specifics of the new iPhones, and Mrs Chapman begins by discussing her differences from working online in comparison to face-to-face along with her life in Hong Kong and the UK; Mrs Chapman and Ruthie then discuss the implementation of the one-on-one laptop system along with other aspects of technology at South Island School such as the transition from Microsoft Office to Google Drive; Janis and Ruthie then discuss the importance of coding in education and its importance within our lives, along with an overall discussion about the importance of digital literacy in education; The discussion then moves onto the importance of video essays and other formats of information presentation in school; Finally, the discussion concludes with the challenges of women in technology and increasing gender diversity within the technological sector.

Maxine, Paul, and Ryan begin by discussing Elon Musk’s Neuralink and the latest Samsung Galaxy Z fold in the new Tech Review segment. Ms Greer, the CEO of ESF, begins by discussing her career in education and her use of technology along it; The discussion then moves onto tech disasters and mishaps; Ms Greer explains how technology has enhanced learning in classrooms; The guests talk about the usage of Zoom across the pandemic and its benefits but also its pitfalls; Finally, the panel discusses the effectiveness of new technologies and tools used to aid learning.

The three principals begin by discussing the implementation of technology during their time at SIS; Rohan then discusses the advent of iPads within the classroom from both students and teachers alike; the discussion then moves onto the one-to-one laptop scheme started by Mr Wray; the guests talk about how online learning can be used to help the disadvantaged, and discrimination in the implementation of tech; the panel discusses their experiences with online learning and how it’s evolved since the start; finally, the guests discuss technological challenges that were faced at SIS.

Originally aired 19 June 2020

Mr Lee starts by announcing the inclusion of Computer Science into the IBDP (from 2023) and IGCSE (from 2021) curricula; The guests then discuss why coding in particular has established its importance; Paul and Will gives a brief update on the situation regarding ESF Computing Conference; Sam and Kristy have a brief debate about the most important coding languages and the ones most accessible to learn; Kristy announces she will be taking over the SIS coding club that Sam started, and the development of the BSD online coding platform, she also gives her opinion on whether there are barriers for girls in coding; to conclude, the guests give advice to Year 8 students who have opportunities to attend coding courses and clubs.

Originally aired 12 June 2020

Chloe starts with a quick update regarding youmatterorg; Eric and Mary share their perspectives on the generic term of ‘Fake News’, which has a multitude of areas; Eric explains the extremity of propaganda in the 21st century; Zach and Chloe discuss the prevalence of anonymity during sensitive times; Sam and Eric describe the consequences of having anonymous sources; Mary explains the possible reasons as to why anonymity is important during uncertain times; The participants then discuss differences between how different generations perceive fake news; To conclude, the guests give advice to our listeners, in this case on how to avoid fake news.

Originally aired 22 May 2020

Mo and Sam begin by talking about a change in the nature of work; Chloe mentions rapid change happening to society and keeping an open mind towards unorthodoxy; the discussion moves onto the economic impacts of AI in regards to jobs; the guests then discuss what may stay the same in the long run, as well as the ethics of “AI-ifying” everything; Finally, the speakers give advice on what practical skills they should develop for navigating through the future.