On International Women’s Day on 8 March, we took the Sophia chatbot to Mozilla Festival: Hackers to Humanitarians, presenting at their event with over 7000 participants. We were able to partake in so many interesting discussions on improving and effectively scaling Sophia to make her available to everyone who needs her around the world. We are grateful to GitHub for inviting us to take part and for such an engaging experience. Github’s aim was to host a programme to encourage people to leverage their tech skills for social good. It was an excellent interactive session with everyone from developers to social organisations, such as Spring ACT, to help find solutions to technical issues that people may be encountering. Mozilla festival is hosted by the Mozilla Foundation. Over the past decade,, MozFest has fueled the movement to ensure the internet benefits humanity and is a gathering for activists in diverse global movements fighting for a more humane digital world.
Learn more about the event from our Deputy Director Diodio’s account:
Tell us about your experience at Mozilla Festival: ‘Hackers to Humanitarians’
I really enjoyed the experience – however, it was very unexpected. I love my job but not being a computer scientist, I didn’t know what to expect from this event. I personally enjoyed participating in this event, seeing so many experts in one space who were so passionate to hear more about Sophia and support our efforts was a very special feeling.
Why are events like this important?
Firstly, at Spring ACT, exchanges are very important, both on a networking and problem-solving basis. We’ve always been able to find practical solutions by discussing the problem with a variety of different people – some who often aren’t directly involved with our work here. Secondly, meeting experts with such a wealth of experience provides such valuable learning opportunities. Often, industry experts will know exactly what we’re looking for and can advise us on the best course of actions based on their lived experiences with similar problems or situations.
What was the most interesting thing you learnt at the event?
As they say: a problem shared is a problem halved. However complicated a situation is or how difficult a problem seems, share it with those around you! That way, you’ll either get a full solution or a least guidance in the right direction.
