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Education Reading

Latest Read: HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives by Harvard Business Review.

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives by Harvard Business Review

This book is a valuable read since all of us will be leading projects or initiatives sooner than we realize. So, why not learn how to manage them more effectively. This book is a collection of articles on project management and positioned a a resource for anyone working in project based work roles or even project leadership.

I found this to be a valuable read for my own projects. Yet I also realize “Keep Your AI Projects on Track” by Iavor Bojinov as a most interesting chapter since the number of AI Project Management services must be already on the horizon. Managing projects and initiatives often involve multiple stakeholders, competing internal priorities, and resources.

The book reveals key topics to understanding to ensure successful project execution. They include: Navigating Complexity, Managing Change, Resource Allocation, Maintaining Alignment, Measuring Success, Dealing with Uncertainty, and Fostering Collaboration. All truly key elements to understand and perhaps master along your project lifecycles.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Reading

Latest Read: Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know by Jerry Kaplan.

Generative Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know by Jerry Kaplan

Jerry holds BA in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Chicago and PhD in Computer and Information Science (specializing in AI) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Jerry co-founded GO Corporation in 1987.

This is a somewhat comprehensive guide to the very rapidly evolving field of Generative AI (Gen AI). Jerry is basically conveying GenAI may revolutionize society.

At the same time, Jerry is outlining risks and dangers associated with Gen AI including the abuse and misuse by authoritarian governments to spread disinformation and suppress dissent. Yet in the later chapters there seems to be a simplification of the ethical and societal impacts. There are also concerns that with such a respectable career, a more firm approach to AI ethics was missed.

To be fair, the AI market is so fluid today that the major competitors OpenAI, Microsoft, Google among a small handful of others, it appears somewhat challenging to forecast a market that will surly shift before the end of the year.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Reading

Latest Read: Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning

Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning by J. Morris Chang, Di Zhuang, and G. Dumindu Samaraweera.

Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning by J. Morris Chang, Di Zhuang, and G. Dumindu Samaraweera

Morris holds a BSEE from Tatung University, Taiwan and MS and PhD in computer engineering from North Carolina State University. He teaches at the University of South Florida. Di holds PhD in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University and the University of South Florida. He is a Security / Privacy Engineer at Snap Inc. Dumindu holds a MSc in Enterprise Application Development from Sheffield Hallam University and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Philosophy from University of South Florida. Today he is Assistant Professor of Data Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

This was a book that places into perspective the need for ensuring privacy in our fast paced AI marketplace. The authors express the need not only to understand privacy within Machine Learning systems, but understanding methodologies to preserve user’s private data while maintaining performance on LLMs.

They address how personal data well embedded across various sectors increases the risks of data breaches. Just realize how your smartphone is tracked by marketing companies. In fact, they review the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal and call for robust privacy measures in data-driven applications.

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Cyberinfrastructure Education Network Reading

Latest Read: Zero Trust Networks

Zero Trust Networks: Building Secure Systems in Untrusted Networks by Razi Rais.

Zero Trust Networks: Building Secure Systems in Untrusted Networks by Razi Rais

Razi holds a BS In Computer Science from Karachi University and Masters in Computer Science from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology. Today Razi is a Microsoft Senior Product Manager for Microsoft Security + AI.

Zero Trust is yet another confusing and misleading security phrase which confuses almost everyone including IT teams. Yet, it is a very critical network security strategy. Today this is needed more than ever before. This strategy assumes no one or device is trustworthy by default. This requires all users authenticating with their devices before accessing, networks, applications and data.

The core concept is to simply: assume breach. As odd as this will sound at first, continuously monitoring and logging of user and device activity will detect threats. By inspecting network traffic, the verification of each request will be based on an any organization’s access policy. This greatly reduces risk of insider threats, data protection. In addition to the unknowingly misuse of employee’s personal home computers lacking security standards set by their organization. Even in 2024, employee’s home computers still lack anti-virus, malware, or identity theft protection.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: The DevSecOps Playbook

The DevSecOps Playbook: Deliver Continuous Security at Speed by Sean D. Mack.

The DevSecOps Playbook: Deliver Continuous Security at Speed by Sean D. Mack

Sean holds a BS in Computer and Information Sciences from UC Santa Cruz and MBA from Seattle University. He is CIO and CISO at Wiley, VP of Operations and Applications at Pearson, Director of Global Product Development and Delivery at Experian, and Senior Director of Technical Operations at RealNetworks.

In fact, the term Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) stands for a framework that integrates security into all phases of the software development lifecycle. Today more than ever before DevSecOps must deliver continuous security at the speed of business. DevSecOps can only succeed when the organization supports the triad of people, process, and tech to delver strong cybersecurity infrastructure and practices.

To simplify, DevSecOps emphasizes incorporating security measures from the beginning of the development process, rather than treating them as an afterthought or post deployment requirement. This approach identifies and mitigates potential security risks early on.

Sean outlines why it’s critical to shift security considerations to the front-end of the development cycle, how to do this, and how the evolution of a standard security model since the pandemic has impacted modern cybersecurity.

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