Tag: Free

Free Entry

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.

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

Wellington Python Meetup – Wellington – 13 December 2018

What

Two presentations 🙂

Avo Patlong:

As part of my internship at Eagle, I was presented an opportunity to work with the NZTA Crash dataset. My objective was to incorporate machine learning to analyse influential factors and geospatial patterns to predict the risk of a crash occurring at road sections throughout New Zealand. I used Python throughout the project to implement the machine learning scripts, gather data, and implement a feature service that continuously publishes the predictions onto a web map. The web map visualises the heatspots of crash risks, which updates every hour. I would like to talk about the challenges throughout the process and discuss my findings.

Vincent Bonnet:

This presentation is about a personal project started earlier this year where I explored numerical computation in Python. It is only scratching the surface of this wide topic but will include a brief introduction to physics simulation and show an early 2D implementation.

============================================

Python talks! Python people! Discussions from how to start learning Python through to debugging your robot pirate spaceship avionics controller library. Or whatever. There is also pizza, and sometimes spare beer.

When and Where

Level 3 meeting space,
Catalyst House, 150 Willis Street, Wellington

How to find us

The door locks after 6pm, so send a text to the number on the door and someone will fetch you.

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

13 December 2018 Wellington Python Meetup by NZ Python User Group – Wellington.

NZ Python User Group (NZPUG) https://python.nz and twitter @nzpug.

Christchurch Aerospace Centre Meetup 4 – Christchurch – 11 December 2018

What

At our previous meet up we heard talks about CubeSats, air launch rockets and jet packs. As we glide to the end of the year, we’re going to be zooming in on the human element with talks from a NASA astronaut candidate finalist and a jet pack test pilot, as well as discussing a number of other recent developments.

Sarah Kessans, University of Canterbury. A plant biologist and biochemist by training and an adventurer thriving on challenges by nature, Sarah decided to throw her name in the hat for NASA’s 2017 Astronaut Candidate selection cycle. The journey through the selection process to becoming one of the top 50 Finalist Interviewees (out of 18,000+ applications) revealed many lessons that can be applied to New Zealand’s emerging space ecosystem. In that same spirit of adventure and innovation, Sarah is excited to play a role in developing Christchurch into a hub for space industry and research.

Michael Read, Skybase. After an exciting career as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, Michael went on to become a test pilot and executive at Martin Jetpack. Michael now resides in Christchurch and is a founder of Skybase, who are leading developers in the drone industry for Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) flight. In his presentation, he’ll pass on some stories of the past, a look to the future of unmanned and autonomous systems and how Christchurch/ Canterbury is ideally placed to become a nexus of aerospace innovation and launch platform.

So come along to the GreenHouse at 146 Lichfield Street, be inspired and network with our local aerospace community!

The generous sponsor of this event, BizDojo Christchurch, will be providing delicious food and wet beverages.

When and Where

Tuesday 11 December 2018
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM NZDT

GreenHouse
146 Lichfield Street, Christchurch 8011

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

Event

Christchurch Aerospace Centre https://www.christchurch.space/ Twitter @chchspace.

Code Session: IDE and Time Saving Tips – Tauranga – 13 December 2018

What

Pack your laptops and join us for our last meetup of the year where we’ll talk and learn about something we all use: IDEs.

An IDE is an Integrated Development Environment and where we live in our day to day lives as working or learning developers. We’ll look at some of the different IDEs out there, functionality and how they compare, as well as extensions and keyboard shortcuts that can make your life easier, including making your own code snippets.

This talk and the exercises will be led by Jeff Kranenburg, a senior tutor at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in web and software development.

5:30pm – Doors open, catch up.
6:00pm – Welcome
6:10pm – IDE Talk and Practical Exercises
7:30pm – CodeChallenge reviews (see the #codingchallenges channel on our Slack for more info)
8:00pm – /end

To prepare:
Make sure you have your chosen IDE on the laptop you’re bringing, and while there are no wrong choices, we will be looking a lot at one of the most popular: Visual Studio Code.
Make sure you’ve joined our Slack channel, as we often share resources through there on the night.

What to bring:
Your laptop + charger
Drink bottle
Your IDE, extension, and shortcut suggestions!

Thanks to VentureCentre at BaseStation for giving us the facilities to host, and don’t forget to familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct before attending. This is a safe and inclusive space for everyone!

When and Where

Thursday, 13 December 2018
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Base Station, 148 Durham Street.
We’ll gather in the cafe Folk on the ground floor and then head down into the basement after 6pm.

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

Code Session: IDE and Time Saving Tips.

JuniorDev Tauranga Meetup.

Agile, Testing and UX Xmas Lightning Talks – Christchurch – 12 December 2018

What

Shared get together with three Christchurch IT Groups:

Christchurch Agile Professionals Network.
Christchurch Testing Professional Network.
Christchurch User Experience Design Meetup

Lighting talks are 5 – 10 minutes and X-mas themed.

Short talks include:
– Leon – From the Agile Professionals Network
– Chris – from the Testing Professionals Network
– More to come…

When and Where

12 December 2018
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Greenhouse
146a Lichfield Street, Christchurch.

How to find us
Knock on the door.

How Much

Free. Drinks and snacks provided.

More

Event by APN, TPN or UX.

Christchurch Agile Professionals Network.
Christchurch Testing Professional Network.
Christchurch User Experience Design Meetup.

 

 

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

 

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.