BBC presenter Kate Russell delivers student lectures
Fri, 20 Nov 2015 15:16:00 GMT
“...in the future, the industry will be crying out for high-quality security specialists,” says the technology presenter and writer
> Watch the video to see the interview Kate recorded for the University of Huddersfield on gender bias & trolling in gaming.
MORE needs to be done to create jobs, gender neutrality and diversity in the tech sector, claimed well-known BBC technology writer and television presenter Kate Russell, when she came to talk to first-year Huddersfield Informatics students.
“It’s a battle that I think will rage for some time yet, but will balance out in the end,” said Kate. “There is a lot of work going on right now to interest more girls in studying the STEM subjects and having more jobs, a gender neutral and more diverse workplace in the gaming industry, will only help stimulate creativity and push gaming experiences forward,” she said.
An award-winning blogger, Kate can be seen presenting the Webscape segment of the BBC technology show called Click and avid gamers can tune in every week to see her presenting and playing games on Twitch TV, the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers.
Speaking about her own introduction into the gaming world, Kate told the somewhat surprised students, that in the 1980s computer games were delivered in a magazine as lines of code, which had to be manually inputted into a computer.
“However strange this may seem now,” said Kate, “it was this inputting of code that sparked my life-long interest in computer games and technology.”
◄ Kate Russell was welcomed to the University by tutors Dr James McDowell (left) and Rupert Ward (right).
Advice to students
In a full lecture theatre, the students were given a fascinating run-through of the gaming industry from the very first ‘bearded bedroom coders’, for whom we have to thank for today’s technology, to the futuristic tools that will be around in years to come.
During the session, Kate told the audience throughout her life people have been telling her gaming is a waste of time and she should go and find something useful to do with her life. Wholly in disagreement to this, the speaker had some enthusing advice to offer the students.
“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that what you are doing is a waste of time. As long as you feel you are growing and learning from it,” said Kate. “I was able to forge a really valuable career out of what I love to do and I think it is really important to incorporate into your career something that you really love,” she added.
Students listened attentively as Kate spoke about heightened security issues, using the Ashley Madison scandal as an example, and then went on to talk about how people are still scared to use Cloud Computing, services like Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer, over fears that their information will be stored and shared illegally in some way. Taking all of this into account, Kate said, in the future the industry will be crying out for high-quality security specialists, a useful tip if the students want to go into a well-paid career after their studies.
After a question and answer session at the end of the lecture, Kate was thanked for coming to pass on her knowledge and expertise and received a rapturous round of applause from the students.
