Tag: Auckland

Citizen Science workshops on beach litter data – North Island – 28 January-9 May 2019

What

Free citizen science workshops on beach litter data collection

Backed by the Ministry for the Environment, and working alongside Department of Conservation and Statistics New Zealand, our multi-award winning charity Sustainable Coastlines is delivering a project to create grassroots solutions to litter in Aotearoa.

As part of this project, we are offering free training workshops for individuals and groups who would like to take part in ongoing litter data collection on their local coastline. The workshop will pass on the skills in surveying, data collection, and Health & Safety that will allow you to play an important part in this long-term effort.

This “Citizen Science” project will allow you to contribute data to New Zealand’s first national beach litter database, meaning that the information collected reaches those that need it for decision-making.

In terms of the level of commitment required from your group, the project is ongoing and ideally each of the monitoring sites will be surveyed a minimum of 4 times per year, for at least the next 3 years. We are setting up 108 sites like these around Aotearoa and this long-term data will play a critical role in proving the litter problem and helping to prioritise solutions.

We will be working around the following towns and regions during the dates listed below, and would love to organise a free Citizen Science workshop specifically for your group during these dates. Simply click ‘Book workshop’ to email our friendly team with a date that works for you. Find out more about the project and the workshops in the sections below.

Workshop details

Date: We’ll arrange a workshop specifically for your group. Just let us know the date and time that suits best within the dates that we’re in your region.

Timing: 3-4 hours.

Location(s): We will run a 2-hour workshop session at a nearby indoor space of your choosing, eg surf club, community centre, marae etc, followed by a Litter Survey at a local beach / coast that you would like to collect data from on an ongoing basis. This will be your “Monitoring Site”. Sustainable Coastlines will assist you with your monitoring site selection. Please let us know your beach and indoor location preference(s) so we can make arrangements.

Capacity: 3-10 ‘Citizen Scientists’. We highly recommended that a minimum of 3 people from your organisation / community group attend so that leadership and knowledge can be spread.

When and Where

Book your Citizen Science workshop

Northland: Mon 28 Jan to Fri 1 Feb. Book workshop.
Auckland: Tue 12 Feb to Thu 21 Feb. Book workshop.
Coromandel: Mon 4 Feb to Fri 8 Feb. Book workshop.
Waikato West Coast: Tue 19 Mar to Thu 28 Mar. Book a workshop.
Taranaki (New Plymouth & North): Tue 16 Apr to Thu 25 Apr. Book workshop.
Taranaki (South of New Plymouth): Tue 2 Apr to Thu 11 Apr. Book workshop.
Manawatu-Whanganui: Tue 5 Mar to Thu 14 Mar. Book workshop.
Wairarapa: Tue 30 Apr to Thu 9 May. Book workshop.
Wellington: Tue 5 Feb to Thu 14 Feb. Book workshop.

Can’t see your town or region above?! Never fear. We’ll be in touch again in the next few months as we confirm dates for our next roadshow from May 2019. Eventually we will set-up at least 108 long-term Monitoring Sites all around Aotearoa, so there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved.

How Much

Free

More

Citizen Science Workshops by Sustainable Coastlines.

Gardeners of the Galaxy – Auckland – 1 December 2018 to 10 March 2019

What

Your space rocket has crash landed on an alien planet – how will you survive? What will you eat and how will you breathe? Life on an alien planet is tenuous, and the answer to surviving in this harsh environment is plants.

Plants are life!

Join us for family fun at Gardeners of the galaxy this summer and find out how plants are essential for life in space. Take one small step into life as an astronaut as you discover the tools needed for survival on an alien planet.

? Start your space mission at our Visitor Centre – pick up a Mission Sheet for kids, visit our crash-landed rocket and take an astronaut selfie!

? Check out the experiments and live plants being grown in the Science Lab.

? Play fun games in our kids International Space Station and get creative with our Future Plants colouring wall.

? Head outside to try MOTAT rocket power activities and take our Solar System Walk.

? Join us for free special events and activities including star-gazing in the Gardens, solar-gazing and more! Keep an eye on our website or Facebook to find out what’s on (please note some events have limited spaces and will require advance booking).

? Get extra fun facts and videos on your space mission using the STQRY app on your phone – see below for links to download the STQRY app.

Brought to you by the Auckland Botanic Gardens and Auckland Council in association with Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, MOTAT, Hyalite and the Auckland Astronomical Society.

When and Where

1 December 2018 to 10 March 2019
Hours:
Gardens open 8am to 8pm every day.
Visitor centre is open daily from 8am – 4.30pm (closed Christmas Day).

Auckland Botanical Gardens
102 Hill Road, Manurewa, Auckland 2105.

How Much

Free.

More

Event information including links to apps on Auckland Botanic Gardens site and Facebook event.

Stargazing Lab – Auckland – 22 December 2018

What

JOIN US UNDER THE STARS FOR A NIGHT OF STARGAZING.

The first session starts before the sunset in order to explain very basic concepts about astronomy, telescopes, and photography. After that, you will have opportunities to observe the craters and mountains on the Moon, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and the rings of Saturn.
You will also have a chance to observe deep sky objects like star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

The sessions will target different objects and topics every day. Since these events are weather dependent, on occasions we may need to postpone the event at short notice. If this happens, you will receive a txt message in your mobile, one hour prior to the event, and your booking will be transferred to the next available session.

Even though the sessions end late, these activities are family friendly and ideal for kids. You will have a nice opportunity to learn more about the solar system and the Universe, and also to motivate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in young minds. Some telescopes and additional resources will be available for use. Including telescopes that can be operated by kids.

We will help you to identify bright stars and major constellations. During each observing session, we will teach participants to find those elusive patterns in the sky with a simple monthly star map and a green laser pointer that projects a visible beam into the sky. Just like at a planetarium but under the real night sky!

Code of Conduct

In order to insure safety, protect equipment and to enhance everyone enjoyment, we ask that you follow the Code of Conduct:

  • Pets are not permitted nearby the telescopes.
  • Smoking and alcoholic beverages are never permitted within the area.
  • Minors under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.
  • Aerosol bug spray repellent may only be applied away from the telescopes. (Sprays produce a fine mist which can settle on optical surfaces and is very difficult to clean.)
  • Remove any trash and keep the premises clean.
  • Visitors should bring a flashlight with RED light to use for the walk from the parking lot to the observation area and for reading star maps.

When and Where

22 December 2018
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Maraetai Beach,
Maraetai Coast Rd, Maraetai, Auckland

Stargazing Labs are taking place from Maraetai Beach, Maraetai, at just 40 minutes from the Auckland CBD. This beautiful location offers stunning views of the night sky and low light pollution coming from the city. This is key to allow long-term expositions to capture amazing pictures of the deep sky objects like nebulae and galaxies.

There are four public parking (free) available (+40 cars capacity) and public toilets close to the observation area.

How Much

$0 – $16.09
Under 5 yrs: free
Child (5 – 15 yrs): $10+fees.
General Admission: $15 + fees.

Please book here.

More

Stargazing Lab, Eventbrite event and Facebook event.
Organised by Skylabs http://skylabs.co.nz/

Games Night Down South – Auckland – 21 December 2018

What

My last event for the year so come on down and make some new friends over random board games and idle chit-chat at Spellbound games.

Spellbound has a decent selection of games but it would be awesome if you could bring your own, doesn’t matter how old school it is, always keen for a round of monopoly.

But yeah if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, don’t hesitate to join.

The Social Geek

A small oasis for Geeks to meet up and make friends with others who share similar geeky interests. Now if you’ve gotten this far and still haven’t clicked the join button yet, then that might be because you have no idea what a ‘Geek’ is exactly, well let me explain…

You see a Geek is an expert, enthusiast or a person obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit mostly aimed at popular culture (Thanks, Wikipedia). However, there is more to Geeks than meets the eye. You see to me a Geek is a creative genius bordering on insanity and the only way to fend off the madness is by going to see the next Marvel movie or playing copious amounts of video games or even just a quiet night in pretending to be an Elf from Neverwinter.

But because of these interests, we tend to stay indoors a lot as we play Overwatch while watching Game of Thrones that we don’t have the time to venture out into the real world and meet up with people that might want to do the same stuff we do—and that’s where we come in.

When and Where

Spellbound Games
29 Aviemore Drive
Highland Park
Auckland

Friday, December 21, 2018
7pm to 10pm

How Much

Free

More

Games Night Down South Meetup page
The Social Geek Meetup Group

OWASP NZ Auckland area meetup – Auckland – 11 December 2018

What

We’ll plan to meet on the second Tuesday of April, June, August, October, and December.

Orion Health has agreed to host our meetings in their main conference room. Parking is available in the car park at the corner of Grafton and Khyber Pass. Entry will be through the staff entrance, just to the left of the main Reception entry. To comply with facility security requirements, all attendees will need to sign in.

At each meeting, we’ll have the following general agenda:

6:30 – 6:45 – Administrative Items
6:45 – 7:10 – OWASP Top 10 Focus Discussion
7:10 – 7:30 Networking
7:30 – 8:30 Technical Presentation, followed by Discussion/Q&A
8:30 Adjourn to local pub, if desired, for further networking

December Top 10 Focus: A4 – XML External Entity (XXE)
December Technical Topic: Threat Modelling

And, starting in December – we’ll have food! This month, I’ll be ordering pizza – hopefully, we’ll get more interesting for future events.

We’re looking for presenters and topics for future meetings – contact John (john.dileo@owasp.org) if you have an idea for a topic, or a presentation you’d like to make.

When and Where

How Much

Free. Meetup event.

More

Meetup event.

OWASP New Zealand Chapter – Auckland is a meetup group for Auckland-area events held by the New Zealand chapter of the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).

DevOps Auckland: Approaches to solving software delivery risks earlier and faster – Auckland – 10 December 2018

What

Our presenter is Stephen Phillips – Sumo Logic’s voice in New Zealand. Stephen has been working with leading global software ISV’s and service providers over his long career, he is ever curious about improving outcomes.
His background in management consulting and product delivery is underpinned by a pragmatic understanding of technology engineering principles.

He will share with us “Approaches to solving software delivery risks earlier and faster”: Learn about techniques for reducing the effort to troubleshoot software systems, without building unnecessary technical debt.

** This meetup is on the early schedule **

Doors will open at 16:00, and the presentation will run from 16:30 to 17:30, and we’ll leave by 18:30.

** Please note the venue **

Thanks to Catalyst IT for hosting us once again in their central downtown office.

When and Where

10 December 2018
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Catalyst IT,
Level 4, 2 Commerce St,
Auckland CBD

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

Meetup event.

DevOps Auckland Meetup Group

 

Pop Kultcha – Auckland – 15 December 2018

What

Returning by popular demand, Pop Kultcha will have tables of both new and pre-loved goodies, toys, action figures, comics and more!

Expect more of the same and a bit of the new as we prepare ourselves for pop culture goodness.

Please note we have changed venues from the Rose Centre to the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall. As updates and posts will be added please watch and like this event page.

When and Where

Ellerslie War Memorial Hall,
138 Main Highway,
Ellerslie,
Auckland

Saturday 15 Dec 2018,
10am – 3pm

 

How Much

Family Pass: $10.00
Adults: $5.00
Door Sales Only

More

Facebook Page
Eventfinda Page

Decision Making: Human vs Machine – Auckland – 5 December 2018

What

Decision Making: Human vs Machine

Stats NZ and Centre for Social Data Analytics (CSDA) are hosting a free lecture presented by international tech ethics expert Lorena Jaume-Palasi.

The use of algorithms in decision-making is growing steadily, so it has never been more important to understand how algorithm-assisted decisions differ from human decisions, and what good practice looks like.

Lorena Jaume-Palasi will explain the major differences between human and algorithm-assisted decision-making and share the trends she is seeing internationally. Her talk will focus on the key issues that algorithms tend to raise for governments, organisations and communities and how those concerns, like ethics and bias, can be navigated and algorithm-assisted decision-making done well.

With a background in founding ethics organisations including  AlgorithmWatch and the Ethical Tech Society, and consulting to numerous governments and organisations in this space, Jaume-Palasi will present her experiences and recommendations.

CSDA co-director Rhema Vaithianathan is pleased to host Jaume-Palasi:

“It is very exciting to have Lorena on board for this presentation as it is the time to have extensive and more importantly, informed conversations about ethics and how organisations can use algorithms well.”

“Lorena brings a well-versed perspective to this argument and it will be a privilege for New Zealanders to hear from someone with such extensive experience in tech ethics.”

Key issues covered in the talk will include bias, automated inequality and ethical dimensions.

Lorena Jaume-Palasi

Lorena is the founder of non-profit advocacy organisation AlgorithmWatch (Berlin) and of non-profit research and advocacy organization the Ethical Tech Society (Berlin). Her work focuses on the philosophy of law and ethics of automatisation and digitisation. She serves as the head of the secretariat of the German Internet Governance Forum and is a member of the Spanish Government’s High Level Expert Council on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. Lorena consults to international institutions, governments and corporations, and regularly writes and lectures on data protection, privacy, discrimination and the public sphere.

This lecture is proudly presented by the Centre for Social Data Analytics, in the School of Economics at Auckland University of Technology, together with Stats NZ.

When and Where

Wednesday. 5 December 2018
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm NZDT

AUT City Campus,
Room WG404, Sir Paul Reeves Building,
55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland

How Much

Free but registration required. Please register here.

More

Event at AUT’s website and on Eventbrite.

How to use mocking frameworks for unit testing in C++ – Auckland – 28 November 2018

What

This will be the last meetup for 2018. We have a presentation from Andrew Rafas about mocking frameworks, a JetBrains coupon to give away, some pizza and a chance to chat about C++.

“How to use mocking frameworks for unit testing in C++” – Andrew Rafas

This talk covers FakeIt and Catch2, with a little bit of HippoMocks. It will be a live demonstration of the lessons learned, and some guidelines about code organization.

Tentative Agenda:

18:00 Arrive
18:15 Presentation
19:00 Pizza

When and Where

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
6pm to 8:30pm

WhereScape,
12-16 Tapora Street,
Quay Park,
Auckland

How Much

Free

More

How to use mocking frameworks for unit testing in C++
Auckland C++ Meetup

New Zealand Chess Congress – Auckland – 14 – 24 January 2019

What

Five events over 11 days

The New Zealand Chess Championship is 1 game/day while the New Zealand Rapid Championship is 9 games over 2 days.

Events

NZ Open Championship – 14-22 January
NZ Major Open – 14-22 January
NZ Junior Open (morning games) – 15-20 January
NZ Rapid Championship – 23-24 January
NZ Lightning Championship – 24 January

When and Where

14-22 January 2019

Waipuna Conference Centre
58 Waipuna Rd, Mount Wellington,
Auckland

How Much

NZ Championship: $225
Major Open: $175
Junior: $85
Rapid: $50
Lightning: $35

More

Entry for for the New Zealand Chess Congress 2019
New Zealand Chess Calendar