A major new digital series Digital Pioneers: Recoding our Future, inspiring action and sharing knowledge, has launched on BCS’ online channels. The series is a partnership between BCS and Content With Purpose, designed to promote collaboration and share best practice to enable IT professionals to harness technology in a way that creates a better world for us all.
The video series Digital Pioneers: Recoding our Future showcases IT’s contributions to society — addressing global challenges, fostering innovation, transforming lives and creating a future of possibilities.
The series is designed to promote collaboration and share best practice to enable IT professionals to harness technology in a way that creates a better world for us all.
Rashik Parmar, BCS Group CEO, said: ‘Digital technology holds immense potential to address pressing global challenges and drive positive change across diverse sectors. Through our partnership with CWP, we aim to spotlight the remarkable individuals and organisations at the forefront of leveraging IT for social good. This series serves as a testament to the transformative power of technology and underscores the importance of fostering an inclusive, ethical computing profession to ensure a brighter future for all.’
An aspirational vision
Digital Pioneers: Recoding the Future features a varied mix of short films, case studies and interviews curated from around the UK; bringing to life the latest game changing technology, skills and mindsets seeking to harness IT to advance positive societal and economic change. While a range of industry experts, including Coding Black Females’ CEO Charlene Hunter, give their thoughts on the hot topics impacting the sector.
Professor Andy Stanford-Clark, Distinguished Engineer at IBM UK, says: ‘Those of us, the IT professionals, that understand how these systems work really have an ethical and moral responsibility to use them wisely and highlight problems before these systems get deployed.’
The documentary series sets out BCS’ aspirational vision for computing and the mindset required by IT professionals to truly deliver transformative change through harnessing the potential impact of technology.
Sharon Moore, Deputy Chair of BCS Women, said: ‘We all have a responsibility to do better and it’s the role of the IT professional to make sure that when we’re using technology, we’re doing it for good.’
Among the organisations sharing their stories are: Open Climate Fix, focused on reducing carbon emissions using computers; LabGenius, combining human and machine intelligence to accelerate the discovery of advanced medicines; OceanMind, harnessing satellite data to power marine enforcement and compliance; and Oxford PV and Phasecraft, using quantum computing to advance solar PV materials.
Other inspiring organisations featured include BSI, the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EEECS) at Queen's University Belfast, the Computer Science Department at Swansea University, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab at the University of Sussex.
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Building trust in IT
The need to foster greater societal trust in technology is a prominent theme in the series. One case study looks at how the University of Southampton has adopted a people-first approach that puts the end-user right at the centre of technology development. While in interview for the series, David Mudd, BSI’s Global Head of Digital Trust Assurance says: ‘Without confidence that digital technologies are safe, secure and sustainable, adoption will be slow.’
Young people also feature prominently in the series, sharing their experience and desire to create social value through technology. Hazel Taylor, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Manchester, speaks for many when she says: ‘My aim is to have some sort of impact in the real world with my work and help progress the relationship between people and technology.’
Digital Pioneers: Recoding our Future is a partnership between BCS and Content With Purpose (CWP); a strategic content creator focused on engaging professionals on their industries' contribution to sustainable development.
Max Smith, Founder & Managing Director of CWP, said: ‘At CWP, we believe in the power of storytelling to inspire action and drive meaningful change. We're thrilled to partner with BCS on this initiative and to amplify the voices of trailblazers driving innovation and addressing societal challenges through the lens of IT. Together, we're shaping a narrative that highlights the potential of technology to create a more sustainable and equitable future.’
