Data structures are the critical ingredient of all good information systems. Poor data structures lead to horrendous problems of interoperability and nightmarish complexity; good ones can make the ‘uncomputable’ computable. Structure and order would seem to be particularly important in the problems of “Big data.” However, is this changing? One of the exciting developments is systems, such as Google, which handle unstructured data. Are they the future? A lecture by Richard Harvey The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/data-future Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website. Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreshamCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/

Algorithms, loosely translated, are systems for doing things. Algorithms are thus the link from pre-history to the modern world – without algorithms we would have an inanimate universe without all the mess and complexity of real life. It turns out that the history of algorithms is messy. There are also general theories of algorithms, and those ideas are not messy at all; they are very beautiful, powerful and should be required reading for the internet age. A lecture by Richard Harv The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/algorithms-intro Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website. Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreshamCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/

This lecture will review the tricky alliance between social media, email and the government. How are we going to tame the trolls of social media? A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology 26 November 2019 6PM GMT https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/taming-the-trolls Barely a day goes by without some lunatic assertion on social media.  And thinking-people shake their heads, but what can be done about this?  It turns out that there are a variety of scientific and engineering approaches which might be adapted to tame the trolls of social media.  In this lecture we will review the tricky alliance between social media, email and the government, and we will present options for the future in which, possibly, the benefits of social media might been to outweigh the negatives.

This lecture examines the phenomenon of computer vision. How do you build a computer vision system and what can we expect for the future? A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of IT, 12 February 2019 https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/computer-vision Human vision seems so effortless: from a young age we see the world in high- definition colour. We can tell the difference between a cat and a hat, and ‘The man who mistook his wife for a hat’ is an anomaly. But despite recent progress, machines still confuse wives for hats. In this lecture, we will examine the phenomenon of computer vision, show how to build a computer vision system and discuss the expectations for the future. Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreshamCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/

The latest craze are deep neural networks. How does deep learning work and are neural networks a modern miracle or yet another false dawn? A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of IT 19 March 2019 https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/deep-learning Machine Learning has had several excitements over the years with machines that are modelled on the human brain. The invention of the perceptron and artificial neural networks were followed by intense scientific activity and excitement, then by disappointment at a number of unappreciated deficiencies. The latest craze are deep neural networks. In this lecture, we will explore how deep learning works, what it can do and if neural networks are a modern miracle or yet another false dawn. Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreshamCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/

Do biometrics help reduce crime? Which biometric systems work and which are little more than guesswork? And what are the implications for privacy? A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology 22 October 2019 6PM BST https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/biometrics If people cannot identity themselves digitally then the digital society does not work. How do biometrics help reduce crime and is it possible to have a biometric system yet not broadcast even more personal information than we do now? There are hosts of biometric systems but which ones work and which are little more than guessing?

This lecture reviews University e-learning, MOOCs, SPOOCs and DIYU. Are there common themes? How have universties changed in the digital age? A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of IT 11 February 2020 6:00pm UK Time https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/digital-university In 2013 Sir Michael Barber declared that “An Avalanche is Coming” and that universities would be swept away by new digital technologies. Six years later nothing seems to have happened, yet there has been change. In this lecture we will review what is commonly called e-learning, including MOOCs, SPOOCs, flipping and DIYU, and see if there are any themes which emerge from the buzzword bingo that is digital learning. Some of it is fascinating, some of it has deep implications for privacy and some of it is downright weird and wacky!

Machine processing of text is now subtle and pervasive. Richard Harvey will provide a brief history of text processing and a look towards the future. A lecture by Richard Harvey, IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology 16 April 2019 https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/text-mining Text is everywhere. From tweets to the gigantic records of governments, machine processing of text is now subtle and pervasive. We can automatically identify authors of works, look for disease within tweets and even construct chatbots which can convince some people that these machines are human. In this lecture, we provide a brief history of text processing and look towards the future when the computer sonnet or love poem might become a reality. Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreshamCollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege/