The Pc Weekly Downtime Add podcast workforce of Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna began the yr talking concerning the on-line shenanigans surrounding the Trumpian rebel towards the Capitol Constructing in Washington on 6 January.
Invoice Goodwin additionally took the workforce, in a podcast in February, deeper into US and US-centric political conspiracy theories, and Karl Flinders appeared on the podcast to talk concerning the Publish Workplace scandal.
Again in April, Sebastian Klovig Skelton associated worker resistance within the gig financial system, the summer time noticed a mild discourse on bees and datacentres from Caroline, and the autumn convention season discovered Clare talking concerning the prime ladies in UK tech.
Between these episodes, and another which featured Beyoncé’s stand towards knowledge analytics excesses in the music business, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, put in an look on the podcast, albeit at a take away, interviewed on-stage by Bryan Glick, Pc Weekly’s editor-in-chief. Puffins, counted by synthetic intelligence during their mating season, also figured.
The podcast “power trio” of Caroline, Clare and Brian principally talked throughout the year about their very own areas of coverage: respectively, cloud, datacentres and IR35; variety, expertise and retail; and knowledge analytics and enterprise purposes.
They, and other workforce members, talked in a more personal vein about their experiences of the continued Covid-19 pandemic and its privations and compensations, as they did in 2020. This time round, we heard about Karl’s operating exploits and Alex Scroxton’s anticipations of submit-lockdown visits to the theatre, in addition to harbingers of Christmas, including crafting and the spooky thrills of Halloween.
The workforce closed the yr out, over two episodes, with reflections on IT and the climate emergency, within the mild of COP26 in Glasgow.
1. Parler vs AWS, digital schooling, ambulance knowledge
Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna talk about the purgation of Parler, the traumas of digital schooling and the South Central Ambulance Service’s use of knowledge to help their operations through the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. Disinformation and the US DNC emails leak controversy
The group are joined by Pc Weekly’s Investigations editor Invoice Goodwin to discuss the position of disinformation in the 2016 Democratic National Committee emails leak.
3. Submit Office Horizon and the subpostmasters’ justice battle
Karl Flinders joins Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald, and Brian McKenna to debate the Publish Workplace Horizon system that brought havoc to the lives of subpostmasters.
4. Uber drivers’ resistance and the gig financial system
Caroline Donnelly and Brian McKenna are joined by Sebastian Klovig Skelton to debate the legal campaign by Uber drivers for the appropriate to be recognised as staff.
5. CyberUK, bees and datacentres, Purple Cross digital mapping
Caroline Donnelly and Brian McKenna are joined by Alex Scroxton, Pc Weekly’s security editor, to discuss CyberUK, bees and datacentres, and the British Pink Cross’ use of digital mapping to combat Covid-19.
6. Computing exams, AI, water and datacentres
Clare McDonald, Brian McKenna and Caroline Donnelly talk about A-degree and GCSE computing outcomes, AI appropriacy and datacentre water consumption.
7. Chancellor Rishi Sunak listens to UK tech
Pc Weekly editor in chief Bryan Glick joins the podcast staff to debate his interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, at a Treasury Join convention.
8. Prime ladies in UK tech, AI on puffin island
On this episode, the group discusses Pc Weekly’s annual programme to choose probably the most influential ladies in UK tech, in addition to Newham Sparks, and puffin-counting AI.
9. COP26: IT and local weather change
Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna are joined by Ryan Priest to debate IT’s position in combating climate change, in addition to YouTube’s momentary expulsion of Novara Media from its platform.
10. COP26 reflections, tech sector reacts to Sunak on expertise
Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna mirror on datacentres and local weather change, the tech sector’s reaction to authorities IT expertise funding, and the Publish Office scandal.