ITP Techblog

IT Professionals NZ agrees with the sentiments of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) in condemning the actions of Russia in Ukraine.

ITP is an active member of IFIP, represented at IFIP Board Level by Elizabeth Eastwood and on technical committees and working groups by over 20 New Zealand academics.

The (IFIP) Board released a statement, in March, expressing its deep shock at the events in Ukraine. 

IFIP has deep ties and many friendships in Ukraine. The last in-person General Assembly prior to the Pandemic was hosted by colleagues in Kyiv, in September 2019, and IFIP has reached out to them in the past weeks with our sympathies - our horror - at unfolding events.

Read full statement here.

IFIP Partners with UNESCO on Ethics for AI

IFIP President Mike Hinchey and President-Elect, Anthony Wong met with UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, Gabriela Ramos, and her staff in March for discussions on ethical considerations relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The meeting, at UNESCO's headquarters at Maison de l'UNESCO, was organised after the UNESCO General Conference adopted the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at its 41st session in November last year. Tech Blog previously covered that significant news here.

As a result of this session, IFIP has agreed to establish a series of follow-up meetings with UNESCO to identify areas where IFIP can assist the UN body in key policy areas including the development and deployment of two important tools: 

1) an ethical impact assessment (EIA) that aims to assess the impact of AI systems throughout their life cycle, and 

2) a readiness benchmarking methodology that will help countries to assess their preparedness level for ethical AI implementation.

"We are very pleased to support UNESCO with expertise and advice on the potential impacts of AI and how it can be harnessed effectively for the good of all," said Mr Hinchey. 

"We look forward to IFIP making a tangible contribution to this work and to collaborating with UNESCO and related bodies well into the future."

While in Paris, Professor Hinchey and Mr Wong also met with Assistant Director General for ICT, Dr Tawfik Jelassi, to discuss more action-oriented collaboration with UNESCO on digital transformation and digital competency development. Dr Jelassi was a speaker in the final event to celebrate IFIP's 60th anniversary in December 2021.

Catch up with articles from IFIP here.

About IFIP

The International Federation of Information Processing, IFIP, is the premier umbrella organisation of computer and ICT professional societies worldwide. It has a formal consultative partnership relation with UNESCO and is recognized by United Nations and other world bodies.  

Watch the video.

ITPNZ shares similar goals as IFIP so we have been the New Zealand representative for many years, with full voting rights.

IFIP sponsors up to 100 conferences annually. This is possible because IFIP links thousands of  academics and industry practitioners, organized into over 100 Working Groups reporting to 13 Technical Committees. During 2022, these conferences are easily accessible to ITP members because they are held online or hybrid. 

Open Access to IFIP Publications from conferences and other events is available free of charge here:

The IFIP Digital Library

Springer Link for academics

IFIP Select for IT practitioners