In the last couple of days, there has been public argument on the Kāinga Ora project to put monitoring sensors in NZ state homes. Particular areas of concern being raised are about the nature of data being shared with government, issues of consent and vulnerability, and that this is individual level collection. By individual, I mean that it’s deep enough information to establish not just when people are home but also information on their behaviours. Additionally people might not be given easy access to their own data without making a direct privacy request.

New Zealand just had another round of local elections with turnouts so low that it makes the link between elections and the democratic mandate of those elected tenuous at best. Predictably this has led to another round of looking at online voting...

A few weeks ago I was approached with the opportunity to attend CoLiberate’s Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course. Since getting into tech in 2015, I have noticed that mental health seems to be a pretty open and common topic in the...

Following on from my posts about my trip on the Pacific Mission, and reflections on my time in Solomon Islands, below I've shared some thoughts from my time in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu is a very different experience from Solomon Islands as it is much more...

Following on from my previous post about the Pacific Mission I thought I’d share some of the highlights and learnings from my time in the Solomon Islands. I've also written up a post about my time in Vanuatu.

Solomon Islands are a bit behind on...

The week before last I was part of the New Zealand mission to Melanesia visiting Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Both countries are major targets of the New Zealand Aid Programme, with New Zealand involvement and support in areas ranging from police...

On the 15th May 2019 Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Economic Development, Environment, and Associate Minister for Finance, and the Attorney-General, visited the Ackama office.

Our CEO, Breccan McLeod-Lundy, talked with...

I had an amazing week working remotely from Great Barrier Island, although I was severely infected by the “Barrier Bug”:

Symptoms include: A subtle but incessant sense of peacefulness and wellbeing, a loss of memory concerning responsibilities...

The 2019 Women in Data Science (WIDS) conference was fascinating, inspiring, and overwhelming.

I think that this is the intrinsic nature of data science at the moment - as Liz MacPherson, the Chief Executive of Statistics NZ explained, data is...

The Ackama Group is pleased to announce the addition of Simon Julian to its board.

Simon is an experienced and energetic Startup CoFounder, Executive and Company Director. He is a proven leader in organisation design and management, innovation,...