Adelaide University Internship Experience - Sylvia Shiwen Cao

Sylvia is currently in her second year of her Masters in Computing and Innovation at the University of Adelaide. She has a Bachelor's degree in software engineering from Central South University in China and has also completed a Masters in Management at the University of Glasgow in the UK where she worked as a web developer at IT company - VectorCloud. Sylvia moved to Australia, drawn by the prospects of a promising future and more importantly, the appealing weather.

Sylvia is passionate about volunteering and has been involved with several volunteering organizations, including Aachener Netzwerk in Germany, where she helped raise funds, collect, sort and deliver donations to refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sylvia also served as the Vice President of Incoming Global Volunteers for AIESEC in CSU, leading a team of 40 international volunteers from 12 countries to teach youths about physical hygiene, impacting over 400 youths and gaining coverage by local media outlets.

Currently, Sylvia is an intern in the Data Analytics Team at Connecting Up, where she aims to gain practical, real-world experience in data analytics and leverage her skills and knowledge to contribute to the organization's mission of supporting communities through data-driven insights. She's excited to apply her university knowledge in a practical setting and deepen her understanding of data analysis in a real-world context. She's also looking forward to collaborate with people who share her passion for making a difference through technology. 

In the future, Sylvia's career ambition is to become a full-stack developer within the IT sector. She is motivated by the life-long, continuous learning needed to thrive in the dynamic and challenging environment of technology. 
 

Volunteers and interns are encouraged to attend monthly SAcommunity Team meetings,  Connecting Up staff meetings, as well as quarterly all-staff Infoxchange Town Hall meetings to understand more about the organisation as a whole.

 

Organisation-wide news, events and projects are communicated through the staff channels, with weekly CEO Updates from David Spriggs, informal 'Lunch and Learn' educational sessions, and network meetings create connections with staff and other volunteers. Interns are also given opportunities to attend stakeholder and partner events.

 

Relevant meetings attended include:

27 February 2024

Updates from the Infoxchange CEO, Operations, Finance, People & Culture, Lightning Talks from IX Teams, and IXcel Awards

 

Effective Meeting & Communication Skills

5 March 2024

Kate Hickman Chief People Officer Infoxchange & Jo Davies Chief Operating Officer Infoxchange delivered this session about how to implement effective meeting and communication skills in your day-to-day work activities.

 

As an intern at Infoxchange, I found this session is particularly helpful in understanding how to navigate communication and meetings within a professional setting. Ms. Hickman showed me how to improve communication and meeting effectiveness by emphasizing the importance of choosing the most appropriate channels, being outcome-focused, and preparing properly.
 

I get to know that Infoxchange offers a range of learning resources on their learnxchange platform, which will help me identify the most valuable content to enhance my skills. The session also encouraged seeking guidance from managers or leaders when unsure about drafting challenging emails or organizing meetings. 

These insights will undoubtedly help me improve my communication skills, prepare better for meetings, and contribute more effectively to the organization's goals as I progress through my internship and future career.

 

Data Catalyst Network (DCN): Brings together people from across sectors, to break cycles of disadvantage through the innovative use of data.

As an intern at Infoxchange, I had the opportunity to attend many valuable Data Catalyst Network webinars that brought together people from across sectors to break cycles of disadvantage through the innovative use of data.

 

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

29 February 2024

Associate Professor Amir Aryani, Head of the Social Data Analytics Lab at Swinburne University. 

 

This webinar provided me with valuable insights into the potential of using Response-Augmented Generation (RAG) and generative AI to create customized tools for organizations while ensuring data security and privacy.

 

I learned about the benefits of collaborating with universities to leverage their expertise in AI implementation and the importance of regular maintenance and ethical considerations when working with these technologies. The webinar served as an accessible introduction to the possibilities of augmented intelligence, emphasizing collaboration, continuous learning, and ethics in AI solutions.

 

As an intern working with data at Infoxchange, these webinars provided me with invaluable knowledge and a deeper understanding of the possibilities and responsibilities surrounding data use. I look forward to applying the insights gained from these sessions in my work and throughout my future career in the tech industry, always keeping in mind the importance of collaboration, continuous learning, ethics, and respect for data sovereignty.

 

20 March 2024

Jim O’Shea Gumbaynggirr man from New South Wales and Chief Operating Officer at VACCHO, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc. 

 

The webinar presented by Jim O'Shea provided me with valuable insights into the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty and the steps being taken to ensure that Aboriginal communities maintain control over their data. Although I had a lecture at university during the live webinar, I was grateful for the opportunity to view the recording afterwards. 

 

I learned about the client management system developed by VACCHO (Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc.) in collaboration with Infoxchange, which allows Aboriginal community-controlled organizations to collect, store, and deidentify non-clinical data before sharing it with the government. This system ensures that communities retain ownership and control over their data while benefiting from insights generated through dashboards and reports. The webinar emphasized the significance of collecting data that is relevant and important to Aboriginal communities, beyond government requirements, to enable more culturally appropriate insights and drive change.

Telephone Techniques Training: Sylvia and Tanvi practicing telephone training 

Digital Skills Training and Development 

Sylvia has been provided with access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning platform, a training and development online learning platform. She has the opportunity to understand more about data analytics or a range of other technology topics in the not-for-profit sector, through training sessions presented by subject-matter experts in a selection of relevant live webinars and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons. 

 

Relevant weekly webinars, workshops and webcons selected, attended and summarised below by Sylvia to enhance her volunteer experience include:
 

02 April 2024

There are a lot of trainings in the Connecting Up learning platform, as a data analytics intern I choose to attend the webinar on Data Loss Prevention (DLP) with Microsoft. The session introduced me the importance of protecting sensitive data across various devices, apps, and services in today's complex digital landscape.

 

One of my key takeaways was the significance of identifying and classifying sensitive data to ensure proper governance and protection. Microsoft Purview offers a range of tools to help organizations classify and govern their data intelligently. The webinar also emphasized the need to prevent accidental or unauthorized sharing of sensitive information, with Microsoft Purview DLP providing comprehensive solutions to protect data in use, in motion, and at rest.

 

Attending this webinar has reinforced my understanding of the critical role that DLP plays in ensuring data security and compliance and also get to know how to protect the data from the organisation view.