ITP Techblog

Kia ora koutou ITP Members and Supporters, With so many short weeks and Monday based holidays recently the routine of publishing these roundups almost got lost. It's been a busy few months for the ITP team - processing specialist Technology worker visa applications, organising TechHub in school presentations, Tahi Rua Toru Tech activities, matching mentors and mentees, arranging both in person and online events, revisiting Member services offered, our corporate partnership model and working closely with our education partners on a range of great initiatives - not to mention adjusting to a new CEO.

Webinar Series Reboot

Ngā mihi to everyone who completed our recent survey, the response was fantastic with a great list of suggested topics, times and other insights:

• 77% of respondents are happy with the amount of communications they receive from ITP.  
21% would like to hear more. Only 2 people wanted to hear less!
• 23% had never attended an ITP webinar before.
• 70% of people were more likely to attend a webinar specifically for the title content, and
• 30% would attend for the general ITP update/ community involvement.

Top topics of interest for upcoming Webinars were: 

• Technology Trends 2022 and Beyond
• Cyber security
• Digital Strategy for Aotearoa
• Upcoming and current Government projects
• Reskilling and Upskilling
• Closing the Digital Divide

The 2022 Webinar series will kick off next week - during TechWeek - on Wednesday May 18th at 4pm with a Cyber Security panel:
Lifting the Cyber Security capability of Aotearoa.

In brief - Ransomware, phishing and DOS attacks are on the rise and impacting both individuals and companies large and small. The capability, veracity and scale of the bad actors is really escalating so we need to find ways to lift capability across Aotearoa in response.
Equally employers - government and private sector - are reporting Cyber Security specialisations as one of the biggest skill shortage challenges they are facing at present.
Our speakers will explain more about the current landscape, explore why it's important to lift the cyber capability across all aspects of our lives - everyone is vulnerable, from our tamariki as they start their digital lives, everyone who engages in the digital world as well as for our workforce. They will also give us their tips on how we can learn more to protect ourselves or to up skill and work in the industry.

We have 3 amazing panelists who bring diverse perspectives and a wealth of experience:

• Izzi Lithgow, from the Ministry of Education
• Doug Newdick, from Axenic
• Dr Bryce Antony, from AdvantageNZ and the University of Auckland

The panel will be facilitated by me (Vic MacLennan) - wearing my Cyber Security Advisory Committee hat.

BNZ Digital Skills for Life Report 2022

The BNZ has release an updated version of the Digital Skills for Life Report. Some of their key findings include:

• Twenty percent of the population of Aotearoa-New Zealand - or 800,000 New Zealand adults - have Below essential digital skills
• Disabled people are less digitally included than the general population. More than half of the disabled population do not have Essential digital skills (52% of disabled people, compared to 20% of the total population).
• More than half of the population (53%) experienced at least one of these digital harms in the last 12 months - spending too much time online, scams, and harmful personal messages or harmful content on public sites.

This year the report also includes research on Digital benefits and harms encompassing disinformation. Most alarming here were the insights into who is most likely to suffer from digital harm:

• Pacific Peoples are 2.4x more likely to experience severe digital harm than the total population
• Māori are 1.6x more likely to experience severe digital harm than the total population
• Disabled people are 2x more likely to experience severe digital harm than the total population

Well worth a read. Shout out for the forward is written by my DECA colleague Kris Dempster-Rivett.

We need your help - TechHub Talks

As in person activities return to our lives the demand for industry people who can open young minds to the possibilities of Digital Technology careers is growing. The TechHub talks programme is offered to all schools where teachers invite us to arrange for speakers who can inspire students, explain in plain English terms what a career in our industry might offer and demystify what's behind the technology they hold in their hands.
These talks are a mixture of in person and remote, they are for 30 minutes and you don't need any previous presentation experience.
If you are keen please email [email protected] and the team will be in touch.

Finally - my quest in this role is to support changing the face of our industry, I want to thank everyone for their ideas, feedback and offers of support. We are a not-for-profit with a small team and acknowledge the needs of our members must be at the centre of everything we do. Please keep the feedback, ideas and offers coming. We need to hear from you. Ngā mihi nui Vic