My Volunteer Experience - Neil Anubhav Dattagupta

Anubhav completed his Master of Data Science at the University of Adelaide in 2024, following his Bachelors in Computer Engineering at Savitribai Phule Pune University in India. During his time at Cognizant, he developed software in C# and maintained databases, which sparked his interest in data analytics and Machine Learning related fields. Currently, he works as a part-time lecturer for several Bachelor’s and Master’s courses under the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide.

He is passionate about data science, joining Connecting Up as a volunteer to apply his skills to real-world projects of value to the local community. He aims to use the tasks and professional development opportunities available to gain further experience in data analytics, data visualisation, and python scripting, as part of the Data Analytics Team. Meanwhile expanding his networks across the SAcommunity volunteer program, engaging with the wider Infoxchange organisation, community stakeholders and partners. 

Anubhav plans to pursue a career path in the Informatics and Data Analytics industry. Blending the activities of informatics involving information, processes, computer systems and technology, with the analysis of data and investigation of a range of data formats and files (audio, image etc.) to look for trends and patterns. His aim is to contribute by helping to investigate and present big data in a useful, understandable and accessible way for everyone, without them necessarily requiring an IT background.


Image: Kane demonstrating hist Kangaroo Island Council Reports using visualisation tools in Power BI including ArcGIS. Pictured: Volunteer Stathis Avramis, Intern Kane Hengchuan Zhao, with Volunteers Neil Anubhav Dattagupta, David Webb and Chris Baldwin 

 

 

SAcommunity Team members are encouraged to build new connections and create networks through participating in SAcommunity and Connecting Up partner and stakeholder activities, events and meetings as they arise to understand more about the wider organisation's projects, the work they are involved in, and how our activities impact and are impacted by other not-for-profit organisations. 

 

The SAcommunity Team has attended and supported GovHack for several years providing open data set for competitors, data mentors and promotion of the event. The annual open data hackathon was held this year on the 18 - 20 August 2023 across Australia and New Zealand and Team members attended the pre-competition 'Connections event'.

 

Community & Cultural Events & Activities

International Women's Day Afternoon Tea and Talk 13 March 2024

During the event, our Chief Operating Officer, Jo Davies, recounted her professional trajectory, which left me genuinely inspired. Despite embarking on her career path relatively late in her late twenties in the United Kingdom, she has ascended to the pivotal role of COO at Infoxchange. What particularly resonated with me was the fact that her academic background did not encompass studies in the field of Information Technology. Jo's narrative imparted a valuable lesson – that through unwavering determination and a willingness to capitalize on opportunities as they arise, individuals from all walks of life possess the potential to achieve remarkable feats, irrespective of their prior experiences or educational disciplines.

 

Image: Volunteer Neil Anubhav Dattagupta with Pankaj Chhalotre, Head of Connecting Up

Mentor Meeting

Connecting Up Volunteers are provided with the opportunity to select staff members from across the wider organisation for an informational mentor meeting. In this meeting they have the opportunity to prepare and ask 5 career and professional development questions to understand more about their mentor's job role and employment journey, and their own. Volunteers then record 5 takeaways, those aspects they felt were helpful for them to share on their portfolio for themselves, and other volunteers to learn from. Neil shared his experience in meeting Pankaj Chhalotre, Head of Connecting Up below.

Neil has had the opportunity to understand more about data analytics in the not-for-profit sector, and was provided with access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning platform, a training and development online learning platform with a selection of relevant live webinars and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons from a range of subject-matter experts who also have a deep experience with not-for-profits.

 

Professional Development at Infoxchange is a balance of approximately 70% project / 20% peer-to-peer learning / 10% formal learning. For the SAcommunity Team there is approximately 15 hours of project work, 3 hours of peer-to-peer learning, and 1 hour of online webinar with 30 minutes of feedback, to reflect and strengthen team members understanding of what was learnt and what their personal takeaways were from these educational sessions facilitating life-long learning. 

 

Relevant webinars, workshops and webcons selected by Neil have included:

Leveraging Microsoft's generative AI tools
I had this opportunity to be a part of the Microsoft webinar on Leveraging Microsoft's generative AI tools on held 1 November 2023. I found this webinar to be a great introduction to the suite of offerings microsoft has for generative AI and this would be extremely useful for introducing NFP organizations to powers of generative AI. As a student currently studying in this field I am aware of employing caution while using these models and not blindly trusting their output. One great takeaway from this webinar was the LinkTree provided at the end which has all the free to use links for various generative AI platforms offered by Microsoft.

 

 

Image: Anubhav with Volunteer Yi Han practicing Telephone Techniques scenarios

Training and Development - Telephone Techniques

The Data Analytics Team members undergo a series of telephonic and communication training sessions to enhance their understanding of the organization's directory and data collection methodologies. These sessions equip them with the necessary skills for data cleaning and updating their individual dataset information. Ultimately, the training focuses on introducing and presenting their data reports effectively to the council stakeholders. Similar to the students' elevator pitch practice, these telephonic technique meetings emphasize the importance of repetition and practice for achieving proficiency.

 

 

 

 

Image: Interns Jay Shijie Zhang, Volunteer Camille Sze Pui Ko, Interns Olivia Thi Kim Oanh Nguyen, Mostafa Didar Mahdi, Jamie Jiemin Zhang and Volunteer Neil Anubhav Dattagupta joined one of the Data Catalyst Network webinars

DCN Webinar | Augmented Intelligence: Combining Organisation Data with Large Language Models

The webinar was presented by Amir Aryani, Head of the Social Data Analytics Lab at Swinburne University.Amir discussed the concept of "augmented intelligence," which involves combining organizational data and expertise with large language models (LLMs) like GPT. The key idea is to have domain experts vet and control the data fed into the AI system, as well as interact with it through prompts. This process happens recursively, allowing the system to continually learn and improve.

The goal is for the AI to act as an assistant to domain experts, supporting existing operations rather than replacing human decision-making entirely. Amir drew a parallel to self-driving cars, where the AI augments but does not replace the human driver.He emphasized integrating AI as a complementary component into existing workflows, rather than aiming to fully automate processes with AI agents. While full automation may be possible in the future, the current focus should be on leveraging AI's capabilities to enhance human expertise.

Amir also highlighted recent advancements in generative AI, such as Meta's investment in open-source LLMs, Nvidia's GPU sales growth driven by AI compute demand, and OpenAI's release of the Sora model for generating realistic videos from text prompts. He showcased examples of Sora-generated videos that are remarkably realistic, raising concerns about distinguishing AI-generated content from reality.Overall, the webinar advocated for an "augmented intelligence" approach that responsibly combines human expertise, organizational data, and the capabilities of large language models to drive innovation and efficiency

Photo: Harsh's Birthday Celebration on  at SAcommunity with Anju, Tien, Alex, and Jason