Nerd Nite #37: Contemplating Recognition
Many more details to come – but in the interim the essentials are:
- Date: Tuesday 14th March 2017
- Time: 6pm (for 6:30pm start – get there early for food and a good spot)
- Venue: Leroy’s Dive Bar (top of Plimmer Lane/bottom of Plimmer steps)
- Cost: Free/Koha
Speaker details (in no particular order):
You know nothing about face recognition, Jon Snow
Dr Christel Devue
There are large individual differences in people’s ability to recognise others’ faces. While some people struggle to recognise their own relatives, others can recognise strangers on the street that they haven’t even met. However, current tests used in the lab – or in the court! – to assess people’s face recognition skills have severe flaws that may conceal how bad/well people actually perform in their daily life. Christel will describe a recent study that she conducted on Game of Thrones fans to assess and challenge people’s real-life face recognition skills. Being super good at face recognition might not be what you think, Jon Snow!
Christel Devue, originally from Belgium, is a Lecturer in Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington. She studies visual perception, attention and facial recognition, and how they are affected by emotion or individual experience. She also has a passion for visual arts, and delights in trying to depict people or landscapes’ singularities.
Do You Wanna Piece of Me?
Hayley Webster
Donating your organs after death is one thing, but ever wondered what it’s like for a live donor? This talk is a no punches held account of the steps taken in, quite literally, giving a piece of yourself away. Speaking from her own experiences as a live donor, Hayley gives us a crash course in what happen when you say ‘yes’… from the battery of tests and what they are for, to weird stuff your body does after keyhole surgery. Speaking from the heart (sadly she can’t donate that yet), her friendly optimism may steal yours.
Hayley Webster is a Wellington based Producer, Comedian and Improviser.
Using remote cameras to spy on Wellington’s wildlife.
Victor Anton
While the use of remote cameras for studying wildlife have increased globally, this monitoring method is not commonly used in urban areas. In 2014, a group of researchers from Victoria University started to deploy remote cameras within Wellington City to study the population dynamics of different species, including possums, stoats and rats. After one year, they collected over 100,000 photographs. The amount of data collected was so extensive that researchers needed help from the community. A citizen science website (identifyanimals.co.nz) was launched to help the researchers identify the animals recorded in the photos. Since then, citizen scientists have already classified over 60,000 photographs. This presentation will cover some of the anecdotes and lessons learnt from combining citizen scientists and remote cameras to research urban wildlife.
Victor Anton, originally from Spain, is a PhD student at Victoria University. In 2014, Victor completed his Master of Science in Ecological Restoration and started to use novel technologies and citizens science to study New Zealand ecology. Last year, he was nominated for Wellingtonian of the year.
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